The Tigers won three out of four games against conference foe Ohio Wesleyan this past weekend. The team moved to 11-10 after playing six games in a span of four days. This was the first time the Tigers have won a double-header this year and are currently in the midst of their longest win streak at three games.
In the nightcap on Sunday, DePauw trailed 3-1 going into the bottom of the fifth. Then, the Tigers offense exploded. After junior Paul Mpistolarides lined out to third, junior John McCallum and junior Patrick Lyons recorded back-to-back singles to left field. Junior Brendon Pashia drove McCallum home with another single to left and senior Zach Galyean followed suit driving in Lyons. First baseman, Jason Cohen drove in Pashia with a fielder's choice to give the Tigers their first lead, 4-3.
"We talk about putting quality at bats together whether that is through a walk, hit-by-pitch, hit, or even just extending an at-bat," head coach Jake Martin said. "We don't focus so much on scoring runs, its just about advancing runners and string together good quality at bats."
However, the Tigers were not done in the fifth inning. With two outs, the Tigers scored six runs more runs to push the score to 10-3.
"We had really good approaches at the plate this weekend," Mpistolarides. "When we scored nine runs in the 5th inning, it wasn't a bunch of home runs and doubles, it was guys working counts and putting the ball in play to string a bunch of singles together."
The Tigers also had a solid defense throughout the day. Mpistolarides stood out as he made three great plays to end scoring threats from the Battling Bishop's in the fourth, sixth and seventh inning.
"Overall, it was a really good day defensively," Martin said. "Paul Mpistolarides had some huge plays and the outfield made some big plays too."
The Tigers dominated in pitching as well during the games. In the nightcap on Saturday, sophomore Jack Peck pitched only allowed one run in a 9-3 win for the Tigers. In the first game on Sunday, junior Alex Sroka pitched six innings only allowing two runs in a game the Tigers won 4-3. In the nightcap on Sunday the Battling Bishops challenged senior Jordan Niespodziany's throws as he threw five innings, the Bishops ending the game with eight runs.
"Jordan Niespodziany did a nice job of throwing strikes, he didn't have his best stuff but he competed for us and that's what we ask," Martin said. "Your not always going to have you're A game when you go out there, but can you compete with your B and C stuff."
The Tigers look forward to continue their winning streak Wednesday against Franklin.
"We have some momentum with the three game winning streak, and I think we can continue this week and get hot heading into a weekend conference series against Wabash," Mpistolarides said.
