GREENSBORO, N.C. (February 24, 2024) – The No. 16 Denison University baseball team picked up its first win of the 2024 season late on Saturday night as the Big Red outhit the Sea Gulls 13-2 and took down No. 2 nationally-ranked Salisbury University by a final score of 9-1 at the D3 Showcase.

It was the first meeting between Denison (1-1 overall) and Salisbury (3-2) since a 2-0 win for the Sea Gulls over the Big Red in the championship game of the 2022 Granville Regional.

This time around, five Big Red players had two hits while three players had a pair of runs batted in.

It was also a great showing for junior starting pitcher Nick Falter (1-0), who allowed just two hits and one run through his six innings of work. Falter walked three batters but struck out nine, and then senior George Viebrock picked up the save after pitching the next three innings and holding the Sea Gulls to without a hit to go along with one walk and four strikeouts.

Falter is coming off a 2023 season in which he was 7-1 with a team-best 2.54 earned run average while Viebrock led the team with six saves.

Salisbury struck first when a two-out single to left center field in the bottom of the second inning was followed by a double to right field to score the first run of the game all the way from first base.

Fortunately, Denison was able to answer with a big top of the third inning as after a leadoff home run to right center field by sophomore Erik Sundgren to tie it, the Big Red proceeded to put the pressure on the Sea Gulls as a walk to junior Jake Blozy was followed by a single through the left side by fellow-junior Eric Colaco to put runners at the corners with nobody out.

As he has done so often in his career, Colaco stole second and drew the throw, allowing Blozy to steal home and give the Big Red the lead.

Senior Jake Welsch followed with an RBI-double to right center field to score Colaco from second, and then after Welsch advanced to third on wild pitch, a fielder's choice by senior Owen Wilson scored Welsch. The fifth and final run of the inning for Denison came on a two-out RBI-single to right field by sophomore Alex Vasquez to score fellow-sophomore Cade Nowik.

Denison then blew the game open with four runs in a top of the seventh inning that featured an RBI-triple to right field by Welsch, an RBI-single up by middle by Wilson, an RBI-double to right field by senior Colin Ravin and an RBI-single to right field by Vasquez.

The three Denison outfielders led the day in this one as Welsch was 2-for-5 with two RBI's, two runs scored, a double and a triple. Blozy, Denison's transfer from Oberlin College, was 2-for-3 with two walks. Sundgren, meanwhile, is now 5-for-8 with one home run through the first two games of his sophomore season.

With the win, Denison was able to avoid its first 0-2 start since 2014 while Salisbury falls to 0-2 at the D3 Showcase after an 8-5 Friday night loss to the No. 6-ranked University of Lynchburg in a matchup of two of the past three national champions. In 2023, Salisbury became the first team to qualify for three consecutive NCAA Division III Baseball Championships since 2014-16.

The final day of the D3 College Showcase will see the Big Red take on a second-straight top-10 opponent in No. 10 Cortland. The two teams will match up for the first time ever starting at 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 25.