Aidan Lucas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) struck out a career-high eight batters and allowed only one run off six hits in eight impressive innings as the Big Red topped Allegheny, 5-1 in the opening game of the 2010 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament from VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Lucas had his mid-90s fastball working as the Gators continually found themselves working out of 0-2 holes in the count. However, for five innings Allegheny's Matt Dishong was matching Lucas pitch for pitch.
Dishong entered the contest with the conference's second-lowest ERA at 2.50. He held the DU bats to just three hits through the first four innings.
In the top of the fifth inning, Lucas and the Big Red worked out of the first jam of the afternoon thanks to a heady play by senior first baseman Park Smith (Warren, N.J./The Pingry School). After a lead off double to right field for James Fago, the Gators attempted and failed for the third time on a sacrifice bunt attempt. The bunted ball would be handled cleanly by Smith who fired a strike to Matt Forgatch (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) at third base who applied the tag on Fago for the first out of the inning. Lucas would induce two straight infield ground outs to end the inning for DU.
The Big Red would put the first run on the scoreboard in their half of the fifth when Evan Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) drove in Danny Pritz (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) with an RBI single to right field.
In the sixth DU would break through with three runs after Alex Horn (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) opened the inning with a double to left field. Lucas would walk and Smith would drop down a sacrifice bunt that would be fielded in front of home plate by catcher Ben Lowmaster who went to third base to try and cut down Horn rather than going to first base and taking the sure out. The play that had worked for Denison three times earlier in the game came back to bite the Gators. Horn, Lucas and Smith were all safe, loading the bases for Zach Huttie (Cary, N.C./Athens Drive).
Huttie would follow with a chopper to third base, cutting down Lucas but scoring Horn. Now with one out and two runners on, No. 9 hitter Andrew Mahle (Belle Mead, N.J./Montgomery) would deliver the game's biggest hit, a line drive single to right field, scoring Huttie and Smith to give the Big Red a 4-1 lead.
DU would add one more run in the seventh thanks to the speed of Forgatch. After a single to the hole at shortstop, he would steal both second and third base, setting up an RBI opportunity for Smith that the senior jumped all over. His RBI single up the middle capped off a 3-for-3 day at the plate. The two stolen bases for Forgatch also punched his ticket into the Denison record books. The steals were his 22nd and 23rd of the season, which breaks the DU single-season record for steals.
Lucas would work a scoreless eighth inning before handing the ball over to Chris Fries (Cooper City, Fla./American Heritage) who sent Allegheny down in order. Lucas improved to 3-3 with the victory and lowered his season ERA to 3.08. Dishong fell to 4-3 while allowing a season-high five earned runs.
Denison advances to the second round on Friday where they will face-off against the winner of Wooster-Wabash at 12 p.m.
