WILMINGTON, Ohio - Wittenberg University claimed a 6-5 victory over the Wilmington College baseball team in a back-and-forth, non-conference contest at Tewksbury-Delaney Field on Wednesday afternoon.
The Quakers' offense gave starter Jarett Trautman a cushion by plating three runs on five hits in the bottom of the first inning. Gage Bley and Kasey Bottorff hit RBI-singles while Joey Allinder doubled to deep right field that scored another run. Wittenberg, who defeated Wilmington 16-8 in Springfield earlier this season, scored a lone run in both the second and third innings, but Bottorff got one of those runs back with a solo home run to left field in the fourth.
The Tigers got back within a run on Patrick Kenny's RBI-single in the fifth. Trautman, with the help of Gavin Perkins and Aaron Burns, turned a 1-4-3 double play to get out of the inning without surrendering more runs. Burns would hit a sacrifice fly that scored Allinder in the bottom of the sixth to put Wilmington ahead 6-4.
Wilmington's bullpen couldn't hold the lead, however, as Wittenberg scored two runs on Matt Oney in the seventh and the go-ahead run off of Michael Wiesenberger in the eighth. Trailing 6-5, the Quakers would get the tying run to third base with only one out in the eighth, but a foul out and a flyout ended the threat, which proved to be the host's last chance to score.
Trautman earned a no-decision despite a quality start of three earned runs on six hits in six innings. Wiesenberger dipped to 0-3 with the loss while Adam Mays earned his fifth win of the year for the Tigers, allowing two hits over the final three innings.
Offensively, Bottorff finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored with that home run. Allinder, Nick Silvis and Shane Hale all had two-hit games as well while Hale and Antonio Miller both stole a base.
Kenny and Jack Hollinshead both put up 3-for-4 performances for Wittenberg.
Wilmington (7-25) travels to Heidelberg University for an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) doubleheader on Saturday.
