WESTERVILLE, Ohio - A rough start doomed the Wittenberg Tigers in nonconference baseball action Thursday at Otterbein College as the homestanding Cardinals captured a 14-2 decision. The loss dropped the Tigers to 9-8 overall heading into this weekend's crucial four-game series against Wabash College back home in the friendly confines of Carleton Davidson Stadium in Springfield.

Otterbein jumped on the Tigers for seven runs in the bottom of the first inning and put the game out of reach with a 6-run outburst in the fifth inning. In all, five Wittenberg pitchers were touched up for 14 earned runs on 14 Cardinal hits, with only sophomore Trey Richardson, the last pitcher of the night for the Tigers, escaping unscathed with a scoreless eighth inning.

Offensively, the Tigers are a team that manufactures runs with speed and fundamentals, so making up such a large deficit proved daunting. Despite five Otterbein errors, four Wittenberg hit batsmen and eight Tiger hits, all the visiting team had to show was two eighth-inning runs. Junior Brad Koopman and freshman Ryan Cronk had the RBI base hits for the Tigers, who collected six singles among their eight total hits.

Junior Justin McCulla continued to swing a hot bat for the Tigers, going 2-for-2 with a run scored and a double. Senior Jon Komperda also collected two base hits in the game.