PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Wittenberg Tigers carried the momentum of a five-run rally in the top of the seventh inning of a 5-3 Game 1 victory over Dubuque to sweep a doubleheader at the Russ Matt Tournament in Port Charlotte, Fla. After falling behind 2-0 through the first six innings of Game 1, the Tigers outscored Dubuque 14-1, including a 9-0 whitewashing in Game 2.
The win improved the Tigers to 4-2 on the young season. Wittenberg puts the wraps on its annual Spring Break trip Friday with a doubleheader against Kings College.
The opener was an exercise in frustration through the first six innings as the Tigers were held to no runs on three hits while committing five errors to fall behind 2-0. But Wittenberg finally got things going in the seventh inning, breaking out for five runs on four hits to make a winner out of freshman pitcher Kory Winter (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto), who tossed his first career complete game, scattering five hits and two walks while striking out seven.
The rally started with a leadoff double by sophomore Jon Dalton (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) and ended with a clutch two-run triple by sophomore Ryan Montgomery (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty). In between, two Dubuque errors fueled the rally, which also included RBI singles by sophomore Jacob Michael (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) and junior Jeremey Fruhwirth (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek).
The nightcap was a much different story as the Tigers scored early and often and freshman pitcher Joel Assenheimer (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) did the rest. He allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out five and facing just 24 batters - three over the minimum number in a seven-inning game.
Offensively, the Tigers spread their nine hits around, with only Montgomery, sophomore J.T. Thompson (Clayton, Ohio/Northmont) and junior Joel Puthoff (Houston, Ohio/Russia) finishing with more than one base knock in the game. Montgomery finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI.