WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The Wittenberg baseball team was one out away from winning both games in a doubleheader with Albion Monday, but after a seven-run comeback the Tigers could not hold on, falling in the second game 9-8 after winning 2-1 in the first game. Wittenberg stays at .500 with a 2-2 record so far in 2010.
The Tigers scored one in the first inning and one again in the fifth, while allowing Albion just one run in the fourth to hold onto game one for the win. Senior pitcher Bobby Ciucki (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) started the game on the mound and cruised through 6 1/3 innings, scattering six hits and allowing just one unearned run. He collected six strikeouts against four walks.
In the first, junior first baseman and three-hole hitter Ray Noe (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) pushed junior second baseman Mike Yednock (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) across the plate when the two registered back-to-back doubles. In the fifth, freshman leadoff man and center fielder Nick Van Dyne (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) reached on a single and later came around on a single into left off the bat of junior third baseman Stefan Kegler (Columbus, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) to round out the Tigers' scoring.
The Tigers, clinging to a 2-1 lead in the seventh with one out and runners on second and third, called on freshman righty Kevin Tolle (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) and he delivered, retiring two Britons on strikeouts to end the threat and the game.
In the late game, Wittenberg built a 1-0 lead in the second inning when freshman second baseman Zac Daniels (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) drove in junior right fielder Zach Spring (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) on an RBI single. Albion mounted a five-run onslaught in the third to turn the tables and added two in the fifth, getting out to a big 7-1 lead.
Wittenberg mounted their own comeback, scoring seven in their last turn at bat. The rally was sparked by a one-out, one-on home run to right field off the bat of Noe. shaken, Albion committed errors in the next two at bats before allowing an RBI single to Spring and walking sophomore first baseman Matt Hampp (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson). That set the table for freshman Grant Goodwin (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) to single through the left side and bring two across, and Daniels followed with a matching single for one RBI. An RBI fielder's choice from Van Dyne finished the scoring for the Tigers.
With a newfound one-run lead thanks to the seven-run rally and one, the Tigers' senior closer Darrin Mumaw (Fort Loramie, Ohio/Fort Loramie) was stung by a throwing error in the field behind him which allowed one run to tie the game. All it took was a single into right to bring the second, game-winning run around from second and hand the Tigers a split for the day. Neither run in the seventh was earned.
Of the Britons' nine runs in game two, only five were earned, all off of freshman starting pitcher Zach Clark (Sidney, Ohio/Anna), who went four innings with six hits and four strikeouts.
On the day, Grant Goodwin led the Red & White with a 3-for-5 day at the plate, including 3-for-3 in the late game with two RBI. Yednock was 4-for-8 with an impressive four doubles, while Daniels added two RBI on 3-for-6 hitting. Spring was 3-for-7 with an RBI and Noe went 3-for-8 with a team-best three RBI on the day on a double and a home run.
The Tigers are back in action Tuesday, March 9, with a single nine-inning game versus Webster at the Chain of Lakes complex in Winter Haven, Fla., at 11:30 a.m.
Written by: John Strawn '07