The Little Giants' home-field advantage paid off, as the DePauw baseball team lost to Wabash College 12-5.
The result drops the Tigers to 12-18 so far this season and puts the Little Giants at 14-18.
Wabash struck first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but DePauw answered back in the top of the third with a run from freshman Brandon Dountz's grounder after junior Alex Berlyn's triple. The bottom of the third inning was all Wabash, who scored four runs.
Not to be outdone, DePauw immediately fired back in the top of the fourth inning with a homer by sophomore Zach Galyean to make it 6-2. The homer was followed by three more runs by junior Rob McPike, sophomore Jason Cohen and junior Alex Wright to bring the score to 6-5 as the momentum shifted towards the Tigers. However the DePauw men were unable to maintain their hot streak and Wabash went on to score six unanswered runs.
Junior Harry "Hobs" Donovan chalked DePauw's brief recovery up to the team's patience.
"The four run comeback came when we were being patient with their pitcher and getting our pitch to hit," Donovan said.
Donovan was frustrated with the final result and wants more consistency in the next game.
"We're going to need to practice hard and not let up with the bats to win this weekend," he said.
The team has their sights firmly set on the future and students have the chance to see them back in action in a doubleheader at home to Centre College this Saturday at noon and again Sunday at noon.
"This weekend is big for obvious reasons. We've had our ups and downs, but this is our crunch time. Everybody should be loose and ready to go because we need to leave it all on the field," said pitcher Elliott Ross, a junior.
The Tigers have great potential — hammering Wabash with four runs in the top of the fourth inning — and Ross is backing them to succeed under pressure this weekend.
"We have been good at getting the big win when we need it and this weekend we need it," he said.