SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers took care of business Monday and Tuesday, sweeping four straight games from visiting Earlham to put themselves in position to reach the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for a third straight year.
By scores of 17-7, 6-5, 11-0 and 13-4, the Tigers dominated the rain-delayed series to improve to 8-4 in the NCAC West Division. Overall, Wittenberg moved back over the .500 mark with a record of 15-12, heading into a road trip to Thomas More on Wednesday.
In Monday's opener, the Tigers put together three huge offensive innings to coast to make a winner out of sophomore Tim Antil (Brookville, Ohio/Northmont), who allowed just one earned run in four innings. Freshman Darin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie) picked up the save with three innings of relief work after entering the game in the fifth inning and the Tigers owners of a slim 5-4 lead.
The 19-hit offensive outburst was keyed by sophomore Patrick Williams (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield), who hit his first home run of the season and drove in four runs on four hits in the game. Freshman Chris Dorka (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) added three hits, three runs and three RBI.
Monday's nightcap was a very different story as the temperatures plunged and the winds swirled. After giving up three first-inning runs, the Tigers took a 5-3 lead with four runs in the first and another in the second, keyed by an RBI triple from sophomore Jacob Michael (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) and a 3-for-3 with three runs scored performance from freshman Sam Stough (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman).
However, the Quakers scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and actually stranded a pair in the seventh when freshman Josh Bunnell (Cleves, Ohio/Harrison) made a diving catch in right field. Dorka sent the home fans happy with a bases-loaded, walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh that made a winner out of sophomore Josh Fiebiger (Fletcher, Ohio/Miami East), who allowed two scratch hits and struck out three in 1.2 innings of stellar relief.
Pitching was the key on Tuesday as senior Tyler McClain (Springfield, Ohio/North) went the distance in the opener, allowing just four hits and two walks. Offensively, senior Andrew Wellman (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington) hit his first homer of the season during a nine-run first inning. He finished with five RBI.
Freshman Joel Assenheimer (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) rounded things out with a stellar start in the series finale. He did not allow a hit for the first 5.1 innings before running into trouble of his own doing after a throwing error. Sophomore Chris Green (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) relieved and stopped a four-run Earlham rally.
Offensively, almost everyone got into the 15-hit act, including freshman Kory Winter (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto), who went 3-for-3, and Michael, who scored three runs and drove another three in.