Denison University got two spectacular performances from their pitching staff as they won the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division crown and secured their seventh overall berth in the NCAC Tournament with a pair of wins over Earlham College on Wednesday in Granville. DU won the opener 2-1 in eight innings, and took the second game 12-0.
In game one, sophomore pitcher Tyler Vaske (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) tossed a seven-inning gem. The sophomore scattered five hits, allowed one run and struck out five. Relievers Hunter Sorensen (Houston, Texas/Memorial) and Bob Giarratani (Winthrop, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) combined to pitch the final inning, with Giarratani picking up his first win of the year.
In the bottom of the first, senior Alex Horn (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) sent a two-out single through the left side of the infield. Senior Aidan Lucas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) followed that up with a double down the left field line that scored Horn from first and gave DU an early 1-0 lead.
Denison's one-run advantage held up until a ground out to second in the seventh by Chris Tillery drove in pinch runner Nate Reynolds to force extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Giarratani entered the game with one out and the go-ahead run at third base. After walking the first batter he faced, the junior got Connor Gable to fly out to shallow left field, and Nate Reynolds to ground into a fielder's choice out to keep the scored tied at 1-1.
The Big Red wasted no time ending the game in the bottom of the frame. Senior Zach Huttie (Cary, N.C./Athens Drive) led the inning off single up the middle. Junior Peter Krieger (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) locked up the No. 1 seed in the NCAC West with a double to left center that plated Huttie.
The nightcap wasn't as close as 10 Big Red hits, coupled with seven Quaker errors resulted in a 12-0 victory. Denison expanded on a 3-0 lead with a nine-run fifth inning.
Danny Pritz (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) and Tim Duxbury (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) sparked the DU offense in game two. Pritz went 3-for-4, while Duxbury was 1-for-2 at the plate. Both drove in two, scored twice and swiped a bag. Junior Matt Forgatch (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) stole his 21st base of the season, which puts him one away from tying Denison's single-season record.
On the hill, Lucas surrendered just one hit and fanned five batters in five innings of work en route to earning his second win of the year. Sophomore Chris Fries (Cooper City, Fla./American Heritage) tossed two hitless innings in relief.
Denison improves to 21-15 overall and closes out NCAC West play with an 11-5 record, while Earlham falls to 8-24 and 2-14. The Big Red returns to the field Thursday (April 23) when they travel to Wooster, Ohio to take on the seventh-ranked Fighting Scots. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
