The Denison baseball team opened its final North Coast Athletic Conference West Division series with a Senior Day sweep of Wabash on Sunday afternoon at Big Red Field in Granville. The Big Red won the opener in eight innings, 1-0, and completed the sweep with a 6-2 win in the nightcap.

With the doubleheader sweep on Sunday, the Big Red secured third place in the NCAC West Division which guarantees them an opportunity to compete for one of the four spots in the NCAC Tournament.

Game one was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel between Denison freshman Zack Huarte and Little Giant sophomore Jensen Kirch. The two young arms went the distance in the eight-inning affair, scattering a combined seven hits and striking out eight over the course of eight innings. In the end, it was a walk-off throwing error by Kirch that allowed Huarte to eventually win the battle.

Kirch nearly saw the game come to an end when he found himself in a bases-loaded jam with one out in the bottom of the seventh. However, the sophomore right hander induced a ground ball back to the mound that allowed him to turn a 1-2-3 double play to pull the Houdini unscathed. In the top of the eighth, Huarte did allow one base runner to reach when Tanner Watson was struck by a pitch with one out. Watson was eventually erased from the base paths with two outs when he was gunned down trying to swipe second by senior Zac Lewinski.

In the bottom of the eighth, Wabash's only two miscues of the game would cost them the victory. Senior Nick Marsit opened the frame by drawing a five-pitch walk. Classmate and fellow senior Charlie Apfelbach tried to give himself up to move Marsit to third, but first baseman David Oliger decided to try and throw out the lead runner. Oliger's throw to second was off the mark which allowed Marsit to slide in safe on the error.

With two on, freshman Tanner Johnson looked to advance the runners with a sacrifice bunt. This time the ball was bunted back to the pitcher, who once again tried to send Marsit back to the dugout. Unfortunately for Wabash, Kirch's throw to third got away from Cole Harlacher and allowed Marsit to score the game-winning run.

Each pitcher retired the side in order in two different innings in game one. Huarte threw 123 pitches over the course of eight innings. He scattered three hits, struck out three, walked one and hit two batters. Huarte also made an outstanding play to end the top of the seventh after knocking down a comebacker by Matt Spaulding and just throwing him out at first. Apfelbach finished with two hits, including a double, while Eric Zmuda and pinch hitter Evan Flax had the other two DU knocks.

Kirch allowed four hits and an unearned run with five strikeouts and three walks over the course of 7+ innings of work. Lucas Stippler, Oliger and Harlacher registered the three base hits for Wabash.

Both teams produced a bit more offense in the nightcap. Denison was able to push across five-unanswered runs after giving up a tallying in the first inning. Zmuda provided the big blow in the bottom of the first when he belted a bases-clearing triple to left center that scored Georgie Montes, Ryan Mulligan and Jack Blanchard to give the Big Red a 3-1 lead. In the third, Zmuda knocked in his fourth run with a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Blanchard to touch the dish for a second time. Mulligan also scored in the inning on a base hit to center by Flax.

Zmuda's fifth-and-final RBI of the game came in the fifth inning when he, for the third time in the game, plated Blanchard with a hit. The Little Giants scratched a run across in the seventh, but with the bases loaded and two outs, freshman reliever Perley Provost saved the win for senior Ian Barry.

Zmuda went a perfect 2-for-2 with a triple and five RBIs, while Blanchard logged two hits, stole a base and scored three runs. Mulligan also had a hit and touched the dish twice in game two. Barry picked up his third win on the hill this season after allowing just one earned run on nine hits with three strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work. Provost needed just four pitches to record the final out of the game and earn his second save of the year.

Watson and Clint Scarborough each collected two hits. Game two starter Josh Piercey suffered the loss after allowing five runs on five hits over the course of three innings. Reliever Christian Vukas had the best outing out of the Little Giant pen, striking out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.

Denison improves to 15-16 overall and 8-6 in the NCAC West, while Wabash falls to 12-21 and 4-10 in divisional play. The two teams will wrap up their four-game series on Monday in Granville. Game one is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.

NOTE: Prior to the start of Sunday's doubleheader against Wabash, the Denison baseball team honored its eight-member senior class made up of Charlie Apfelbach, Ian Barry, Kyle Colgain, Lascelles Lagares, Zac Lewinski, Nick Marsit, Georgie Montes and Ryan Mulligan. These eight student athletes have combined to help Denison win 72 games since 2012. The class has also captured two NCAC West Division titles and has advanced to the NCAC Tournament in Chillicothe in each of the last two seasons.