The Tiffin University baseball team traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Bellarmine University Knights in a double header. The Dragons took game one 7-4, but were defeated in the night cap 10-3.
The Dragons sent junior Logan Sendelbach to the mound in search of win number two on the season, and he received run support from the opening at bat. Garrett Vernau smacked an opposite field leadoff homer to right field to get the Dragons' offense rolling. Tiffin tacked on two more runs in the 1st on a Cole McCurry double, scoring Cody Spires and Nick Hueneberg. After a half inning the Dragons led 3-0.
In the 3rd, Noah Heard plated two Tiffin runs on a drive to left center field that allowed Heard to motor around to third base for a triple, and pushed Alex Hartley and Cole McCurry home. Bellarmine cracked the board in the bottom half of the inning, manufacturing three runs on a single and a fielders' choice. With those three runs, the Dragon lead was cut to 5-3.
Both teams scored in inning number six. Elijah Sanabria scampered home on a passed ball to put the Dragons up 6-3. Bellarmine flexed their muscle in the bottom of the 6th with a solo shot to right field to put the score at 6-4.
The Dragons added one more run in the 7th on an Elijah Sanabria single that scored Hueneberg, and the Dragons led 7-4. That was enough for Sendelbach, as he finished off the Knights in the 7th to earn his second victory of the season.
Logan Sendelbach went the distance for the Dragons, surrendering 7 hits, 2 earned runs, and punched out 6. The offense banged out 10 hits, led by Nick Hueneberg, Alex Hartley, and Cole McCurry with two hits each. McCurry and Noah Heard tallied two RBI"S each.
In game two, Tyler Nichols toed the rubber for Tiffin looking for his first victory of the season. The scoring started when Cody Spires reached on a throwing error by the third baseman, scoring Garrett Vernau. Alex Hartley added another run on a sacrifice fly to plate Nick Hueneberg, and the Dragons led 2-0.
The Knights struck for three runs in the 2nd inning on a single that plated a pair, and a sacrifice fly that gave them an early 3-2 lead. Then in the 4th inning, it all went wrong for the Dragons. Bellarmine scored six runs in the inning on five hits, two errors, and two walks. After four, the Dragons trailed 9-2.
The Dragons and Knights each scored a run in the 5th. Garrett Vernau cracked another solo home run, this time to left field. The Knights scored their final run on an error. Bellarimine's lead was 10-3, and it would stay that way for the rest of the game.
Tyler Nichols suffered the loss, only sticking around for 3 innings, and surrendering 9 runs, 6 earned, 10 hits, and struck out 2. Offensively, Tiffin had six hits, and Garrett Vernau had half of them, going 3 for 3 with a home run.
Tiffin sits at 2-4 overall, and will be back in action on Monday from Clearwater, Florida as they will dig in against Upper Iowa.
