WILMINGTON, Ohio – Luke Kleindl's mammoth three-run home run tied the game 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Wittenberg University hit a grand slam in the 11th en route to a seven-run inning to defeat the Wilmington College baseball team 12-6 in non-conference action on Thursday evening.
The Tigers (13-20) opened the scoring with a run in the top of second inning, but the Fightin' Quakers battled back to take a 2-1 lead with an RBI-double from Josh Chua and an RBI-single from Nick Silvis in the bottom of the fourth.
Unfortunately for Wilmington, Wittenberg took the lead right back with a six-hit, three-run top of the fifth inning. An unearned run in the top of the six that followed gave the visitors a 5-2 edge.
The hosts did not muster any offense in the six or seventh inning until Chua and Jake Hyatt set the table for Kleindl's game-tying blast in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Neither team got a runner into scoring position in the ninth, and Joey Hollback sat down the Tigers in order in the 10th. Wilmington's chance to win it came in the bottom of the 10ths as Chua was hit by a pitch and Hyatt singled. Wittenberg got out of the inning with a flyout and a groundout.
The Wilmington pitching staff struggled in the 11th as Wittenberg plated seven runs on eight hits in the inning to put the game away.
Michael Martin got the victory to improve to 2-2 on the season, allowing one hit over two innings in relief. Hollback took the loss allowing six earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched.
Wilmington finished with 10 hits. Chua, Gage Bley, Hyatt and Nick Silvis all had two hits. Kleindl had the three-run home run while Daniel Hayes finished 1-for-5.
Wittenberg tallied 21 hits as a team including eight individuals who recorded multi-hit contests. Siefert finished 3-for-6 with five RBIs for the Tigers.
The Quakers (9-24) host Heidelberg University for an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) series beginning at 1 p.m.
