GRANVILLE, Ohio (May 23, 2022) – An historic season for the Denison University baseball team came to an end on Monday as the Big Red fell twice against defending NCAA Division III National Champion Salisbury University in the 2022 NCAA Granville Regional Championship. After Salisbury won game one by a score of 4-2 by scoring two runs in the top of the ninth inning, the Sea Gulls grinded out another low-scoring win in game number two, that one by a score of 3-1.
 
Game 1 (Denison 2, Salisbury 4)

• Eric Colaco got things started offensive for Denison with a nine-pitch at bat in the bottom of the first before belting a leadoff double off the wall in left field. Colaco moved to third base on a wild pitch, and then after a walk to Dylan Hunter to put runners at the corners with nobody out, a double play on the next at bat put Denison up 1-0.
• Then on the very next at bat, Danny Alvarez hammered a home run to left field to make it 2-0.
• Little did anyone know at the time, however, that the Big Red offense would be held off the scoreboard for the next 15 innings.
• The theme of the day that came back to bite the Big Red in both games was runners left in scoring position. Denison stranded a two-out double by Josh Bohn in the second inning, and then in the third, the Big Red left a runner on third base after grounding into their second double play of the game in the first three innings.
• In the top of the second inning, Denison's starting pitcher, Trey Holland, recorded back-to-back strikeouts to leave the first hit of the game for Salisbury on first base.
• In the top of the third, Holland got a called strike three on the top hitter for the Sea Gulls, Kavi Caster, to strand another runner on first base.
• In the top of the fifth inning, Holland stranded the tying run on second base thanks to a running catch in the right-center-field gap by right fielder by Jake Welsch.
• After Holland struck out Caster to start off the sixth inning, Head Coach Mike Deegan made the call to the bullpen to bring in Denison's starting pitcher from Friday, Taylor Perrett. Holland finished with a line of 5.1 innings pitched allowing two hits, one unearned run, three walks and four strikeouts while throwing 76 total pitches.
• Unfortunately, Perrett was greeted by a solo home run down the left field line to tie the game at 2-2.
• Entering the game with the bases loaded and nobody out in a tie ballgame in the top of the seventh inning, Jacob Pendergraft got three straight swinging strikeouts, including another strikeout of Caster for the third out of the inning to keep it tied at 2-2.
• Then in the top of the eighth inning, Pendergraft got back-to-back groundouts to the shortstop Owen Wilson to strand the go-ahead run only 90 feet away.
• Still tied at 2-2 in the top of the ninth inning, George Viebrock (3-2) entered to pitch and gave up a leadoff single through the left side. Then after a sacrifice bunt put the runner into scoring position, back-to-back RBI-hits for the Sea Gulls gave them a 4-2 advantage.
• Back-to-back strong defensive plays by Wilson at short kept the deficit at two runs going into the bottom of the ninth, but the Big Red went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to set up a winner-take-all final game.
• Colaco finished 2-for-3 with a double while Ari Fierer and Bohn were both 2-for-4 with Bohn adding two doubles.

 
Game 2 – Championship Game (Denison 1, Salisbury 3)

• Runners left in scoring position again came back to haunt the Big Red in game two as Denison stranded a runner on second base in each of the first two innings and then left runners at the corners in the third inning.
• Charlie Fleming (5-3), meanwhile, started with a pair of 1-2-3 first and second innings before giving up the first run of the game on a two-out single up the middle just past his reach in the third inning.
• Then after Salisbury took advantage of an error by the Big Red on a stolen base attempt to make it 2-0 in the fourth inning, Fleming bounced back to leave a runner on third base to end the fourth, followed by getting out of a bases loaded situation in the fifth.
• Then in the bottom of the fifth, Denison started the inning with a leadoff single on the first pitch by Bohn, followed by a four-pitch walk to Wilson, but ultimately left yet another runner in scoring position for the fourth time in the first five innings.
• Denison then made it five runners left in scoring position after the sixth inning before going down 1-2-3 in the seventh.
• In the bottom of the eighth inning, a leadoff single up the middle by Hunter was followed by one-out walk by Alvarez to bring the tying run to the plate. An error by the Sea Gulls on the ensuing fielder's choice scored Hunter for what would turn out to be Denison's only run of the game after a diving catch in the left-center-field gap by the center fielder, Caster, potentially robbed Matt McClements of a hit that might have tied the game.
• Down 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Big Red again went down 1-2-3 in the final frame.
• Hunter and  Welsch were both 2-for-4 offensively while on the mound, Fleming (6.1 innings, 10 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts) and Henry Haack (2.2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout) both worked hard to keep Denison in the game and give them a fighting chance down the stretch.

 
Records:

• The Big Red finished their 2022 season 35-11 overall, earning the second most wins in a single season in program history, and came up just one game short of earning the first Regional Championship in program history for the second year in a row. This marked the fourth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance for Denison.
• Salisbury, meanwhile, improved to 34-9 and will see its run to defend its 2021 NCAA Division III National Championship continue in the Super Regionals.