Denison and Allegheny opened with a doubleheader split in the North Coast Athletic Conference crossover series, meaning the right to advance to next week's NCAC Tournament in Chillicothe all boils down to Sunday's 9-inning game in Meadville, Pa.

The Big Red took the upper hand by winning game one, 7-6, fueled by a six-run eighth inning rally off the Gator bullpen.  Game two went to Allegheny by a final score of 10-1.

In the opener, the Gators took 6-1 lead by scoring five earned runs off starting pitcher Zack Huarte.  Meanwhile, DU had few answers for Allegheny starting pitcher Chase Boyer who pitched seven innings, scattering six hits while striking out four.  Boyer came on to pitch in the eighth and Ryan Mulligan led off the inning with a single through the right side.

That signaled a call to the bullpen for AC reliever Hayden Smith who would promptly walk Georgie Montes and Eric Zmuda, loading the bases for Evan Flax.  He would go on to work a five pitch walk, scoring Mulligan with Denison's second run of the contest.

The three-straight walks would force Allehgeny to go to Paul Vojtek with the bases still loaded.  Tanner Johnson would come through with a two-run double to left, scoring Montes and Zmuda.  First-year catcher Sam Frazen would continue the no-out rally with a base hit to center which scored Flax and Johnson.

Later in the inning, with two outs and pinch runner Jake Meegan on third, Jack Blanchard slapped a single to right field, scoring Meegan with the go-ahead run.

Denison head coach Mike Deegan would turn to his bullpen as Perley Provost worked a scoreless eighth and Mulligan prevented the tying run from scoring from second in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.

Huarte got the win and improved to 5-2 while the loss was charge to Vojtek (1-2) in relief. 

In game two, Denison handed the ball to starting pitcher Ian Barry and the Gators would touch up the senior for eight runs (six earned) in five innings.  Allegheny pulled away with a six-run fourth inning powered by a grand slam off the bat of Tyler Wagner.

Denison's only run in game two came via an error by Gator second baseman Zach Gray which scored Zac Lewinski.  Allegheny starter Corey Keenan pitched 8.1 innings and struck out eight to improve to 3-1.  Barry took the loss and dropped to 3-5.

Sunday's deciding game of the series will begin at 12 p.m. Allegheny will provide live stats and video coverage of the game.  The winner will advance to the NCAC Tournament in Chillicothe, Ohio on May 7.