K.R. Schlievert
Setting the Scene:
The Wittenberg University baseball team took some small, but extremely significant, steps toward reaching the goals of climbing to the top of the North Coast Athletic Conference and getting into the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 1994. The Tigers finished 21-15 overall and 9-7 in the rugged NCAC West Division in 2004, despite a starting lineup and pitching staff primarily stocked with underclassmen.
In addition, the Tigers moved into their new baseball stadium. Municipally owned and operated Carleton Davidson Stadium opened in April and Wittenberg played the first game in the facility on April 24 against Ohio Wesleyan. The stadium is one of the finest small college baseball facilities in the nation.
The Tigers started strong, winning their first four games during the annual Spring Break trip to Florida, and 17 of their first 23 games overall. But the Tigers were unable to keep the momentum going - in part thanks to a challenging season-ending schedule - and they closed the season out of the running for the NCAC and NCAA Division III Tournaments.
All this came a year after the Tigers finished 17-22-1 and 4-12 in the NCAC West with an extremely young team that lost its top two hitters after the season. The improvements in the win-loss column is obvious from 2003 to 2004, but the most striking difference between is in the pitching statistics. The 2003 team compiled a team earned run average of 7.19, while the 2004 squad was below 3.00 for much of the year and finished at 4.70. Wittenberg held opponents to three runs or less 15 times in 2004 and recorded six shutouts.
While Wittenberg's team batting average fell more than 30 points in 2004, the Tigers' opponents batted just .259, compared to .303 a year ago. Wittenberg also fielded the ball much better, finishing with a fielding percentage of .952 as opposed to .935 in 2003.
Postseason Honors:
Junior outfielder Matt Foster (Granville, Ohio/Granville) and junior second baseman Jon Komperda (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) were rewarded for their outstanding play during the 2004 season with second team honors from the NCAC. Foster led the team in home runs, runs batted in and walks, while Komperda batted .441 to rank among the league-leaders and led the team in almost every other offensive category.
Senior pitcher Tom Fox (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana) and sophomore pitcher Steve Less (Sheffield, Ohio/Elyria Catholic) made honorable mention after leading the staff with five and six wins respectively.
Super Seniors:
A six-man senior class rounded out its run in the Red & White in 2004 with a third winning season in four years. The six seniors finally got the opportunity to play in the new Carleton Davidson Stadium at the end of the season, an exciting reward for a group that could be seen as the building blocks for a promising future for the Tiger baseball program.
The six seniors on the 2004 roster were Fox, pitcher Jason Flick (West Chester, Ohio/Middletown Fenwick), catcher Matt Oberdorfer (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston), outfielder Kyle Wolf (Hamilton, Ohio/Middletown Fenwick), pitcher Kurt Hartfelder (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and outfielder Shawn Jarecki (Brookpark, Ohio/Valley Forge). However, Hartfelder and Jarecki are expected to play again in 2005 since they both have received medical redshirts in past years due to injuries.
Andrew Wellman
A Bright Future:
Twelve players started in the field at least 10 times during the
2004 season. Just one, Wolf, was a senior. Twelve players made at
least five pitching appearances during the 2004 season. Just three,
Fox, Flick and Hartfelder, were seniors. And Hartfelder is planning
to return to the Carleton Davidson Stadium hill in 2005.
Going around the horn, the catcher with the most starts and
appearances was freshman Jason Hutson (Piqua,
Ohio/Piqua), who batted .293 and drove in 16 runs in 27
appearances, including 25 starts. He committed just four errors and
allowed just four passed balls on the season. At first base,
sophomore Brian Hampp (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson)
batted clean-up for most of the season and he finished with a .276
batting average, 23 runs batted in and a team-leading 10 doubles.
Komperda was a fixture at second base, leading the team in several
offensive categories, finishing with a .971 fielding percentage,
stealing 11 bases and concluding the season on a 16-game hitting
streak.
Sophomore K.R. Schlievert (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay)
was outstanding in the field again in 2004, although he struggled
at the plate for much of the season. He started all 36 games,
batting .254 with 23 RBI and 28 runs scored, second most on the
team. At third base, sophomore Justin McCulla (St. Paris,
Ohio/Graham) and junior Tom Pickering (Newark,
Ohio/Catholic) split time and combined to drive in 19 runs
on the season.
In the outfield, Foster was a stalwart in left field, his third
year as an every day player. Wolf started a majority of games in
center field, and a variety of players saw action in right, with
freshman Andrew Wellman (Huntington,
W.Va./Huntington) getting the most playing time. In 25
appearances, including 20 starts, Wellman batted .333 with 11 RBI
and 15 runs. He was not charged with an error in the field. The
designated hitter with the most starts was sophomore Adam
Keller (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg), who had a .288
batting average in 16 starts and 25 total appearances. He also
caught several games, along with sophomore Brad Koopman
(Pleasant Hill, Ohio/Newton).
The Coach:
Jay Lewis (Wittenberg '94) was hired as the head baseball coach at his alma mater in 1996, with his first season at the helm in 1997. Lewis, who previously served as an assistant coach for one year for the Tigers, has compiled an 168-136-4 record since then. A 1994 Wittenberg graduate, Lewis excelled on the diamond for the Tigers in the early 1990s. Lewis was a three-year starting catcher for Wittenberg from 1991-93 after spending his first season at West Virginia Wesleyan.