Wooster starter Matt Barnes gave the Scots seven strong innings and his offense pounded out 18 hits en route to a 12-2 victory over the Denison Big Red in the third game of the 2010 North Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament from VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio. 

With the win, the Fighting Scots remain in the winners bracket and advance to Saturday's championship game at 1 p.m.  The Big Red fall to the losers bracket where they will face the winner of the Wabash-Allegheny (Game 4), tonight at 7 p.m.

The Fighting Scots set the tone from the onset when senior second baseman Matthew Johnson hit the third pitch of the contest over the wall in right-center field.  Entering the game Johnson was a red-hot 13-for-14 at the plate over the last five games and the Big Red only fanned the flames. Johnson would finish 3-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBIs raising his season average to .469.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the second inning, DU designated hitter Aidan Lucas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) homered to right center to put the Big Red on the board.

The score would remain 3-1 until the pivotal Wooster half of the sixth inning when the Scots plated four runs off five hits, the biggest being a two-run double by Stu Beath to the high-traffic area in right center.  From there, Barnes was in control as the senior would work until the eighth inning, holding the Denison bats to just two runs off nine hits while striking out six.

Denison starter Tyler Vaske (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) pitched 5.2 innings, allowing nine hits and seven earned runs while striking out two. Lucas was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run to lead the Big Red offense.  Evan Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) also went 2-for-3 with a walk.

The Big Red will try and keep their 2010 season alive later tonight.  Game five will begin at 7 p.m. or shortly after depending on the duration of game four.