CHILLICOTHE — The top-seeded Wittenberg baseball team defeated fourth-seeded Kenyon 6-2 on the opening day of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (25-15 overall), Kenyon (21-16 overall)
• Venue: V.A. Memorial Stadium - Chillicothe, Ohio
• NCAC Tournament site
• The four-team, double-elimination NCAC Tournament features top-seeded Wittenberg, No. 2 seed Denison, No. 3 seed DePauw and No. 4 seed Kenyon. Denison is ranked No. 2 nationally in both the D3Baseball.com Top 25 Poll and ABCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll this week.
• The Tigers are making their third straight, and 16th all-time, appearance in the NCAC Tournament and are seeking their first-ever championship. Wittenberg shared the regular-season conference title with Denison, marking the first NCAC regular-season title in program history.
• Wittenberg closed the regular season with a doubleheader sweep at Kenyon, winning 6-4 and 3-0.

Stat Leaders

• Senior Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, Ohio/Tallmadge) led the Wittenberg offense, going 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and one run scored.
• Senior Parker Gryskevich (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) also hit a home run for the Tigers.
• Junior Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) was 2-for-3 with a double, one RBI and one run.
• Sophomore Alex Nemunaitis (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) was 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run.
• Senior Joe Horoszko (Seven Hills, Ohio/Saint Edwards) got the pitching start for the Tigers and earned the win to improve to 5-1 on the season. He allowed two unearned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out four over 5.1 innings.
• Junior Charlie Schafer (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) pitched a shutout over the final 3.2 innings, allowing no hits and no walks while striking out five en route to picking up his second save of the season.

The Game

• Wittenberg got on the board early with a two-out RBI single from Nemunaitis in the bottom of the first inning.
• Thomas added a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to increase the Tigers' lead to 4-0.
• After the Owls loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, Schafer took the mound in relief of Horoszko. Schafer struck out the first batter he faced but committed a throwing error that allowed the next Kenyon batter to reach base and two runs to score. Another strikeout prevented any further damage, as the Tigers maintained a 4-2 lead.
• Wittenberg tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI sac fly from Royer and solo homer from Gryskevich.
• Schafer closed out the game with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth via a flyout, strikeout and popout.
• Wittenberg out-hit Kenyon by an 8-2 margin and committed two errors to the Owls' none.

Post-Game Quotes

• Senior catcher Parker Gryskevich: "Getting this first win is huge. After I hit the home run, I went into the dugout and told everybody that we need to keep getting more runs and taking quality at-bats. That's what we did, and we got the win. We're ready to come back tomorrow and keep it rolling."
• Junior pitcher Charlie Schafer: "Having the guys behind me helps me stay locked in and focused. Today was the best I've felt all year. I had the adrenaline rush from playing in the postseason and definitely had my energy going today. Winning this first game is huge. It allows to save some of our pitching, and hopefully we can come out tomorrow and ball out and get to the championship."
• Head coach Brian McGee: "I couldn't be more pleased with the win. Joe Horoszko and Charlie Schafer both threw extremely well on the mound, surrendering only two runs with both being unearned. Alex Nemunaitis got us on the board early, and Luke Thomas added a home run. The offense put the nail in the coffin with two runs off the bats of Rocco Royer and Parker Gryskevich in the eighth. What a day for these men!"

Records & Milestones

• Eighth-year head coach Brian McGee is now 158-114 all-time at Wittenberg.
• The Tigers have hit a program-record 39 home runs this season, breaking the prior single-season record of 35 from 1997.
• Senior Matt Moore (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) has 161 hits, 24 doubles and 126 RBIs in his career. He ranks third all-time in RBIs and is five hits and 12 doubles shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Senior Conor O'Malley (Avon, Ohio/St. Edward's) has 161 hits, 36 doubles, 17 home runs, 120 RBIs, 124 runs scored in his career. He is tied for fourth all-time at Wittenberg in home runs, and is tied for fourth in RBIs, tied for ninth all-time in doubles and ranks 10th in runs and is five hits shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in that category.
• Thomas has 146 hits and 34 doubles in his career. He is 20 hits and two doubles shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Senior Nick Cunningham (Fredericktown, Ohio/Fredericktown) has a 16-9 career record with 127 strikeouts. He is tied for eighth all-time at Wittenberg in pitching wins.
• Senior Austin Luther (Hughesville, Md./St. Mary's Ryken) has a 14-6 career record with 149 strikeouts. He is two strikeouts shy of joining Wittenberg's all-time top 10 in that category.
• Horoszko has a 15-6 career record with five saves and 124 strikeouts. He is tied for fifth all-time at Wittenberg in career saves.
• Schafer has an 8-2 career record with eight saves and 96 strikeouts. He ranks third all-time at Wittenberg in career saves.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Friday at 10 a.m. to face second-seeded and No. 2-ranked Denison on Day 2 of the NCAC Tournament in Chillicothe.