OBERLIN, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers dropped a pair of gut-wrenching one-run decisions at Oberlin, losing late leads in both ends of a doubleheader to absorb defeats by scores of 10-9 and 8-7.
The losses dropped the Tigers to 9-14 overall on the 2010 season, while Oberlin improved to 16-9. The games do not count toward North Coast Athletic Conference standings as the two teams compete in separate divisions in baseball.
In the opener, the Tigers led 8-2 in the fifth inning, but the Yeomen struck for two runs in the bottom of that inning and then exploded for six runs in the sixth. Wittenberg rallied to score a run in the top of the seventh, but two runners were left stranded. Oberlin committed three errors in that inning, but the Tigers were only able to manage a sacrifice fly by junior Jason Haunty (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington).
Wittenberg banged out 13 hits in the game, but the Tigers hurt themselves with four errors. Freshman Nick Van Dyne (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) and junior Mike Yednock (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) led the way with three hits apiece, while junior Ray Noe (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) and freshman Grant Goodwin (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) added two hits each. Van Dyne scored three runs, while junior Zach Spring (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) contributed three runs batted in.
In the nightcap, the Tigers battled from behind to take a 6-5 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a two-run double from sophomore Matt Hampp (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson), who then scored on a wild pitch. However, the Yeomen came right back to score twice in the bottom of the fourth and the two teams traded runs in the fifth to account for the final margin.
Van Dyne went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to spark the offense, while Hampp finished 2-for-3 with the aforementioned two RBI. Spring also finished with two hits and Yednock added a pair of RBI, despite the fact he did record a base hit.