SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers took an early lead and made a late rally, but in between the Cedarville Yellow Jackets hit home plate six times to capture a non-conference mid-week 6-4 victory.
For Wittenberg, it was a sixth straight loss to drop to 9-17 overall, heading into a game at Otterbein on Thursday, April 15. Cedarville improved to 21-12 on the season.
The key for Cedarville was steady pitching by Luke Freshwater, who scattered 10 hits (all singles) and didn't walk a batter in 8.2 innings. Rob Nesteroff closed things out after the Tigers pushed two runs across in the bottom of the ninth inning.
On the flip side, the Tigers got an encouraging start from junior Zach Spring (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty), who pitched into the fourth inning while allowing just one earned run. Five other Tiger hurlers mostly kept Cedarville in check.
Offensively, junior Ray Noe (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) contributed two hits and two runs scored out of the clean-up position, while senior Kory Winter (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) added two hits and a run scored in the No. 9 hole. Freshman Nate Lavey (Covington, Ohio/Covington) played a stellar third base defensively and added a clutch RBI single in the ninth that chased Freshwater.