SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg baseball team wrapped up a highly successful weekend against the DePauw Tigers with a split on Sunday, taking a 3-1 series victory and earning home field advantage for the upcoming North Coast Athletic Conference crossover weekend.
Wittenberg fell by a score of 2-0 in a classic pitchers' duel in game one, before winning a close 5-4 decision in game two. The Tigers' record now stands at 20-14 overall and 8-8 in NCAC West Division play.
Wittenberg will enter the crossover series as the NCAC West Division's second seed after finishing in a tie for second with DePauw and Ohio Wesleyan. Conference tiebreaker criteria slot Wittenberg into second, DePauw into third and Ohio Wesleyan into fourth [see notes at the end of this story for more information on tiebreaker criteria].
Pairings for the crossover series are not yet determined thanks to postponements on Sunday to East Division games scheduled for Allegheny and Kenyon.
The crossover series pits the top seeds of each division against the opposite fourth-seed teams, and similarly the two-seeds against three-seeds. The winners are selected for the double-elimination conference tournament May 9-11 at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Higher-seeded teams each host the crossover series games, which feature two games on Saturday, May 4 and a single game on Sunday, May 5. That means the Tigers added three more games at Carleton Davidson Stadium this season.
The host Tigers turned to two-time NCBWA Honorable Mention Pitcher of the Week Zach Finke (Maineville, Ohio/St. Xavier) in Sunday's first game, and the senior turned in a solid six-hit, complete-game performance, allowing just two runs and no walks to give Wittenberg a chance.
The visitors, however, had their own ace on the rubber, as Jordan Niespodziany limited Wittenberg to six hits and no runs in his own complete-game gem.
Offensively, junior David Moore (Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe) managed a 2-3 game and senior Grant Goodwin (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) had the Tigers' only extra-base hit, a second inning double.
On the basepaths, sophomore Zac Wilson (Eaton, Ohio/Eaton) stole his base 25th base to move into a second-place tie in the team's season records, matching Brad Kellenberger's 1987 output. Kellenberger also holds the record of 30, set in 1985.
In game two, The Tigers converted eight hits into five runs, including a game-winning single by sophomore Brandon Reaman (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) in the seventh to drive in Finke and break a 4-4 tie. The Wittenberg pitching staff held DePauw to just five hits, but combined with 12 walks, it was enough to drive in four runs.
Reaman finished the game 2-4 with a walk, while Goodwin was 1-4 with an RBI as part of a three-run fourth inning. Senior Graham Wolff (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) and Wilson each went 2-3 with one walk, while Moore was 1-2 with a run driven in and Finke had one sacrifice fly for an RBI.
Junior Edison Henry (San Diego, Calif./St. Augustine) picked up the win on the mound by pitching the seventh inning. He was followed by an inning of one-hit relief from freshman Luke Black (St. Paris, Ohio/Graham), and senior Kevin Tolle (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) got the save in 1/3 of an inning.
The Tigers have two more non-conference games remaining before the NCAC crossover series, beginning with a home game against Heidelberg on Tuesday, April 30, against Heidelberg at 5 p.m.
John Strawn '07
NOTES: The three-way tie for second place between Ohio Wesleyan, DePauw and Wittenberg was broken according to NCAC baseball policy, as determined by the coaches. The first tiebreaker, head-to-head comparison, matches each team's combined record against the other teams in the tie. Wittenberg's record compiled to 5-3 (3-1 vs. DePauw, 2-2 vs. OWU), DePauw's to 4-4 (1-3 vs. Wittenberg, 3-1 vs. OWU) and Ohio Wesleyan's to 3-5 (2-2 vs. Wittenberg, 1-3 vs. DePauw).
