Junior Danny Pritz (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) hit a walk-off double in the 13th inning to lift the Denison baseball team to a 7-6 victory over St. Norbert College on Wednesday afternoon at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Fla.
St. Norbert jumped out to a 2-0 lead after posting runs in the top of the first and second innings. The Big Red erased the early deficit when rookie Tim Duxbury (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) drove in junior Peter Krieger (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and sophomore Andrew Mahle (Belle Mead, N.J./Montgomery) with a one-out triple in the bottom of the second. DU took their first lead of the afternoon in the same frame when Duxbury crossed the plate on an RBI single by sophomore David Baskin (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township).
The Green Knights regained the lead in the top of the fourth with a pair of runs. The game-tying run scored on a fielding error by the Big Red, while the go-ahead tally crossed the dish on a two-out double by Matt Hannon.
Denison knotted the game at 4-4 in the bottom half of the fifth inning on a solo home run by senior first baseman Park Smith (Warren, N.J./The Pingry School). The senior took a 2-2 fastball over the left field wall for his first homer of the season.
With two outs in the seventh, junior Matt Forgatch (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) logged a double to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Looking to generate an offensive spark, head coach Mike Clark called for a hit and run with Smith at the plate. The designed play worked to perfection as the senior blasted a double to score Forgatch and give Denison a 5-4 edge.
Still trailing by one heading into the ninth, St. Norbert retook the lead (6-5) after a pair of fielding miscues by the Big Red resulted in two runs for the Green Knights.
Needing one run to tie the contest, DU led off the bottom half of the ninth with a David Holmes (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) single. Tyler Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover), who pinch ran for Holmes, went from first to third on a hit-and-run single by Smith. Pritz drove in Nicholson on an RBI ground out to the shortstop to tie the game and force extra innings.
St. Norbert had a shot to score the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, but a great relay from Pritz to Smith to senior catcher Alex Horn (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) gunned down Ryan Kehl at the plate keeping the score tied.
Approaching four hours of action, the two squads headed into the bottom of the 13th inning still knotted at 6-6. Leadoff hitter Danny Kraus (Westlake, Ohio/Westlake) opened the frame with a base hit. After a Nicholson sacrifice bunt moved Kraus to second, the Green Knights chose to intentionally walk Smith and pitch to Pritz. The junior outfielder came up with his second clutch hit of the day when he lined a double over the left fielder's head which scored Kraus from second and gave DU the 7-6 victory.
The Denison offense was paced by three hits from Smith and Kraus. Smith hit a home run and drove in two RBIs, while Kraus stole one base and scored the game-winning run. Pritz finished the day 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
Also logging two hits for the Big Red were Mahle, Baskin, Duxbury and Andrew Touhy (Wilmette, Ill./Loyola Academy). Additionally, Krieger's base hit in the second extended his current hitting streak to seven games.
DU's pitching staff also had an outstanding day. Junior Nick Smith (Mirror Lake, N.H./Holderness School) got the start, allowing four runs (two earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts in six innings of work. Senior Aidan Lucas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) relieved Smith and surrendered two runs (one earned) on six hits with three Ks in four innings. McCavitt Carter (Hanoverton, Ohio/United Local) and Hunter Sorensen (Houston, Texas/Memorial) combined for 2.2 hitless frames, while rookie Phil Seay (Brooklyn, N.Y./Berkeley Carroll School) only needed one pitch to record the final out of the 13th inning to pick up the win.
Denison improves to 6-3 on the season, while St. Norbert falls to 3-3. The Big Red returns to action on Thursday (March 18) when they take on Anderson (Ind.) at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, Fla. First pitch is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.
