OWENSBORO, Ky. - Four pitchers combined to shut out Kentucky Wesleyan 2-0 in a game two win for Tiffin baseball on Sunday afternoon, following a tough 4-3 loss in game one.
With the split, the Dragons move to 14-14 on the year in GMAC play, and currently sit on the outside looking in at the conference tournament. Eight teams make the postseason, and TU is in ninth with four games to play at fourth-place Walsh this Friday and Saturday.
TU is definitely not out of contention, though, as they are just a game back of eighth-place Hillsdale, who also has four games remaining against second-place Ohio Dominican.
Cody Orr pitched well as the game one starter for TU, going five innings and allowing just one run on three hits while striking out nine. The Dragons gave him a lead in the fourth inning, as John Heckman and Jack Dennis each knocked RBI singles to put Tiffin up 2-0.
The contest was scheduled to be a seven-inning affair, and the Dragons still held a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the seventh. The first two Panther hitters reached on singles, though, and came around to score on a costly error to put KWC in front.
Tiffin was not done, however, as Dennis walked to lead off the bottom half of the inning, where he was replaced by Nick Whetnall as a pinch-runner. Nich Green sacrificed Whetnall to second, and he moved over to third on a Noah Penney groundout. Now with two outs, Whetnall was able to scamper home on a wild pitch to knot the score at three and sent the game to extra innings.
Kentucky Wesleyan would tally a run in the top of the ninth, though, and take game one 4-3.
Since the opener ended up going a full nine innings, game two became a seven-inning contest. Tiffin got on the board with a run apiece in the second and third innings, as Dennis notched his second RBI single of the day and Brayden Callihan drove in Colin BeDell with a sacrifice fly.
Those two runs proved to be enough, as Dragon pitching took care of the rest. Jake Monnin got the start on the mound, going 3.1 scoreless innings with three hits and two strikeouts. Hunter Carson and Aaron George provided strong middle relief, before Cole Maxwell came in and shut down the Panthers in the seventh to earn his first save of the year and give TU the 2-0 victory.