The Tiffin University baseball team survived a marathon of a game on Wednesday afternoon, winning 7-5 over Cedarville in 14 innings. The game saw a combined total of nine pitchers used.
Patrick Bellinger got the start on the hill for the Dragons, but scuffled along, lasting only 3 2/3 innings. Bellinger surrendered 5 runs on 8 hits. The Dragon offense plated a pair of runs in the 2nd inning, thanks to the first of four errors by the Yellow Jackets. A hit by pitch and passed ball allowed Seth Bryant to advance to second base. Isaac Perry sacrificed Bryant to third, and Jack Dennis reached on an error by Cedarville to score Bryant. The error put Dennis at second, and another passed ball moved him to third. Elijah Sanabria singled to center to score Dennis to give Tiffin a 2-0 lead.
Cedarville answered with a run in the bottom of the 3rd. Three straight singles with two outs gave the Yellow Jackets their first run of the game. But the big blow was an inning away.
Cedarville smacked back to back singles to start the bottom of the 4th. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up, and a wild pitch pushed a run home. After a walk put runners on the corners, a double chased home another run, and put two in scoring position with one out. The next batter tripled to plate both, and Cedarville led 5-2.
It took five innings before the Dragons threatened again, but when they did, they made it count. A single and back to back hit batters loaded the bases. Alex Hartley then showed great patience by working a walk to drive home a run. Fernando Nieto, seeing his first action of the season, laced a single to left center to score two, and Tiffin had tied the game at 5-5.
Great pitching by both bullpens dominated the 8th-13th innings. The Dragons leaned on Nate Brunty and Tim Benner during those innings. Combined, the pair threw 7 innings, surrendering only 4 hits, no runs, and punched out 4.
In the top of the 14th, Tiffin revved up the offensive motor for one last push to the finish. Isaac Perry doubled with one out, and Devin Ambrose collected his first hit and RBI as a Dragon, with a single to drive home Perry. Nick Raifsnider reached with two down on an error to put runners at first and third, and Alec McCurry made Cedarville pay with a liner to right field to score Ambrose.
With the 7-5 advantage, Tiffin looked to the side winding right-hander Justin Bailey to finish the job. Bailey retired the side in order, picking up the win in relief.
The Dragon bullpen baffled Cedarville, throwing 10 2/3 innings, allowing 5 hits, no runs, and struck out 8. Offensively, Alec McCurry, Fernando Nieto, and Isaac Perry each banged out two hits. Nieto also knocked in a pair of runs.
The win moves the Dragons to 11-15 overall. Tiffin will be back in action on Friday, as they travel to take on the Ashland Eagles.
