Wittenberg doubles up the Diamond Cats

With just one week remaining in the American Legion season until regionals, Wittenberg is hoping to get into a nice groove leading into the postseason.

Following its 4-2 win over Clintonville on July 13, Wittenberg is heading in that direction as a strong pitching performance helped Wittenberg take down the Diamond Cats.

“We pitched well from start to finish tonight,” head coach Jason Rieck said. “Both of our guys were around the zone and did a great job limiting the free passes. Any time you can limit the walks and throw strikes you are going to put yourself in a position to win games.”

When Wittenberg has success, it is usually their pitching that sets the tone as Mason Meverden and Nathan Waupekenay were on top of their games. Meverden got the start and scattered five hits across four innings. He allowed one run and struck out four before giving way to Waupekenay. Waupekenay continued to throw the ball well, allowing an unearned run on three hits in three innings to finish the job and give Wittenberg the win.

“Nathan and I were able to hold a very good offense to limited production at the plate,” Meverden said. “I did a great job of keeping their hitters off balance by mixing up my pitches and changing speeds. That is something that I haven’t been able to do a lot of this season, so it felt good to have all my pitches working.”

Despite being out hit 8-3 in the game, Wittenberg made those hits count as they also managed to take seven free passes. Waupeknay started the game with a leadoff walk before being erased on a fielder’s choice shortly after. A one out single from Owen Dickman kept the inning alive while an additional walk loaded the bases. Evan Meverden came through with one of the few hits Wittenberg would have as his single put Wittenberg in front 1-0.

Following a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the first by the Diamond Cats, it was the Wittenberg offense coming through once again in the third as they grabbed the lead and never looked back. A pair of walks to open the inning helped set things up for the offense while a passed ball with two outs allowed Dickman to come home and put Wittenberg up 2-1.

With Clintonville continuing to keep the pressure on, only to have Meverden work into and out of trouble, Wittenberg knew they would need more offense to feel a bit more comfortable. They answered the call in the fourth as they continued to capitalize on the chances they were given. A Pierson Potrykus walk to start the inning put another runner on base before the next two hitters were retired.

However, all was not lost as Waupekenay came through with a clutch RBI single to extend the Wittenberg lead to 3-1. Rieck would have liked a bit more hitting, but was happy with what his team was able to do.

“We were able to get a couple of early runs and fortunately we made that hold up,” he said. “We may not have hit the ball well, but we did take a ton of walks and capitalized when given the opportunity. It doesn’t matter how you get on base as long as you find a way to drive in those runs.”

Following that run that saw Wittenberg grab a two-run lead, it was all about the pitching from both sides as 14 of the next 16 combined hitters were retired with a walk and a single as the lone blemishes. Holding that 3-1 lead in the seventh, the patience of Wittenberg continued to pay off as Dickman worked another walk before coming home to score on an error to push the lead to 4-1.

Down to their final three outs, Waupekenay was looking to finish things only to run into a bit of trouble. On the strength of three singles, the Diamond Cats loaded the bases and were within one big hit of making things interesting. Waupekenay managed to limit the damage with one run coming home to score before slamming the door on an impressive 4-2 win. Meverden loved the way his team continued to fight all night even though it looked like the offense was dead.

“We may not get a lot of hits, but the ones we do tend to do damage,” he said. “That is all you can ask for from the guys at the plate. As long as they can do the job and get on base, it only takes a few hits to push across some runs which is exactly what we did tonight.”