SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg baseball team broke the program's single-season home run record in a doubleheader split with No. 2 Denison in North Coast Athletic Conference play on Saturday. In a battle of the top two teams in the league standings, the Tigers won the opening game 10-7 to extend its win streak to 12 games before falling 9-8 in a down-to-the-wire second game.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (21-13 overall, 10-2 NCAC), Denison (31-5 overall, 11-3 NCAC)
• Venue: Carleton Davidson Stadium - Springfield, Ohio
• Denison is ranked No. 2 nationally this week in both the D3baseball.com Top 25 Poll and the ABCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll.

Stat Leaders - Game 1

• Senior Parker Gryskevich (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) led the Tigers' offense with two hits, including a home run, to go with two RBIs and two runs scored.
• Junior Ben Seibert (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) also had a home run, marking his lone hit of the game. He added two RBIs and two runs to his stat line.
• Sophomore Alex Nemunaitis (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) posted two hits, including a double, to go with one RBI and one run.
• Senior Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, Ohio/Tallmadge) had two hits and two runs.
• Freshman Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, P.R./Franklin County) posted two hits, one RBI and one run.
• Junior Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) tallied two hits, including a double.
• Senior Conor O'Malley (Avon, Ohio/St. Edward's) recorded one hit, one RBI and two runs.
• Senior Matt Moore (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) had one hit and two RBIs.
• Senior Nick Cunningham (Fredericktown, Ohio/Fredericktown) got the start on the mound for the Tigers and earned the win to improve to 3-2 on the season. He allowed six runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out two.
• Junior Charlie Schafer (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) pitched two relief innings, and senior Joe Horoszko (Seven Hills, Ohio/Saint Edwards) pitched the final two innings and earned his second save of the season.
• Noah Leib led the Denison offense with a home run, three RBIs and two runs.

Game 1 - Wittenberg 10, Denison 7

• Wittenberg built an early 2-0 lead via RBI singles from O'Malley and Rodriguez in the bottom of the first inning.
• An RBI sac fly cut Denison's deficit to 2-1 in the top of the second.
• The Tigers extended their lead to 5-1 with a two-run homer from Seibert in the second inning and an RBI single from Moore in the third.
• A pair of RBI singles got the Big Red back within two, 5-3, in the top of the fourth.
• Wittenberg added a run courtesy of a Denison error in the bottom of the fourth, but Leib's three-run homer in the top of the fifth tied the score at 6-6.
• Wittenberg regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth via an RBI sac fly from Moore and a two-run homer from Gryskevich.
• Denison answered in the top of the sixth with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 9-7.
• The Tigers added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single from Nemunaitis, and Horoszko worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth to secure the Tigers' victory.
• Wittenberg out-hit Denison by a 13-7 margin and committed four errors to the Big Red's two.

Stat Leaders - Game 2

• Seibert, Royer and O'Malley each hit a home run in the game.
• O'Malley led the way, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs and one run.
• Royer had a double to go with his homer and tallied one RBI and one run.
• Seibert was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and one run.
• Thomas was 2-for-4 with a double to go with two runs.
• Rodriguez had two hits and one run.
• Gryskevich had a double and a run.

Game 2 - Denison 9, Wittenberg 8

• Denison plated a run in the top of the second inning, but Wittenberg answered with a solo homer from O'Malley in the bottom of the frame.
• The Big Red plated three runs in the top of the third via an RBI double, RBI hit-by-pitch and RBI walk for a 4-1 lead.
• An RBI single from O'Malley brought the Tigers within two, 4-2, in the bottom of the third.
• An RBI double in the fourth and 2-RBI double in the fifth put Denison up 7-2.
• A solo homer from Royer in the bottom of the sixth, Denison plated two runs in the top of the seventh via an RBI double and RBI single for a 9-3 lead.
• A two-run homer from Seibert and RBI sac fly from O'Malley brought the Tigers within three, 9-6, in the bottom of the seventh.
• A Denison error allowed a Wittenberg run to score in the bottom of the eighth, cutting the Big Red's lead to 9-7.
• The rally continued in the bottom of the ninth following a one-out single from O'Malley. A two-out single from Rodriguez put runners on first and third, and both he and O'Malley were removed for pinch runners. A single from Moore scored the lead pinch runner, freshman Chase Burton (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County), putting runners on first and third and bringing sophomore pinch hitter Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) to the plate. But he struck out looking to end the game.
• Denison out-hit Wittenberg by a 14-13 margin in the game and committed one error to the Tigers' none. The Big Red tallied 10 doubles in the game.

Quote - Head coach Brian McGee

• "We almost capped off an incredible day for the program. The guys played great. We're never happy with a split, but we continue to put ourselves in great position within the conference. We have big games on Tuesday against DePauw and hope to see everybody come out to watch us. It was a good day for our guys. Tiger Up!"

Records & Milestones

• The Tigers' five home runs on Saturday puts them at 36 for the season, breaking the prior single-season record of 35 from 1997.
• Eighth-year head coach Brian McGee is now 154-112 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Moore has 154 hits, 22 doubles and 119 RBIs in his career. He ranks fourth all-time in RBIs and is 12 hits and 14 doubles shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• O'Malley has 154 hits, 33 doubles, 17 home runs, 118 RBIs, 119 runs scored in his career. He is tied for fourth all-time at Wittenberg in home runs, ranks fifth in RBIs and is 12 hits, three doubles and four runs shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Thomas has 137 hits and 33 doubles in his career. He is 29 hits and three doubles shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Sunday for a non-conference game at Adrian at 2 p.m.