SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers jumped out to a 7-1 lead through the first three innings and appeared to be well on their way to extending a modest mid-season win streak against visiting Wilmington. However, the Quakers stormed back, taking advantage of five Wittenberg errors to pull out a 12-7 victory in 11 innings.
The loss snapped a five-game unbeaten string for Wittenberg, which dropped to 12-8 as the 2011 season hit its midway point. The Quakers improved to 5-8.
Things looked good in the early going for the Tigers, who struck for three runs in the first inning, two in the second and two more in the third behind freshman starter Tyler Grau (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller), who allowed one run on two hits and four walks. He was followed by freshman J.C. Birr (Dayton, Ohio/Carroll). who tossed two scoreless innings, and a parade of eight Wittenberg pitchers by the end of the night. Senior Sam Clement (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) also went two innings, allowing one unearned run on one hit while striking out three batters.
After rallying for five runs in the sixth inning, the Quakers got the equalizer in the top of the ninth inning and then broke the game open with five tallies in the top of the 11th.
Wittenberg's offense banged out 11 hits in the game, including two apiece from senior Ray Noe (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome), junior Jason Haunty (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) and sophomore Grant Goodwin (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson), who also drive in a pair.
The game was a final tune-up for a busy North Coast Athletic Conference weekend of games at Kenyon on Saturday and then back home against Oberlin on Sunday.