ELKINS, W.Va. - Cody Orr struck out nine and hurled a complete game as Tiffin baseball defeated Davis & Elkins 5-1 in the opener before the Dragons pulled off a come-from-behind 6-4 win in game two on Thursday afternoon.
With the wins, Tiffin improves to 14-23 overall and 11-9 in GMAC play, moving up to sixth in the conference standings by virtue of Hillsdale dropping a pair of games at Walsh this afternoon.
The games were originally slated to be at home for TU, but the weather forecast forced the first doubleheader of the series to West Virginia. The weather has also affected the second doubleheader, as it has now been moved from Saturday to Sunday, but will still be played in Tiffin starting at noon.
The Dragons got on the board early in game one, as John Heckman picked up an RBI single and Jack Dennis followed with an RBI groundout to put TU up 2-0. That's how the score would remain until the fifth, when Tiffin tallied two more runs with Kole Klasic and Brayden Callihan knocking back-to-back RBI doubles.
A Colin BeDell RBI single in the sixth made it 5-0 in favor of TU. On the mound for the Dragons, Orr cruised through the first eight innings of the game, giving up just four hits and no runs.
The Senators were able to score one in the top of the ninth, but Tiffin came away with the 5-1 win. Orr improved to 3-0 on the hill this season, going the distance and allowing just one run on six hits with nine strikouts and no walks. He was also one of three Dragons to record a multihit game on the offensive end, joined by Callihan and Zach Campbell.
Davis & Elkins came out strong in game two, taking a 3-1 lead through four and a half frames. In the bottom of the fifth, Tiffin manage to scrape together a couple of runs and tie the game on a Kyle Vance RBI groundout and a wild pitch that scored Campbell from third.
The Dragons took the lead for good in the next inning, starting with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Callihan to make it 4-3 in favor of TU. With two on base and two out two batters later, Vance singled to left field and the ball got past the Senator outfielder, allowing both runners to score and Vance to end up at third.
A sacrifice fly by D&E cut the Dragon advantage to 6-4 in the top of the seventh, but Michael Ross was able to shut the door and earn the win after pitching the final two innings.
Jake Monnin threw the first five innings for TU and was handed a no-decision, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out two. Orr had another good game at the plate, tallying two hits and scoring three times, while Vance drove in three runs.
As mentioned, the Dragons and Senators will play two more games this Sunday as TU goes for the series sweep.