Case Western Reserve put up 13 runs in the middle innings as they handed the Denison University baseball team a 19-2 loss on Wednesday evening in Granville, Ohio.

Ahead 2-0 through four innings, the Spartans (27-12) broke the game open with a seven-run fifth frame, and added five more tallies in the top of the sixth.  Case Western Reserve posted five more runs in the ninth inning.  Both Big Red runs came in the bottom of the sixth.  Junior Andrew Mahle scored DU's first run of the game when David Baskin reached on a fielding error by the second baseman.  The second run crossed on an RBI single by Kyle Clemmenson that scored senior Matt Forgatch.

The Spartans outhit Denison 18-7, including a 5-0 advantage in extra base hits.  Forgatch paced the Big Red offense with two hits and a run scored, while Clemmenson finished with a single and an RBI.  Drew Rice, Mahle, Peter Krieger, and Lowell Hall were responsible for the other DU hits.

Brett Ossola logged a game-high three hits and seven RBIs to pace the Case offense, while Sam Alexander and Chad Mullins, the national leader in RBIs, each drove in three runs.  Alexander also scored four times, while Matt Richards and Mullins crossed the dish three time apiece.

The Spartans' Bradley Potter picked up his first win of the season after scattering five hits in six innings.  Potter gave up two runs (one earned) and logged five strikeouts.  Denison senior Bob Giarratani took the loss after giving up seven runs on seven hits in four frames.

With four North Coast Athletic Conference games remaining, the Big Red (15-18) are in a dogfight for the final spot in next weekend's NCAC Tournament.  DU travels to Wooster for a doubleheader on Friday (April 22), and will close out the regular season with a home twinbill against Wabash on Saturday (April 23).  Both doubleheaders are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.