Dragons split with Panthers

Ben Hubert got the win in game one.
Ben Hubert got the win in game one.

Tiffin University (10-24, 2-16 G-MAC) turned up the offense leading to a split with Kentucky Wesleyan.

The Dragons won game one 13-6 while falling in game two 9-8.

The Dragons pounded out 15 hits in game one and scored 12 runs over the final three innings. TU first got on the board in the fourth inning. Ricky Havrilla was hit by a pitch and advanced on a wild pitch. Ty Hatfield then singled him over to third and he then came home on Tommy Thamann's sacrifice fly.

The Dragons' offense exploded late. In the seventh trailing 3-1, Thamann, Logan Swonger, and Tim Orr all singled, and Griffin Stevens followed with a big grand slam to catapult TU into the lead for the first time.

In the eighth tied 5-5, Thamann singled and came home on Orr's triple. Stevens then walked and moved up on a passed ball. Ben Bach reached on an error at shortstop, and Havrilla drove in two runs with a single. The Dragons pushed their lead to 9-5 heading to the ninth inning.

In the ninth, Thamann and Swonger singled. Orr then drove in a run with a single, as did Stevens and Bach back-to-back. Another run scored on an error at first base on Hilario DeLaPaz's grounder.

Ben Hubert got the win in relief of Kyler Archual. Hubert had 2.1 innings of relief, allowing 3 hits and no earned runs. Archual went 4.2 innings, giving up 5 hits and 3 earned runs.

Orr had 4 hits with a triple and 2 RBI, while Stevens had 3 hits with a home run and 5 RBI. Thamann added 3 hits.

TU got an early lead in game two. Orr drilled a solo shot in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, and then in the third Orr and Stevens singled and were sacrificed over. DeLaPaz drove both runners in with a single to put TU up 3-0.

TU got another run in the fourth inning, Aidan Grabowski doubled, with a groundout to short moving him to third base. Another grounder to short got the run home and put TU up 4-2, but the lead was shortlived as KWC tallied five runs in the bottom of the fourth.

TU played comeback the rest of the game. In the fifth, Bach reached on an error at third, and then came home on a triple by Thamann. A subsequent wild pitch let Thamann score and brought the Dragons to within 7-6.

Down 9-6 in the sixth, Orr crushed another solo shot. Bach then singled and came home on DeLaPaz's double to make it 9-8.

In the final inning, Thamann got a leadoff single but the Dragons fell by strikeout for the next three batters.

Andrew Siler took the loss in relief, going 1.2 innings and allowing 2 earned runs on 2 hits. Gunnar Boehm started and went 3 innings, allowing 6 earned runs.

Orr continued his hot streak with 3 more hits including 2 home runs for 3 RBI. DeLaPaz had 3 hits and 3 RBI while Thamann also had 2 hits.