Tigers Complete Comeback in Walk-Off Fashion

Springfield, OH - The Tigers hosted Otterbein in a battle of two high-powered teams at Carleton Davidson Stadium. The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead and forced the Tigers to fight back from an eight-run deficit. In a comeback that took the full nine innings to complete, Wittenberg ended up taking the 12-11 win.

With the win, Wittenberg improves to 16-5 on the season, while Otterbein drops below .500 at 12-13.

The Tigers' pitching staff started off the game in a rough patch. In the first two innings, they gave up eight runs, but from that point on the Cardinals to three runs for the remainer of the game. After coming in to start the second inning, Tommy Anthony (Toronto, Ontario / Humberside Collegiate Institute) threw four and one thirds innings and allowed four runs on five hits and struck out three. Kyle Mahon (Dayton, OH / Centerville) then threw two and thwo-thirds innings, holding Otterbein to one run on two hits while walking two and striking out three. After giving up a hit to start the ninth, the Tigers put in Charlie Schafer (Beavercreek, OH / Beavercreek) and despite giving up the game-tying run to spoil a save opportunity, the Tiger offense picked him up, scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth inning on a walk-off sacrifice fly to give Schafer his first win of the season.

Otterbein started off on fire offensively, scoring five runs in the first and three more in the second. In the third, Ben Seibert (Cincinnati, OH / LaSalle) and Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, OH / Tallmadge) each drove home a run. Then, in the fourth, Thatcher Dietz (Westerville, OH / Westerville South) hit a three-run bomb to cut the Cardinals' lead to 8-5. Otterbein scored another run in the sixth, but Wittenberg came right back with a six-run bottom of the seventh to take an 11-9 lead. The huge offensive burst was started by an RBI single from Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, IL / Lake Forest), and after scoring a few more runs as runners moved station-to-station, Thomas drove in the sixth run of the inning. Otterbein answered with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to tie the game, but after Seibert reached in the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases. That brought up Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County), who did the job with a deep sacrifice fly to right field to score Seibert with the winning run.

Team Leaders

• Seibert led the team in hits with three, while five other players recorded two each.
• Dietz paced the team in RBI with three and Thomas and Seibert each had two.
• Four Tigers scored two runs each in the game, and three more each crossed the plate once.

Team Comparison

• Wittenberg led Otterbein in hits, 15-11, and Tiger pitching struck out nine to the Cardinals' two.
• The Cardinals' pitching staff also gave up seven walks compared to only three given up by the Tigers.

The Tigers are scheduled to return to action on Saturday, April 5, at Carleton Davidson Stadium to take on the Kenyon Owls in a doubleheader that starts at noon.

Written By: Grant Martin