The Tiffin University baseball team split with the Wayne State Warriors on Saturday afternoon, but narrowly missed a come from behind victory in game two.
Logan Sendelbach took to the hill in game one, and ran into trouble in the first two innings. Wayne St. plated a run in the first inning with a single to right center field to make it 1-0. A single to left field in the 2nd inning made it 2-0.
Trailing 2-0, Tiffin's offense came to life. Jack Dennis was hit by a pitch to start the inning, Seth Bryant then walked, and Isaac Perry was trying to give himself up with a sac bunt, but reached when the Warriors booted the bunt. With the bases loaded, Elijah Sanabria collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it a 2-1 contest.
With Tiffin still trailing in the 6th, it was time to get something going. A one out double put Elijah Sanabria aboard, a ground out moved Sanabria to third, and Cody Spires delivered an RBI single to left field to tie the game. In the 7th, Hayden Spellbring laced a double to left center field to put the go ahead run on. Spellbring moved to third on a chopper hit to the second baseman, and trotted home after Wayne State kicked an Isaac Perry grounder to give Tiffin a 3-2 lead.
Logan Sendelbach gave up the two early runs, but dominated the following five innings. Logan went the distance, scattering 4 hits, walking 4, and fanned 9. At the plate, Tiffin was led by Elijah Sanabria with a 2 for 3 performance and an RBI.
Kyle Montell drew the start in game two and surrendered a 1st inning run on a sac fly. The Warriors added to their lead in the 3rd with back to back RBI singles to make it 3-0.
Tiffin got the offense rolling in the 4th. Nick Hueneburg reached on a fielder's choice and Cody Spires drew a walk to put a pair on. Nick Calandra stepped to the plate and laced a single to right center field to score Hueneburg and Tiffin trailed 2-1. Alex Hartley kept the line rolling with an RBI single to right field to pull the Dragons within a run at 3-2.
The Warriors responded with a two spot of their own in the bottom of the inning. Two Dragon errors aided Wayne State, as both runs that scored were unearned, giving Wayne State a 5-2 lead.
In the 5th, Isaac Perry singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Elijah Sanabria, with two outs, laced an RBI single down the right field line to make it a 5-3 contest. The Dragons next offensive threat came in the 8th. Cody Spires walked and advanced to second on a ground ball out. Spires then scored on the Hayden Spellbring single to pull Tiffin within a run at 5-4. Spellbring stole second to move into scoring position as the tying run, but was stranded, and the Warriors held on for a 5-4 win.
Kyle Montell took the loss on the mound, pitching 3 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 runs, all earned, and struck out 1. Mike Cooperider relieved Montell, and tossed 5 innings, surrendering 2 hits, 2 runs, none earned, walked 1, and fanned 5.
Offensively, Nick Calandra was 2 for 3 with an RBI and Alex Hartley was 2 for 4 with an RBI. The Dragons collected 8 hits in the game, but stranded 7 runners.
Tiffin sits at 12-19 overall and 6-8 in GLIAC play. The series will conclude tomorrow as the Dragons and Warriors will play two more games in Detroit.
