GRANVILLE, Ohio - Close only counts in horseshoes, as the old saying goes, and so the Wittenberg Tigers put the wraps on their 2007 North Coast Athletic Conference schedule with a second straight sweep. Denison advanced to the NCAC Tournament semifinals against No. 1 ranked Wooster with a 6-5 victory and a 4-0 win against the visiting Tigers.
After twice postponing this doubleheader, the two teams were delayed again on Monday when the Tigers' bus broke down en route to Granville. As a result, the two teams played into the early morning hours of Tuesday before the Big Red put the wraps on a sweep and clinched second place in the NCAC West Division behind Ohio Wesleyan. The losses were Wittenberg's fourth and fifth in a row and dropped the Tigers back to the .500 mark at 18-18 overall and 8-8 in the NCAC West.
The opener was an extra-inning heartbreaker for the Tigers, who lost seven of their eight NCAC West games by four runs or less, including two one-run decisions and two two-run outcomes. In this one, the Tigers rallied from a 5-1 deficit with four runs in the sixth inning as sophomore Patrick Williams (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield), junior Jeremey Fruhwirth (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) and sophomoreJoey Spano (Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe) had RBI hits.
Denison won it in the ninth inning as the Big Red finally got to freshman pitch Darin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie), who had allowed just one hit and two walks in 3.2 innings of outstanding relief to that point. A leadoff single and stolen base set the stage for an RBI single with no outs in the inning.
That loss eliminated the Tigers from postseason consideration, but the two teams returned to the field to complete the schedule just before 10 p.m. The Tiger bats were already on the bus, however, as only junior Matt Steinke (Wapakoneta, Ohio/St. Mary's Memorial) and Williams managed to reach base safely with hits. In all, Wittenberg managed just five baserunners in the game, and none advanced past second base. The quiet offense spoiled a solid outing from freshman Bobby Ciucki (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman), who allowed three earned runs on six hits and four walks.