CLEVELAND, Ohio (April 9, 2023) – For the first time in 11 games, the No. 13 Denison University baseball team came up short as the Big Red fell 9-8 in nonconference action at Case Western Reserve University on Easter Sunday, snapping Denison's 10-game winning streak. The Big Red scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning and got the tying run to third base to make it interesting at the end, but an insurance run for the Spartans in the eighth inning ended up being the difference.

Down 9-4 in the ninth inning, Josh Bohn drew a leadoff walk and Max Fishbein followed with a single through the right side to put two runners on.

Alex Vasquez then showed his discipline at the plate and drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, leading to a hit by pitch by Matt McClements to score Bohn and bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Eric Colaco.

Colaco hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Fishbein and make it 9-6 with one out, and that brought up Charlie Glennon, who reached base on an error by the Spartan's second baseman to again load the bases, this time for Noah Leib.

A nine-pitch at bat for Leib resulted in a groundball to short, but the throw trying to get the runner at second base was late, allowing Vasquez to score to make it just a two-run game at 9-7 and keep the bases loaded for Jake Welsch.

On another groundball to shortstop by Welsch, the Spartans this time got the out at second base, but the throw over to first was just late, allowing McClements to score and move the tying run in Glennon to third base.

After starting the game on the mound, Ari Fierer found himself at the plate with two outs in the ninth and a chance to tie the game, but a foul tip on strike three preserved the win for Case.

Bohn finished 3-for-4 to lead Denison at the plate while Vasquez, McClements, Leib and Welsch all finished with two hits.

Denison got on the board quickly in this one as McClements led off the game with a single through the left side, moved to third on a double to right field by Colaco and then scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Glennon.

Colaco then came around to score from second base on a two-out single through the right side by Welsch to make it 2-0 Big Red in the first inning, but after two quick outs in the bottom of the first, Case matched Denison with two runs on three hits and took advantage of two Denison fielding errors to tie the game at 2-2.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Spartans again put together a two-out rally and exploded for five runs on six hits, including a stretch of seven straight batters reaching base and five hits in a row before a runner was thrown out at home to end the inning following a single to right field.

Case's stretch of consecutive batters reaching base increased to 10 in the third inning as the Spartans loaded the bases with nobody out and then hit a sac fly to right field to make it 8-2.

Denison got the run back in the top of the fourth as with two outs and the bases loaded, Leib singled to second base to score Owen Wilson, who had led off the inning with a hit by pitch.

However, Denison's chance for a big inning was avoided as the Big Red struck out to leave the bases loaded, and then Denison again left the bases loaded in the fifth inning, making it 11 Big Red runners left on base through the first five innings.

A two-out RBI-double down the right field line helped Denison add a run in the sixth inning to cut into its deficit, but two runners were left in scoring position.

Starting in the fifth inning, Jaden Cole did a great job pitching in relief, limiting the Spartans to one hit, no runs, one walk and six strikeouts in his three innings to try and give the Big Red time to get back into it, but the deficit was too much as Denison finished the contest with 16 runners left on base.

Case's insurance run in the eighth inning, which would go on to the winning run, came after Cole existed and the new Big Red pitcher, Jacob Pendergraft, allowed a leadoff double that led to a run on a fielder's choice three batters later with Ryan Starr on the bump.

Starr made an appearance in five of Denison's six games this week and did not allow an earned run in 3.2 innings pitched.

With its winning streak officially over, Denison falls to 19-5 overall on the season while Case improves to 14-11.

Next up, Denison will host No. 16-ranked Marietta College at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 13. Earlier this season, the Pioneers defeated the Big Red by a score of 9-2 in Marietta, Ohio. Then next weekend, a big North Coast Athletic Conference series against the College of Wooster looms as the Big Red host the Fighting Scots starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 15.