PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (March 12, 2022) – After moving up three spots to No. 22 in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll this week, the Denison University baseball team started off the Snowbird Classic with a 6-3 win over Saint John's University on Saturday.
It was the first of six games in Florida for the Big Red, who after combining for 41 runs across its first three games of the season at the 5th Annual Berry Invitational, began their first ever matchup against the Johnnies by wasting no time getting on the scoreboard.
After freshman
Eric Colaco led off the game with a triple to right center field,
Dylan Hunter doubled to bring him in and make it 1-0 before Saint John's could record an out.
Hunter advanced to third on a fly out to right field by
Ari Fierer, and then scored on an RBI-groundout to shortstop by
Danny Alvarez to make it 2-0 in the top of the first inning.
After an unearned run for the Big Red in the top of the second inning, Fierer then led off the top of the third with a double down the left field line before scoring with two outs on another double down the left field line, this time by
Charlie Glennon to make it 4-0 Denison.
Glennon would finish 2-for-3 with two runs scored while Fierer was 2-for-4.
In all, the Big Red scored at least one run in each of the first four innings of the game while starting pitcher
Charlie Fleming (2-0) allowed six hits, three runs and two earned runs through his 7.1 innings, and pitched four 1-2-3 innings.
Henry Haack then came in relief and recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning, including inducing a groundout with the bases loaded and two outs to help Denison maintain a three-run lead heading into the final inning, where he pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to finish it off and earn the Big Red's first save of the season.
With the win, Denison improves to 4-0 for the first time since the 2016 season. Meanwhile Saint John's, whose game against the Big Red was its 10th out of 11 games during its trip to Florida, drops to 5-8.
Day two from Port Charlotte, Florida, for Denison will see the Big Red take on Arcadia University at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 13.
