The Denison baseball team improved to 4-2 in North Coast Athletic Conference West Division play following a doubleheader sweep of Wittenberg on Saturday afternoon in Granville, Ohio. The Big Red cruised to an 8-1 victory in game one and held off a late charge by the Tigers to take the nightcap, 9-7.

The story in the opener was the solid performance on the hill by freshman Zack Huarte. After giving up a leadoff double to Zac Wilson in the top of the first, the freshman hurler retired nine-straight batters before allowing a base runner to lead off the fourth.

Over the next three innings, Huarte scattered five hits and issued two free passes. During that stretch, the Tigers pushed across their only run on a single in the sixth. The Villa Park, California native rebounded in the seventh by retire the side in order, the third time he did so in the game.

On the day, Huarte scattered six hits and struck out seven en route to his second complete-game performance of the season. The freshman also allowed just one run and walked two in his 98-pitch outing.

The Big Red offense backed up Huarte's strong start with at least one run in five of their six plate appearances. DU's first two runs both crossed the dish thanks to pitches that struck Denison batters. Sophomore Evan Flax scored the game's first run when freshman Tanner Johnson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the first. After three-straight singles to open the second, Flax was struck by a Dalton Boucher pitch that scored senior Nick Marsit.  With one out, senior Charlie Apfelbach added to the Big Red lead with a sacrifice fly to left that scored Jack Blanchard.

Johnson represented Denison's fourth run of the game when he scored on a bases-loaded walk issued to Georgie Montes in the third. The Big Red broke the game open in the fourth with three runs off two hits, a walk and another hit batter. Senior Lascelles Lagares opened the scoring when he dropped a single down the left line that scored Apfelbach. After a double steal moved both runners into scoring position, Marsit delivered with a base hit to right that knocked in Johnson.  Lagares came around to score in the inning on a fielder's choice out to second.

Both teams scored runs in the sixth. Catcher Will Cousins singled in Timmy Bates, while Marist scored on a ground ball out to short by Montes.

Marsit finished a perfect 3-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI, while Montes drove in a game-high three runs. Johnson also scored twice and drove in a run.

Six different players registered a hit for Wittenberg in game one. Wilson and Josh Kaplan each had a double, while Boucher stole a base. Boucher suffered the loss after surrendering four runs on three this with three walks and four hit batters in 2.1 innings of work. Frank Sullivan pitched the final 3.2 innings out of the pen, giving up four runs on five hits with four walks. Sullivan also hit two batters, running the Tiger pitching staff total to six over the course of six innings.

In game two, fielding errors got the Tigers out of rhythm early. Wittenberg committed eight of their nine errors in the four innings Denison produced runs. The Big Red jumped out early with three runs in the first inning off three hits and a trio of miscues. Sacrifice flies by Mulligan and Johnson sandwiched an RBI single to right by Eric Zmuda in the opening frame.

Denison added five more runs in the fourth and fifth to take, what looked like, a commanding 8-0 lead. In the fourth, Flax hit a two-run triple to center and eventually came around to score on a fielding error at third. In the next inning, Johnson touched the dish on a ground ball by Marsit that resulted in a two-base error. The senior would score later in the inning when he separated the ball from Cousins at the plate.

Wittenberg cut into the deficit in the top of the sixth with Michael Burgher's two-run single, but an RBI base knock by Johnson in the bottom of the inning made it a 9-2 affair. It remained a seven-run game until the top of the ninth. With two on and one out after a throwing error, the Tigers rattled off three-straight RBI singles to shrink the deficit to four. Following a double steal with two outs, Eli Boolsby-Broschart roped a double to left center that scored Bates and Boucher. That hit would bring the tying run to the plate and force Denison skipper Mike Deegan to make another pitching change. One out away from ending the game, Deegan brought in freshman Perley Provost to close the door on the Tigers. Provost eventually got Cousins to fly to Marsit in right field to earn his first-collegiate save.

Montes, Flax, Apfelbach and Johnson all had a pair of hits to pace the DU offense. Flax drove in a pair and scored two more, while Montes also touched the dish twice. Johnson knocked in two and scored once, while Apfelbach represented one of the Big Red's nine runs. Mulligan also had two RBIs and a run scored. Senior Ian Barry picked up the win for Denison after allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits in six innings. Barry also fanned four and walked two.

Burgher was 3-for-3 in game two with two RBIs and a run, while Bates scored twice and drove in another. Both of Goolsby-Broschart's RBIs came on his ninth-inning double. Wittenberg starter Luke Black took the loss after giving up six runs (four earned) on six hits with two walks in four innings.

Denison improves to 11-9 overall and 4-2 in divisional play, while the Tigers fall to 4-13 and 1-7 in the NCAC West. The two teams will wrap up their four-game series on Sunday. Game one of the doubleheader is slated to start at 12 p.m.