OBELRIN, Ohio (May 7, 2023) – The No. 11 nationally-ranked Denison University baseball team could not be stopped in its quest to finish a perfect 16-0 in North Coast Athletic Conference action this season. In the end, the Big Red defeated Oberlin College by scores of 5-1 and 18-9 in what was their final two games of the regular season on Sunday.

It was the first undefeated conference season in the NCAC since Wooster in 2007, and was the first 16-0 season in conference history. Both Ohio Wesleyan University (2000) and Wooster (2007) went 15-0 in their respective undefeated conference campaigns.
 
Game 1 (Denison 5, Oberlin 1):

• After Eric Colaco reached on an error at shortstop to lead off the game, he quickly stole second base to tie his program record of 32 stolen bases set last season as a freshman.
• Then with two outs in the first inning, a single to left field by Ari Fierer scored Colaco to make it 1-0 Big Red.
• After a leadoff double for Oberlin in the first inning, Nick Falter (7-0) recorded 13 straight outs until back-to-back singles with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning.
• In the top of the sixth inning, Charlie Glennon led off with a walk, advanced to third on a single up the middle by Noah Leib and then scored on another RBI-single to left field by Fierer to make it a 2-0 Denison lead before a two-out RBI-single got the Yeomen on the board in the bottom half of the sixth.
• In the top of the seventh, however, Alex Vasquez was hit by a pitch and Matt McClements singled to center field to set up a big three-run home run to left center field by Colaco to give Denison some breathing room up 5-1.
• From there, George Viebrock recorded a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inning, got three straight outs after a hit by pitch in the eighth inning, and worked around a two-out single in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.
• Falter finished with six hits, one run, zero walks and two strikeouts in his six innings of work while at the plate, Fierer was 4-for-4 with a pair of RBI-hits.

 
Game 2 (Denison 18, Oberlin 9):

• Colaco and Glennon led off game two with back-to-back walks before a three-run home run to right field by Leib.
• In the second inning, Leib came up with a sacrifice fly to left field before the third RBI-single of the day by Fierer, this time a two-run hit up the middle, made it a 6-0 Denison lead to start the game.
• Also in the second inning for Denison, Colaco recorded his 33rd stolen base of the season to break the single-season stolen base record that he set just last year. He later added a stolen base in the fifth inning to make it 34 stolen bases during the regular season.
• However, back-to-back two-out singles led to a three-run home run for Oberlin in the bottom of the second, and then a pair of two-out RBI-singles by the Yeomen made it just a one-run game (6-5) in the bottom of the third inning.
• Fierer hit his second two-run single of the game in the top of the fourth inning before an RBI on a fielder's choice by Jake Welsch made it 9-5 Big Red, but another two-out rally for Oberlin featuring three straight singles in the bottom half kept the Yeomen within striking distance at 9-7.
• After Oberlin tied the game at 9-9 in the bottom of the fifth, the Big Red wasted very little time taking back the lead in the top of the sixth inning with three runs on an RBI-single by Welsch and back-to-back RBI-walks by Owen Wilson and Vasquez.
• In all, Oberlin issued four walks and one hit by pitch in the sixth inning, and then after a 1-2-3 inning pitched by Manny Nager (2-3) in the bottom half, Denison broke the game open with a five-run seventh inning featuring a two-run home run to right field by Leib, his second home run of game two, to go along with a pair of RBI-doubles by Welsch and McClements.
• That made it 17-9 Big Red before another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh by Nager, who ultimately finished with 3.2 innings pitched allowing no hits, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts.
• Fierer was 3-for-5 with four RBI's and two runs scored and Leib was 2-for-4 with six RBI's, four runs scored and two home runs.
• Welsch was 2-for-5 with three RBI's and two runs, McClements was 2-for-5 with two runs and Colaco was 2-for-6 with three runs while Glennon also finished with three runs scored.
• The Big Red also drew 13 walks as a team in game two.

 
Records:

• Denison, which had already clinched the No. 1 seed for the NCAC Tournament heading into the final week of the regular season, improves to 31-8 overall and 16-0 in the NCAC.
• In addition, with their win in game one, the Big Red also clinched sole possession of the NCAC regular-season championship for the third season in a row.
• Lastly, Denison reaches 30 wins in the regular season for the second season in a row and for the fourth time in the last five full seasons.

 
Next Up: The North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament will begin on Thursday, May 11, in Chillicothe, Ohio. Denison will take on either Wabash College or Kenyon College in its first game of the tournament.