CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (May 7, 2022) – Needing only one win to clinch its second straight North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, the No. 20 nationally-ranked Denison University baseball team did so with a 9-3 win in game one at Wabash College on Saturday afternoon. Then in game two, the Big Red offense exploded for 21 hits in a 19-5 victory to earn their 18th win in their last 19 games with only one game remaining in the regular season.
 
Game 1 (Denison 9, Wabash 3)

• Two errors by the Big Red defense in the first inning allowed Wabash to score first.
• Denison tied it in the top of the fourth as Danny Alvarez led off the inning with a double to left field, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Daniel Spencer, and then scored on an infield single to the shortstop by Jake Welsch.
• In the top of the seventh, Welsch again sent a ball to the Little Giants' shortstop, but an error allowed Welch to reach first to lead off the inning. Charlie Glennon then bunted Welsch over to second base, a wild pitch moved him to third, and then a single through the right side by Josh Bohn brought him home to give Denison its first lead of the day.
• The floodgates then opened for the Denison offense, which scored seven runs on eight hits in the final two innings. The Big Red scored on RBI-singles by Spencer and Glennon and a sacrifice fly by Welsch in the eighth before a trio of RBI-doubles by Dylan Hunter, Alvarez, and Welsch to go along with a sacrifice fly by Spencer in the ninth.
• Welsch finished 3-for-4 with three RBI's while Alvarez was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Eric Colaco and Hunter were both 2-for-5.
• Will McManaman (2-1) earned the win after entering to pitch in the fourth inning and allowing six hits, one run, no walks and three strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
• Kenny Lippman earned his third save of the season with 1.2 innings pitched allowing two hits, one run, one walk and four strikeouts. Lippman entered the game with runners at the corners and the tying run at the plate with only one out in the bottom of the eighth before getting back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

 
Game 2 (Denison 19, Wabash 5)

• With one out in the top of the first, three straight singles by Hunter, Ari Fierer and Alvarez led to the first run of the game before a two-out, two-run single to right field by Justin Wernoski made it 3-0.
• Colaco hit a two-out RBI-single to left field to make it 4-0 Big Red in the top of the second, and then back-to-back two-out RBI-doubles by Alvarez and Welsch made it 6-1 in the fifth, making it four two-run RBI-hits for Denison in the first five innings of the game.
• The Big Red then scored 13 runs on 12 hits in the final three innings.
• Alvarez would finish 4-for-4 with five runs scored, three RBI's and two walks while Welsch was 4-for-5 and also had three RBI's for the second game in a row.
• Hunter was 3-for-5 while matching Alvarez with five runs, Fierer was 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI's, and Colaco with 2-for-6 with two runs and two RBI's as well.
• Charlie Fleming (5-2) earned the win after pitching the first 5.2 innings and allowing four hits, three total runs, two earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts.

 
Records:

• No. 20 Denison (29-8 overall, 16-2 NCAC) finished with its most conference wins in a single season in program history while Wabash (20-17), which started the season 12-2 overall and was receiving votes in all four D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 polls during the month of March before losing its first eight conference games of the year, is now 4-14 in the conference.

 
Next Up: After being pushed back a day and moved to a home game, Denison will now host Otterbein University at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 9, in its regular-season finale. Then, the NCAC Tournament is scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 12, in Chillicothe, Ohio.