CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (May 11, 2023) – After scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the No. 11 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Denison University baseball team advanced to the winner's bracket semifinal of the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament following a 9-5 comeback victory over fourth-seeded Wabash College on Thursday afternoon at VA Memorial Stadium.

With the bases loaded and one out for Wabash already leading 5-2 in the top of the seventh inning, Jacob Pendergraft (1-0) came in to pitch for Denison and got a 4-6-3 double play on a great spin and throw by second baseman Josh Bohn to shortstop Owen Wilson, who then fired a strike over to Noah Leib at first to get the Big Red out of the inning.

Then in the bottom of the seventh, Ari Fierer started things off for Denison with a hit by pitch on a 3-0 count and Jake Welsch drew a four-pitch walk before a sacrifice bunt by Bohn moved both runners into scoring position with just one out.

That brought up Wilson, who smashed a two-run double off the wall in left field for his second straight double and third hit of the game.

That made it just a one-run game (5-4) with the tying run in Wilson in scoring position, and then after a wild pitch moved Wilson to third, Matt McClements came up with an RBI-double of his own down the left field line to score Wilson and tie the game at 5-5.

Denison continued its run of extra base hits with an RBI-triple down the right field line by Max Fishbein to score the go-ahead run in McClements, followed by another RBI-triple off the wall in center field by Eric Colaco to make it 7-5.

Denison added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning with back-to-back singles by Fierer and Welsch to lead it off before another sacrifice bunt by Bohn, a sacrifice fly to center field by Wilson, and then a two-out RBI-single to center by McClements.

George Viebrock finished off the final two innings allowing two hits, no walks and two strikeouts to earn his fifth save of the season.

Wilson was the leader of the day for the Big Red, finishing 3-for-4 with three RBI's and two doubles while McClements was 2-for-4 with two RBI's, Leib was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, and Colaco was 2-for-5 with two RBI's.

In addition, Fierer, Welsch and Bohn each scored two runs.

After Denison traded the first run of the game for a 5-4-3 double play in the top of the second inning, Wabash's Camden Schiedt led off the top of the third inning with a triple hard off the wall in right center field before a single to center field by Liam Patton two batters later gave the Little Giants a 2-0 lead.

Then with the bases loaded and two outs still in the top of the third, a catcher's interference call against the Big Red extended the inning, leading to a three-run double to left center field by Brayden Lentz to open up Wabash's lead to 5-0.

In addition to the great work from Pendergraft and Viebrock out of the bullpen, Robbie Lee made his Denison debut in the top of the fourth inning and kept the Little Giants off the scoreboard. Then in the bottom of the fourth, Denison got on the board with an RBI-groundout by Alex Vasquez to score Bohn, who had led off the inning with a walk.

In all, the Big Red bullpen combined to shutout Wabash for the final six innings of the contest while Lee allowed three hits, one walk and one strikeout in his 3.1 innings of work.

Denison left runners on third base in both the fourth and fifth innings, but in the bottom of the sixth inning, Bohn led off with a single to center field and Wilson followed with a double down the left field line to put two Big Red runners in scoring position with nobody out.

That chased Wabash starting pitcher Jacob Bishop from the game, and then after a walk to pinch hitter Kuyper Lashutka, Colaco delivered an RBI-single into center field to cut into Wabash's lead (5-2).

However, a called strike three followed by a flyout just in front of the warning track in right field left the bases loaded in the sixth, bringing Denison's total to 10 runners left on base through six innings.

Denison improved to 32-8 overall while Wabash fell to 24-17. Denison will now play the winner of second-seeded Wittenberg and third-seeded Wooster at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 12, with the winner earning a one-way ticket straight into the championship game.