The Denison baseball team opened North Coast Athletic Conference play with a pair of one-run victories over DePauw on Sunday afternoon in Granville, Ohio. The Big Red took the opener 2-1, before winning game two, 3-2.

In game one, Denison sophomore Zack Huarte and DePauw senior Wyatt Spector went toe-to-toe over the course of seven innings. Both pitchers kept their opponents off the board in the first two innings. The Tigers struck first by plating a run in the top of the third inning on a double to right center.

The Big Red answered in the bottom half of the frame.  Seniors Joe LaPlaca and Jake Meegan got things going by drawing back-to-back one-out walks. Sophomore Jack Blanchard followed with a base hit through the left side that scored LaPlaca and moved Meegan to third. Junior Evan Flax gave Denison its first lead with a sacrifice fly to right, driving in Meegan.

DePauw evened in the score in the fifth when Lucas Italiano singled in Ryan Grippo with two outs. The Big Red generated a little two out magic of their own in the bottom of the fifth. After retiring the first two batters on two pitches, Spector surrendered a base hit to Blanchard. Flax continued the rally with a single down the right line that allowed Blanchard to go all the way to third. The sophomore shortstop came around to score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by Spector.

Now ahead by a run once again, Huarte was six outs away from collecting his fourth win of the year. The sophomore right hander needed just 14 pitches to retire the side in order in the sixth inning. The Tigers tried to mount a rally in the seventh, opening the frame with a single through the left side. However, a heads up play by catcher Sam Frazen on an attempted sacrifice bunt retired Zack Wade at second base. Just three pitches after the failed sacrifice, Huarte got Reid Pittard to hit into a game-ending 4-3 double play.

Huarte improved to a perfect 4-0 on the season, scattering six hits and fanning two in his first complete game of the year. The sophomore faced the minimum in three of the seven innings and needed just 87 pitches to earn the victory. The Big Red offense backed the strong outing with three runs on five hits. Blanchard led the way with two hits, a run and an RBI, while Flax also drove in a run and logged a single. Eric Zmuda and Tucker Davison provided the other two hits for Denison.

The Big Red found themselves in another low-scoring game in the nightcap. After giving up an unearned run in the top of the second, Denison looked to even the score in the bottom of the inning.  With two outs, junior Phil Papaioannou successfully reached on a misplayed ball at short. Sophomore Noah Hahn followed with a single that put runners at the corners. Papaioannou eventually scored the game-tying run on an errant throw to second by catcher Rick Okazaki.

After three and a half scoreless innings, Denison broke the tie with a single run in the sixth. Meegan opened the frame by drawing a four-pitch walk. After moving to second on a sacrifice, Zmuda knocked in the go-ahead run with a two-out single to right. The Tigers came close to answering with runners at the corners in the seventh. However, a fly out to Tanner Johnson in left center got starter Perley Provost out of the jam.

DePauw came dangerously close to tying the game once again, this time against freshman reliever Mikey Rivera. After retiring the first batter, back-to-back singles and a throwing error put runners at first and third with just one out. With a 1-1 count, Rivera got Connor Einertson to swing through a pitch. After securing the pitch from Rivera, Frazen fired a strike to Hahn to pick off Connor's brother Collin who was caught too far off third. On the very next pitch, the freshman got Einertson to fly out to center for the final out. In the ninth, Rivera struck out both Wade and Grippo before inducing a ground out to LaPlaca.

Provost went a career-high seven innings, surrendering an unearned run on seven hits with three strikeouts. The sophomore has now gone 21-straight innings without allowing an earned run, dating back to last year. Rivera nailed down his second save of the season after scattering two hits and fanning two over the final two frames. Hahn recorded two of the team's five hits, while Flax, Zmuda and Papaioannou combined for the other three.

With the sweep, the Big Red improves to 13-5 overall and 2-0 in the NCAC West, while the Tigers fall to 11-11 and 2-4 in divisional play. Denison and DePauw will close out the four-game series with a doubleheader on Tuesday (April 12). Game one is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.