CARY, N.C. - Tiffin baseball started the 2020 season off with a bang on Saturday, outscoring their two opponents by 12 runs with an 8-3 win over Goldey-Beacom and a 10-3 victory over Frostburg State.
Cody Orr picked up right where he left off after a scorching hot May of 2019, going 4-5 against Goldey-Beacom with three RBI and two runs scored. Kyle Vance and Jake Shier also recorded two RBI apiece, while Vance, Zach Campbell, and Hunter Havekost each had two hits.
Jake Monnin got the start on the mound for Tiffin, going four innings and allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
Trailing 3-0 through four frames, the Dragon bats finally got going in the fifth inning as Shier picked up the first RBI of 2020 with a sacrifice fly. Orr followed with a two-RBI triple, and Vance then brought him home with an RBI groundout to give Tiffin a 4-3 lead.
Vance picked up another RBI in the seventh and then Shier and Orr tallied back-to-back RBI singles in the eighth to bring Tiffin's total to seven. Tiffin also added a run on an error in the ninth, as Havekost's grounder was botched by the G-B shortstop and allowed Nick Whetnall to score.
Tyler Wehrle relieved Monnin to start the fifth and was lights out for five innings to earn the victory. The sophomore didn't allow a run and gave up just one hit with seven strikeouts.
Tiffin totalled 14 hits in the victory to just six for the Lightning.
The bats did not let up in the second game of the day, as a six-run second inning put the game out of reach early for Tiffin against Frostburg State.
Whetnall got things going with Tiffin's first home run of the season, and Orr, Vance (3x), and Campbell all picked up RBIs in the frame.
Whetnall added another big hit with a two-RBI double in the fourth to extend the Dragon lead to 8-0.
Michael Boswell got the win on the mound, going five strong innings of no-run, two-hit ball with four strikeouts in his first game back after missing the 2019 season.
Noah Kandel relieved Boswell in the sixth and allowed a pair of runs, but bounced back in the seventh with a scoreless frame. Tiffin immediately got those two runs back in the bottom of the inning as Whetnall notched another RBI with a double to left and Havekost followed with an RBI single to score Whetnall.
The Bobcats picked up a run in the top of the eighth off Peyton Clift, but it was far too little, too late as the Dragons cruised to the 10-3 win.
Whetnall finished game two with four RBI, going 3-5 with all three hits going for extra bases (HR, 2 2B). Havekost, Shier and Kole Klasic also had two hits in the game, while Vance picked up two more RBI.
The Dragons notched 14 more hits in game two to make it 28 for the day, as they outhit opponents 28-14 and outscored them 18-6.
Tiffin will turn around quickly and finish off the season-opening series in Cary with a single game against Clarion on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m.