Sophomore David Holmes' (Lake, Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) sixth-inning single helped the Denison baseball team split a doubleheader in their North Coast Athletic Conference opener against Earlham College on Saturday.  The Big Red dropped game one to the Quakers, 4-1, but rebounded in the nightcap with a 6-5 victory.

In the opener, the Quakers broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the top of the third inning.  With the bases loaded and one out, Andrew Morrical laced a base hit through the right side that scored Chris Tillery and Tyler Schroeder.  Earlham's third run came via RBI single up the middle by Conner Gable.  Denison trimmed the margin to 3-1 in the fourth on a single to left field by senior Alex Horn (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) that scored junior Peter Krieger (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan).  Krieger reached base on a two-out double to left center.  The Quakers added a fourth run in the fifth  on back-to-back one-out doubles by Schroeder and Jake Carr.

Senior Aidan Lucas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits.  Lucas struck out four batters and walked one in five innings of work.  Earlham's Adam Painter scattered eight hits, gave up one run and fanned one en route to his second win of the year.

In the second game, Lucas knocked in sophomore Andrew Mahle (Belle Mead, N.J./Montgomery) on a double to right center in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1.  The Big Red opened the second frame with three consecutive singles.  DU plated two in the inning on a pair of fielder's choice outs by Danny Kraus (Westlake, Ohio/Westlake) and Evan Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover).

After the Quakers trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the third, Denison responded in the bottom half of the frame with a solo home run by sophomore catcher Justin Vaske (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West).  The long ball was the first of Vaske's career and put the Big Red back up by two (4-2).  DU tacked on another run in the fifth when Lucas crossed the dish on a wild pitch.

Earlham evened the score at 5-5 with three tallies in the top of the sixth inning.  The Quakers scored on a bases loaded walk, a sacrifice fly to center field and a two-out Denison fielding error.

Senior Zach Huttie (Cary, N.C./Athens Drive) led off the bottom of the sixth with a base hit to left center field.  Earlham quickly made a pitching change bringing in Gable to try and close out the frame.  On the very first pitch by Gable, pinch runner Tyler Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position.  After Tim Duxbury (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) struck out trying to drop a bunt, Gable walked Kraus to put runners at first and second with one out.  Nicholson was erased from the base paths on a 245 pickoff play.  On the pickoff play Kraus advanced to second to keep the Big Red threat alive.  Following another base-on-balls to Andrew Touhy (Wilmette, Ill./Loyola Academy), Holmes lined a two-out single into right center that scored Kraus and put DU back on top, 6-5.

Holding onto a one-run lead heading into the final inning, the stage was set for junior Dale McOsker (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) to pick up his first win of the season.  The right-hander got Carr to hit a ground ball to Matt Forgatch (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) at first.  McOsker covered first on the play to record the first out of the inning.  The junior then got Morrical to sky one back to the pitcher that was easily corralled by hurler.  The Loveland, Ohio native finished his impressive outing with a strikeout on Gable.

McOsker fanned two batters in two hitless innings to earn the victory.  Senior Park Smith (Warren, N.J./The Pingry School) went five innings, allowed two earned runs on four hits and posted five Ks in the no decision.  Gable was saddled with the loss, surrendering one run on one hit in one inning of work.

On the day, Kraus went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run, while Krieger had a double and scored twice.  Lucas went 2-for-3 in the second game with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored.

Denison (10-7, 1-1 NCAC West) closes out the weekend series with Earlham (2-11, 1-5 NCAC West) on Sunday in Granville.  Game one of the doubleheader is slated to start at 1 p.m.