SPRINGFIELD, OH - The Wittenberg Baseball offensive machine rolled on Tuesday night with another night of double-digit run production as the Tigers slugged their way past visiting Heidelberg, 19-10.
The 19 runs Wittenberg scored was the second-highest total of the season, behind only a 23-run outburst against Immaculata on March 1. On the season, the Tigers have reached double figures offensively 15 times, and in 13 of those occasions Wittenberg came out with the victory.
The win, which moved the Tigers to 21-8 on the season, kicked off a busy and potentially pivotal week. The win over Heidelberg, which fell to 14-20, comes two days before a key North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) doubleheader against Kenyon, which is rescheduled from April 5, and four days before Senior Recognition Day festivities prior to another NCAC twinbill against Ohio Wesleyan.
The Tigers are among several teams jockeying for position in the NCAC standings, with an eye toward capturing one of the four spots in the NCAC Tournament, and those four games against Kenyon and Ohio Wesleyan are key to qualifying for the postseason. Wittenberg, ranked seventh in the most recent regional rankings, will end the week with a crucial game against Ohio Northern, ranked fifth in the region, on Sunday, April 27.
Like the game against Heidelberg, all five of those games are scheduled to take place at Carleton Davidson Stadium. The Tigers sport an 8-2 record at home so far in the 2025 season.
The Student Princes pushed seven runs across the plate over the first two innings of Tuesday's game, but Wittenberg responded with four runs in the first inning, single runs in the second and third innings, two more tallies in the fourth, and a four-spot in the sixth that finally put the Tigers ahead for good. It wasn't until the eighth inning, however, that Wittenberg put the game out of reach, thanks to seven more runs.
The Tigers pounded out 15 hits and collected another seven walks in the game. Parker Gryskevich (Brownsburg, IN / Brownsburg) led the way with four hits in five at-bats, including a home run and a double. Gryskevich drove in four runs and scored three more times in the game.
Quintin Applegate (Delaware, OH / Olentangy Berlin) went 3-for-4, James MacAuley (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI / Grosse Pointe North) went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Alex Nemunaitis (Perrysburg, OH / Ottawa Hills), Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy), Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, IL / Lake Forest), Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County), and Charlie Marando (Dublin, OH / Dublin Scioto) each drove in two runs in the game.
Five different Wittenberg pitchers toed the rubber in the game, with Kyle Mahon (Dayton, OH / Centerville) picking up the win in relief and Chris Dawson (Loveland, OH / Milford) collecting his first collegiate save. Dawson struck out three batters in his two innings as Tiger pitching racked up eight punchouts in the game overall.
Written By: Ryan Maurer