DELAWARE, Ohio - It could have been better and it could have been worse. In the end, the Wittenberg Tiger baseball team will take a four-game split of the first North Coast Athletic Conference West Division series of the 2005 season. The Tigers and Ohio Wesleyan each captured two wins in the Easter weekend series, with Sunday finals of 7-4 in favor of Wittenberg and 2-1 for the Bishops.

In the opener, the two teams came out of the box smoking, posting matching four-run first inning performances. Wittenberg parlayed one hit into four runs thanks to a walk, two wild pitches and two OWU errors. Senior Tom Pickering had the Tigers' lone hit, an RBI single that capped the scoring. However, Ohio Wesleyan responded by taking advantage of two Wittenberg errors in the bottom half to score four runs as well.

With senior Ryan Goldschmidt settling in well on the mound, however, Wittenberg's defense picked up and the bats came through with just enough offense. Goldschmidt allowed just four more hits and no runs in going the distance, while Pickering scored the go-ahead run in the fourth inning on a wild pitch and then senior Jon Komperda and junior Brian Hampp knocked in insurance runs with RBI singles in the fifth.

In the nightcap, the Tigers lost a heartbreaker that evened the series. OWU put a bookend on the series, matching the 2-1 win in the opener on Thursday with a 2-1 win in Sunday's finale.

Junior Steve Less was the hard-luck loser on the pitching mound for the Tigers as he went the distance. He allowed two earned runs on four hits and three walks in six innings to fall to 2-2 on the season.

Offensively, Wittenberg managed just two hits and four walks against a pair of OWU pitchers. Junior Justin McCulla scored the run in the third inning after leading off with a walk, advancing to second on a wild pitch, reaching third base on a single by freshman Tyler Curlis and scoring on a sacrifice fly by senior Matt Foster. However, the tying and winning runs were stranded at third and second base respectively in the top of the seventh inning.