SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - After spotting preseason No. 1 ranked Otterbein an early lead, the Wittenberg Tigers stormed back and took the Cardinals to the wire before dropping a 7-6 decision.
The Cardinals jumped in front on a two-run homer in the first inning by Bobby Wright, and they added two more runs in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly and a double steal. But after going hitless in three innings against Otterbein's starting pitcher, the Tigers broke out in the bottom of the fourth, pushing five runs across. The key hits were provided by freshman Chris Dorka (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) with a two-run double and freshman Sam Stough (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) with a two-run triple. All five runs were unearned thanks to a pair of Otterbein errors.
The Cardinals jumped right back in front in the fifth with two runs, and they added a key insurance run in the seventh on their third sacrifice fly of the game. That was key because Wittenberg pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by sophomore Jacob Michael (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) before leaving the winning run on base.
The loss went to Wittenberg freshman Joel Assenheimer (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson), who tossed three innings in relief, allowing three hits and three runs, two of which were earned. Sophomore Josh Fiebiger (Fletcher, Ohio/Miami East) made his first career start, allowing four runs (three earned) in four innings, and freshman Darin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie) closed things out with two scoreless innings of relief.