Kory Winter
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - After two days of rain-delayed waiting, Denison came back to Springfield to complete its weekend and season sweep of the Wittenberg baseball team in much the same way it opened the series on Friday: One close game followed by a lopsided contest. On Monday the scores were 3-4 and 0-8.
In the day's first outing, sophomore Kory Winter (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) threw five hitless innings before slipping in the sixth with a leadoff walk followed by a double and a two-RBI single. He was replaced by sophomore Darin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie) and finished the game but was charged with two more runs in the sixth inning, and as a result was hit with the loss.
Senior Joel Puthoff (Houston, Ohio/Russia) went 2-for-2 from the plate, driving in one run, and sophomores A.J. Bush (Troy, Ohio/Troy) and Chris Dorka (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) each picked up an RBI. Bush and Dorka drove in their runs in the fourth inning to break a scoreless stalemate, and Puthoff pushed his in during the sixth.
The second matchup was all Denison, from the start, as the Big Red scored twice in the first inning and four times in the second. Wittenberg could not muster a response as they connected on just five hits, while Denison completed their scoring in the seventh with two more. Sophomore starting pitcher Joel Assenheimer (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) went five innings, allowing nine hits and four earned runs and striking out four. Freshman Zach Spring (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty)threw two innings of relief, giving up two runs on three hits.
The Tigers fell to an even mark of 5-5 with the weekend's four losses, including an 0-4 mark in the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division. They only have one night to rest before taking on Capital in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 25.