The Tiffin University baseball team split with Northwood in games three and four. Tiffin clobbered the Timberwolves in game three 17-7, but narrowly missed a come from behind win in game four, falling 7-6.
In game three, Tyler Nichols took to the hill. Nichols fell behind early, 2-0, but his offense quickly changed that. The Dragons crossed the plate three times in the bottom of the 1st. With one out, Elijah Sanabria and Nick Hueneburg each reached with back to back singles. Cody Spires then reached on an error by the Northwood second baseman, scoring Sanabria. With two on and two outs, Garrett Vernau laced a double down the left field line that plated Hueneburg and Spires to give TU a 3-2 advantage.
Tiffin added two more runs the next inning, with three straight singles by Seth Bryant, Kyle Durham, and Isaac Perry. The second run of the inning crossed the plate on a Sanabria fielder's choice to give Tiffin a 5-2 lead.
The Dragons continued their bashing in the 3rd. Kyle Durham ripped a double that one hopped the center field fence to score Bryant. Isaac Perry followed that with a double down the left field line to score Durham. Then Sanabria continued his stellar day at the plate with a single up the middle to plate Perry. This expanded the Dragon lead to 8-2.
Northwood scored their third run of the game with a couple of hits, but Tiffin answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the 5th. With two on, Seth Bryant lifted a high fly ball to center field that allowed the speedy Garrett Vernau to ease his way home.
The 6th was a wild and wacky inning that saw a combined 12 runs cross the plate. The Timberwolves crossed the plate four times with five hits and two Tiffin errors.
The Dragons blew the game wide open in their half of the 6th with a snowman in the frame. The eight Dragon runs came on 3 hits, 4 Northwood errors, and a balk. The big blow came courtesy of Nick Hueneburg. Hueneburg bashed a line shot that took off like a rocket, and had it not cleared the fence, would have ripped a hole through the chain link. The three run home run capped off the 17 run outburst.
Tyler Nichols picked up his 4th victory of the season on the mound, tossing 5 1/3 innings, giving up 10 hits, 7 runs, 4 earned, walked 3 and punched out 2. At the plate the Dragons peppered 15 hits, including five players with multiple hits. Isaac Perry was 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs, Garrett Vernau was 3 for 3 with a walk and two RBIs. Elijah Sanabria, Nick Hueneburg, and Kyle Durham each had two hits and multiple RBIs.
In game four, Tiffin and Northwood played a tighter contest. Senior Garrett Scott took to the hill for the final time in his TU career. He ran into trouble in the first two innings, giving up a run in each to trail 2-0.
In the 3rd, Tiffin answered the Timberwolf howl with a roar of their own. Kyle Heller sliced a double down the left field line to start the inning, and motored home on Garrett Vernau's RBI single to right field. Nick Hueneburg then lined a double down the left field line to score Vernau to tie the game at 2-2.
A sacrifice fly put Northwood back on top 3-2, but Tiffin again responded. Kyle Heller singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Garrett Vernau again came through with a single to right center field to knot the game at 3-3.
Northwood scored a run in the 5th and two more in the 7th to lead 6-3. The Dragons added a run in the 8th with a Kyle Durham sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to two at 6-4.
In the top of the 9th, Northwood tacked on a run with a solo home run that at the time seemed insignificant, but it would be costly. The Dragons began their threat in the bottom of the 9th with a Cody Spires double. Seth Bryant stepped to the plate with two down, and was down to his final strike when he smoked a hanging breaking ball to deep left field that traveled well beyond the left field fence to pull the Dragons within a run at 7-6. The Timberwolves were able to finish off the Dragons and ultimately end their 2015 campaign.
Garrett Scott took the loss on the mound, hurling 6 1/3 innings, giving up 10 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned, walked 5 and fanned 6. At the plate, Garrett Vernau was 2 for 4 with a pair of runs batted in. Nick Hueneburg collected two hits and an RBI, and Kyle Heller finished his day 2 for 2.
The Dragons finish the season at 19-31 overall and 12-20 in GLIAC play. Tiffin said farewell to five seniors after the conclusion of game four - Cody Spires, Garrett Scott, Tyler Craigo, Nick Calandra, and Josh Hoar were all honored in front of their family and friends.
