Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Wabash finished its home series against Wittenberg with a Saturday split. The Little Giants took game one 2-1 behind a pitching gem from freshman Josh Piercey. The Tigers poured in runs early in the second for an 8-4 win over Wabash.

Wabash loss 3 out of 4 on the weekend after being swept in Friday's double header to open the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division portion of the Little Giants' schedule.

Prior to the game Wabash honored the Kolisek family by adding their name to concourse at Goodrich Ballpark. View the photos from the ceremony here and photos from the game one victory here.

“You can't get swept in conference and we were at least able to get one out of them,” Coach Cory Stevens said. “To at least get a win out of the weekend is important.”

Piercey dealt a stellar five innings before turning the ball over to fellow freshman Nelson Novack in Wabash's lone win of the weekend. Novack closed out the final two innings without surrendering a run to pick up his second save of the season. Piercey struck out 2 batters while allowing 1 run on 6 hits. Novack allowed 1 hit and struck out 2 batters.

Piercey smoothly executed his plan of attack.

“They're a very good fastball-hitting team so I worked a lot of off speed pitches,” Piercey said. “I was trying to hit the corners and expand the strike zone.”

“When they got ahead, they (Piercey and Novack) made them (Wittenberg hitters) hit their pitch,” Stevens added. “Our guys worked the zone and we made plays behind them so that does a lot for a pitcher's confidence.”

 The Little Giants (7-10, 1-3 NCAC West) played flawlessly in the field Saturday, committing zero errors in both games.

Wabash pitching was not as dominant in game two, however. Starter Luke Holm struggled early allowing 4 runs in the first two innings. He only lasted 4 innings and allowed 6 runs on 11 hits.

“Wittenberg (11-2, 3-1 NCAC West) does a great job hitting and it found holes in that second game,” Stevens said. “Kind of opposite of the first game, I don't think until Austin Hawn '15 threw we got ahead of hitters. When we did get ahead, we were still throwing in the zone.”

Hawn threw 3 and two-thirds innings only allowing 1 hit and no runs.

Offensively, the Little Giants never could quite muster up a rally in game two — they scored 1 run in four separate innings.

“I thought we did a decent job putting the ball in play, we just couldn't string anything together,” Stevens said.  

Stevens highlighted a sequence in which Lucas Stippler walked, and then aggressively attempted a steal on ball in the dirt. The ball hit the umpire and bounced right back to the catcher who gunned down Stippler at second.

“That's kind of the way it went in that second game,” Stevens said.

Andrew Rodgers went 3-for-8 with an RBI and run on the day. Tanner Watson added 3 hits in 6 at bats with a run. Trey Fankhauser also had a solid day, going 2-for-5 with 2 RBI.

Wabash will move outside of the West Division of the NCAC next weekend with a two-game set at the College of Wooster on Saturday. The Little Giants take the field Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Rose-Hulman at Goodrich Ballpark.