Tiger Men's Baseball: Two wins open home season for Tigers

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On a warm but cloudy Tuesday afternoon, the DePauw men's baseball team played its first home game at Walker Field. 

"It was probably the best we've played all year," said sophomore in-fielder Jason Cohen. "Everything is starting to come together for us." 

The Tigers picked up a doubleheader sweep over visiting Anderson University bringing their overall record to 5-5, while the Ravens dropped to 2-2. A strong pitching performance, unwavering defense and strongly improved hitting lead the Tigers to win the first game, 2-1, and the nightcap, 3-2. 

"When we needed runs, we fought for them," Cohen said. "Our pitching was great. We now get to save pitchers for the weekend." 

Cohen lead-off home run in the bottom of the fourth inning gave DePauw a 1-0 lead in the opener, but Anderson tied the score in the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, freshman outfielder Robbie Stein reached base on a failed sacrifice bunt and moved to second on junior Chris Forbringer's single-to-left.  

Senior infielder Ben Gardner was hit by a pitch before junior Sam Swafford, a catcher, singled-to-right, scoring Stein with the game-winning run. Junior Andy Manson pitched the entire first game and improved to 1-1 allowing just five hits in seven innings. 

In the nightcap, the Ravens took a 2-0 lead in the opening frame. DePauw cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first inning as first baseman Rob McPike, a junior, singled with two outs and moved to second when Cohen drew a walk.  

Infielder Alex Wright, a junior, singled-to-right scored McPike. The Tigers added the game-winning tallies in the second and there were no runs for the remainder of the game. Pitcher Mike Peterson, a senior, completed the game and improved to 1-2 as he allowed just three hits and just one over the final eight innings. 

Cohen said he believes that the team needs to keep their energy up and not lose their focus if they want to keep winning. Having student fans and better weather definitely put a hop in the Tigers' steps, positive factors that will hopefully stick with them for the rest of the season.