The 15th-ranked Denison men's lacrosse team kicked off the home portion to its schedule with a 17-2 victory over Berry on Sunday afternoon in Granville.

It took roughly four and a half minutes for the Big Red to find their offensive rhythm, but once they did they unleashed a barrage of shots on the Viking defense. Freshman Owen Armstrong opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 9:26. That tally sparked a string of four-straight scores in a span of 3:11. Jamie McCahan provided an unassisted goal, while Will Donohue found Nick Bortolani for the third. Donohue got in on the scoring off a feed from Jake Waxter. McCahan and Waxter capped off the first-quarter scoring with goals inside the final three minutes.

DU racked up seven more goals in the second period on just 10 shots. Waxter found Donohue for his second goal, while senior Eric Baumgardner took the ensuing faceoff right down the field for another tally. Goals by senior James Meager and Blair Farinholt sandwiched a pair of scores by Armstrong, while the final goal was provided by Chris Haimbaugh. Bortolani racked up three assists in the quarter, while Donohue also notched his third helper of the game during the period.

In the second half, the Big Red got a man-up goal by Haimbaugh and even strength tallies by Armstrong, Riley Johnson and Alex Paulus before Berry broke up the shutout bid. Bailey Martin and Jake Emche got the Vikings on the board with goals in the fourth quarter.

Donohue and Bortolani paced the offense with five points each. Donohue scored two goals and dished out three assists, while Bortolani had four helpers to go along with one goal. Armstrong recorded his first-career hat trick after totaling four goals, while Waxter finished with a goal and three assists. Other multiple scorers include McCahan (2g), Haimbaugh (2g, 1a) and Meager (1g, 1a). Rounding out the list of scorers are Farinholt (1g), Baumgardner (1g), Johnson (1g), Paulus (1g) and Jack Thomas (1a).

Baumgardner went 6-for-8 at the faceoff X in limited action. He and Josh Happ both finished with a team-best four ground balls.

Seniors Chris Thomas made six saves in 37 shutout minutes in the cage for the Big Red. Starter Zack McConnell allowed 13 goals and made four stops in the first half for Berry. Nick Voso played the second half for the Vikings, making seven saves while allowing four goals.

Denison doubled up Berry in the shot department (44-22) and held a 32-22 advantage in ground balls. The Big Red successfully cleared 16 of their 19 attempts and went 1-for-2 in extra-man opportunities.

Denison (2-1) returns to action next Saturday when they host Sewanee at 1 p.m.