Park Smith (Warren, N.J./The Pingry School) just couldn't let his teammate one-up him. One day after his classmate, Aidan Lucas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Twp.), turned arguably his most impressive start of his career in an eight inning, six-hit, eight strikeout gem resulting in a victory over Allegheny, Smith came through with a performance every bit as impressive on Friday night against the Little Giants.
Smith went the distance, allowing one run while scattering 11 hits and leading the Big Red defeat Wabash 7-1 in an elimination game from VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio. The win allows the Big Red to return on Saturday (May 1) for a shot at the 2010 North Coast Athletic Conference championship. In order to bring the coveted trophy back to Granville, Denison will have to defeat The College of Wooster twice. The first game will begin at 11 a.m. Should Denison win the opener, a second game will take place 20 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
Denison struck first with a four-run, two out rally that was kicked off by an error by the Wabash left fielder. Denison second baseman Evan Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) lifted a high fly ball to to short left field where the Wabash defender slightly over ran the fly ball causing it to go off his glove and fall to the turf. Nicholson would advance to second on the play and Matt Forgatch (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) would drive in the first run of the game off a base hit up the middle.
Senior catcher Alex Horn (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) would follow with a single and Lucas would deliver a two-run double off the top of the wall in left field, scoring Horn and Forgatch. On the first pitch to first baseman Kevin Teague (Fairfax Station, Va./St. Stephen's & St. Anges) he jumped all over a Chris Widup delivery for his first triple of the season, putting Denison on top 4-0.
In the Wabash half of the fifth, it looked as if the Little Giants could answer the Big Red's four-spot when the power-hitting John Holm stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and only one out. Holm, who set a new school record with three home runs in the day's earlier game versus Allegheny, was the last player head coach Mike Clark wanted to see digging into the batters box. With no base open, Smith went to work on Holm and got the big lefty swinging at strike three on a 1-2 pitch. Smith would get Montana Timmons to fly out to right field to end the Wabash threat.
In the sixth, DU would add one more run off an RBI double by Andrew Mahle (Belle Mead, N.J./Montgomery) that scored Zach Huttie (Cary, N.C./Athens Drive) from second base. Huttie would go on to lace a two-out, two-run single in the ninth to put Denison on top, 7-1.
Teague led the Denison offense by going 3-for-5 in his first start of the tournament. Mahle was 2-for-4 with two doubles while Huttie and Lucas paced the Big Red with two RBIs apiece.
Denison improves to 23-17 with the win and will turn their attention to a talented Wooster squad who sent the Big Red to the losers bracket earlier in the day with a 12-2 defeat. This will mark the third time that Denison and Wooster will meet with an NCAC title on the line. The Scots defeated the Big Red in 2004 and 2005 when the championship was awarded to the winner of a best-of-three series.
