GRANVILLE, Ohio (May 19, 2023) – The No. 9 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Denison University baseball team advanced to the winner's bracket semifinal of the Granville Regional in the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament following a hard-fought 9-8 victory over fourth-seeded Beloit College on Friday afternoon at the Big Red Baseball Field.

After a two-out, two-run home run gave Beloit a 7-6 lead in the top of the seventh inning, a two-out solo home run by Jake Welsch in the bottom half of the inning tied it at 7-7.

Then after relief pitcher George Viebrock (7-2) struck out the side in the top of the eighth inning, the bottom half of the eighth saw Owen Wilson get on base after taking a leadoff hit by pitch.
 
Wilson then advanced to second on a wild pitch and went to third on a groundout by Alex Vasquez before a two-out RBI-single to second base by Eric Colaco to score Wilson and put the Big Red in front heading into the final inning.

After Viebrock got the first out of the ninth inning, sophomore Nick Falter came in to close it out and got the final two outs of the game to pick up the save. After going 7-0 during the regular season as a starting pitcher, Falter had to get a flyout to center field to leave the tying run on second base and the go-ahead run on first base.

For Denison on the mound, starting pitcher Charlie Fleming finished with 10 hits, five total runs and three earned runs allowed in the first six innings of the game while striking out six batters.

Viebrock then allowed two hits, two earned runs and three strikeouts in 2.1 innings while as a whole, the Big Red pitching staff did not issue a single walk in the game.

At the plate, Charlie Glennon and Ari Fierer both finished with two hits and two RBI's while Colaco had two hits and two runs scored in addition to the game-winning RBI.

In all, five Big Red players had two hits and three had two RBI's.

Earlier in the game, Denison held a 6-1 lead after a two-run home run to left center field by Fierer in the fifth inning.

Then in the top of the sixth inning, however, five straight two-out singles for the Buccaneers cut Denison's lead to just one run before another two-out single in the seventh inning set the stage for the two-run homer to left field to put Beloit in front for the moment.

Denison, which is appearing in the regional tournament for the fifth straight year, improved to 35-8 on the season while Beloit, which is making its fourth regional appearance, fell to 31-13.

Next up, Denison will play second-seeded and No. 12 nationally-ranked Baldwin Wallace University at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, with the winner heading straight into the regional championship game.