The Tigers went .500 this weekend, winning their first two games of the season in a unique fashion. On Saturday, the team played Capital University (5-6) in Indianapolis and won their first game 5-4—in 12 innings.
“It felt good to get the first couple wins, it feels like we can play a bit looser now and more relaxed,” said junior Lucas Italiano, a major contributor for the wins all weekend.
After a scoreless first three innings, the Crusaders scored twice in the top of the fourth, taking the lead. In the bottom of the inning, DePauw University answered with a score from Italiano, who was brought in by sophomore Mike Hammel’s single into right field. It was the last time the Tiger’s would score until the ninth inning.
Capital scored twice more in the seventh inning, their lead now at 4-1. It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth that DePauw made their move.
Italiano once again jumpstarted the Tigers scoring with a single in the ninth. Senior Cory Meixner brought them both in for the score with a home run—and also brought the Tigers within one.
Hammel cracked another single, putting pinch runner first-year Johnny Gbur in a place to make a play—which he did. After stealing second, Gbur was in position to score. Thanks to a grounder to third by senior center fielder Collin Henry, who had already made a big defensive play that day, Gbur tied the game.
“We proved [this weekend] that we have the capacity to put it all together and be a resilient team. Even if things don't go our way, we are capable of staying in the game to give ourselves a chance,” Meixner said.
After going back and forth for three more scoreless innings, the Tiger’s sophomore Ryan Grippo managed to get on base after a single in the bottom of the 12th. Eventually plated by Italiano, the Tiger’s won their first game of the season in a dramatic fashion.
“It was good to finally [get a win] out of the way and help build some confidence going into Spring Break and leading up to conference play,” said Meixner.
As defending North Coast Athletic Conference champions, the Tigers plan to keep that title. Senior Jack Peck agreed with Meixner and said, “It was good to finally get our first couple of wins under our belts.”
The second game the Tigers played on Saturday also went to extra innings, however this time only ten. In a bizarre twist, DePauw managed to score twice, once in the third and once in the fourth, without getting a single hit—it was all from errors from Capital’s defense and sophomore pitcher Reid Pittard.
However, the two scores were not enough, and the Tigers ended up losing the second game 2-3.
Sunday, the team traveled from Indianapolis to Hanover, Indiana. There, they split another double header to Hanover College (4-4).
Losing the first game 5-9, Hanover managed to score five times in the eighth inning. Scoreless in the first two innings, the Tigers had taken a 3-0 lead after RBI’s from Meixner, Hammel and sophomore Jack Thompson.
“We had the two good wins in extras, but also gave up late leads in both of the losses. We need to be more consistent closing out games to not put ourselves in those extra inning situations,” said Italiano.
The only other scores came in the sixth inning, both from Hammel and Thompson again.
First-year pitcher Danny Farrar started his first game of the season and had the loss—Hanover had 13 hits during the game.
“We had a lot of different people playing different positions this weekend and a lot of young guys getting playing time so it was good to learn who can perform in a game when the pressure is on and who struggles in certain situations,” said Peck.
The second game of the day happened to be DePauw’s second victory of the season, winning 6-5.
The first score came in the first inning from Grippo after hitting a double. He was plated by Italiano’s single, starting the game off well for the Tigers.
However, Hanover quickly took a 4-1 lead on DePauw by the end of the third. In the fourth, first-year Tom Huettner and Henry teamed up as Huettner’s double brought Henry in, making the score 4-2.
Hanover’s last score came in the fourth. From there on, DePauw evened the score after scores from Henry and Grippo. The tie forced extra innings for the third time that weekend, this time reaching 11 innings. The final score was hammered home by Thompson.
“This past week was very eye opening in the sense that we proved that the offense can put up a lot of runs at times and our pitching staff can shut teams down,” said Peck. “The key is finding a balance when the defense, offense and pitching are all in sync. Once we get that figured out I think we will be hard to beat.”
One of the positives from the weekend was the cutback on other teams scoring—the first four games the other team was scoring an average of 9.25 runs a game, whereas for these four games the average was 5.25.
“Our pitching this weekend was a lot better than the first four games so that made it easier on the offense by not putting as much pressure on them to score runs,” said Peck. “Both wins were a great team effort but we still have a lot too work on in all areas of the game.”
Meixner, who’s home run helped the Tiger’s reach their first victory, credited the win to his team. “It was a team effort, piecing things together and finding a way to win,” he said.
The Tiger’s next games will take place over spring break in Atlanta, where they will face tough competition like Emory, who DePauw lost three games to last season. Other compitiors include Piedmont, Oglethorpe, and Hendrix. The spring break games are the last the Tiger’s have before NCAC play begins.