Springfield, OH - The Tigers took on Adrian at Carleton Davidson Stadium for their first two home games of the season, and after two match-ups where defense seemed to be at a premium, the Tigers went 1-1. They won the first by a score of 12-4 and then lost the second game after trying to mount a comeback, 19-14. After winning the three-game series against Adrian, the split of the home games moves the Tiger record to 11-5, while the Bulldogs' record is now 8-9.

In the first game, Andrew Rust (Dublin , OH / Dublin Coffman) started the game for the Tigers and went four and two-thirds inning while allowing three runs on five hits and three walks and striking out six. Tommy Anthony (Toronto, Ontario / Humberside Collegiate Institute) came in to relieve Rust and got his second win of the season, going two and a third innings, allowing only one run on two hits while striking out four. Afterwards, Charlie Schafer (Beavercreek, OH / Beavercreek) threw the last inning and two-thirds, allowing no runs on zero hits and struck out two batters.

Along with great ptiching, the Tigers also kept their bats hot from the past few games. They got off to a rough start with Adrian carrying a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the second. Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County) broke into the scoring column with a solo shot and Parker Gryskevich (Brownsburg, IN / Brownsburg) drove in the second run of the inning on an RBI double. In the bottom of the fifth, Wittenberg tied the score at three as Thatcher Dietz (Westerville, OH / Westerville South) drove in a run on a groundout. In the sixth, the Tigers extended their lead with an RBI double from Zach Meyer (Powell, OH / Olentangy Liberty), followed by a Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, OH / Tallmadge) RBI single and Dietz closed out the scoring in the sixth with a three-run blast to extend the lead to 8-3. 

The Bulldogs drove across a run in the top of the seventh, but Wittenberg answered with a Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, IL / Lake Forest) solo blast, Thomas singled home another run, and Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy) grounded out to plate the Tigers' 11th run of the game. Gryskevich made it 12-4 by driving in a run on a single in the bottom of the eighth.

Game One Team Leaders

• Thomas led the team with four hits and Gryskevich added three to his stat line.
• Dietz had four RBIs to pace the team and Thomas and Gryskevich each drove in two.
• Five different Tigers scored two runs as well and two players each drew a walk.

Game One Team Comparison

• The Tigers notched 16 hits to the seven that Adrian posted and Wittenberg only committed one error to the Bulldogs' two.
• Wittenberg logged eight extra base hits to Adrian's one and 12 Bulldogs struck out to just two Tigers.

Game Two

Game two started off with more of the same from game one, as Adrian put up 10 runs in the first two innings. In the bottom of the second, Wittenberg plated four with back-to-back home runs from Royer, whose scored three, and Gryskevich followed it up with a solo shot. The Tigers were unable to stop the Bulldogs in the field, as they scored a minimum of one run each inning and ended with 19 runs to the 14 that Wittenberg put up. Scoring for both teams came on many home runs and extra base hits. Royer homered again to plate another three in the third, and in the fourth, Thomas hit a two-run shot to make the Adrian lead 12-9. Three more runs scored in the fifth for the Tigers and in the bottom of the sixth, Rodriguez hit his second homer of the day and Gryskevich drove in another run to cut the lead to one at 15-14. In the last three innings, the Bulldogs plated four more runs to finish with a 19-14 win.

Game Two Team Leaders

• Royer led the team in hits with four and Alex Nemunaitis (Perrysburg, OH / Ottawa Hills) logged three.
• Royer also had six RBI's in the second game to pace both teams and paced the team in runs with four.
• Thomas was able to draw two walks in the game, while three other players had one each.

Game Two Team Comparison

• The Bulldogs led the Tigers in almost every statistic, except Wittenberg ptichers struck out seven batters while Adrian pitchers only struck out four Tiger batters. Both teams also hit four homers and drew five walks.

The Tigers' next game is Tuesday, March 25th, where they take on the Wilmington Quakers at home with first pitch coming at 6:05 PM at Carleton Davidson Stadium.