GRANVILLE, Ohio (May 21, 2023) – Another strong season for the Denison University baseball team came to an end in the regional championship as the No. 9 Big Red fell 17-2 against No. 12-ranked Baldwin Wallace University in the 2023 NCAA Division III Granville Regional Championship round on Sunday.

Making his second start this season against Baldwin Wallace, George Viebrock (7-3) got the first out of the bottom of the first inning on a nice diving stop and throw from the second baseman Josh Bohn.

However, after a one-out single to right center field for the first hit of the game from either team, Viebrock fell behind 3-1 to the Yellow Jackets' heavy hitter, Luke Vonderhaar, and Vonderhaar sent Viebrock's next pitch way over the left field fence for a two-run home run to get BWU off and running.

After the Big Red went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, Ari Fierer led off the top of the second with a single through the right side and Max Fishbein also singled through the right side with two outs, but a groundout to third base ended the inning.

A sacrifice fly to center field made it a 3-0 Yellow Jackets' lead in the bottom of the second inning before Ryan Starr came in to pitch for Viebrock with two outs in the inning and picked up where he left off on Saturday, earning a swinging strikeout to retire the side.

In the bottom of the third inning, however, a leadoff walk by Starr to Vonderhaar led to another run for the Yellow Jackets, and then after two straight singles against Charlie Fleming to load the bases, a four-pitch walk brought in another run to make it 5-0, still with just one out in the inning.

That was followed by a two-run single to center field and a sacrifice fly to left field to make it a five-run third inning for BWU.

The Big Red stranded a one-out double down the left field line by Jake Welsch in the fourth inning, and then the third overall sacrifice fly for the Yellow Jackets in the first four innings made it 9-0 in the bottom half.

A sacrifice fly for the Big Red finally got Denison on the scoreboard against Seve Cantini (1-1) in the fifth inning as Owen Wilson singled to right center field just over the outstretched glove of the Yellow Jackets' second baseman. Eric Colaco then moved Wilson to third base on a single up the middle before a diving catch by the BWU left fielder in the left center field gap off the bat of Noah Leib allowed Wilson to come in for the first run of the game for Denison.

BWU added six more runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth inning as after a swinging strikeout by Robbie Lee to start the inning, three straight singles were followed by an RBI-walk and a two-run single through the right side. The big inning was later capped off with an RBI-triple to right center field.

Denison came up empty in the sixth inning despite a leadoff walk by Welsch and a single to left field by Bohn, and did nothing with a leadoff single to right field by Wilson in the seventh.

Denison's best effort out of the bullpen came from Patrick Neenan who got a 5-4-3 double play after hitting the leadoff man in the bottom of the seventh and then saw a shoestring catch by Cade Nowik in left field to register the first scoreless inning of the game by the BWU offense.

In the top of the eighth inning, Neenan hit for himself with two outs and a runner on second and busted it down the line on a groundball to second base to force a throwing error that allowed Fierer to score.

Neenan then pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth and finished off his Denison career in style with a strikeout.

For Baldwin Wallace, Cantini finished with five innings pitched allowing six hits, one run, one walk and four strikeouts.

Wilson finished 2-for-3 for the Big Red while Fierer was 2-for-4.

The Big Red finished their 2023 season 36-10 overall, earning the second most wins in a single season in program history for the second year in a row, and came up just one win short of earning the first Regional Championship in program history for the third year in a row. This marked the fifth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and the second straight year hosting regionals for Denison.

Baldwin Wallace, meanwhile, improved to 34-10 and will head to the Super Regional for the second season in a row after advancing to the World Series a year ago.