MARIETTA, Ohio (March 25, 2024) – The No. 6 Denison University baseball team visited Marietta College on Monday night, and it was a victorious day for the Big Red as they finished with an important 11-4 regional win over the Pioneers. The Big Red finished with 13 hits, but none were bigger than a grand slam in the sixth inning by sophomore Cade Nowik.

With the win, Denison (16-2 overall) earns its ninth straight win this season and snaps a four-game losing streak against Marietta (8-11) after falling twice to the Pioneers during each of the last two seasons.

Marietta scored first as a hit by pitch to start off the bottom of the second was followed by a one-out double to right center to put two runners into scoring position, leading to back-to-back RBI-singles.

Then after back-to-back strikeouts to lead off the top of the third, Denison got on the scoreboard with a single to shortstop by Jake Blozy and an RBI-double to center field by Noah Leib.

Robbie Lee (2-1) came in to pitch in the bottom of the third and tossed a 1-2-3 inning ending with back-to-back strikeouts, and that led to a three-run top of the fourth inning for the Big Red to take the lead.

After Jack Lutte led off the fourth inning with a double to left field and Nowik drew a four-pitch walk, a passed ball put both runners into scoring position and set up Owen Wilson's two-run single to center field.

The top of the fourth inning would continue as Jake Welsch singled through the right side and Erik Sundgren walked to load the bases, leading to an RBI-single to left field by Alex Vasquez still with nobody out.

Welsch then came back up in the fifth inning and delivered a two-out RBI-single to center field to score Lutte, who had led off the inning with a single to right field.

That made it 5-2 Big Red before the play of the game came on a grand slam home run to left field by Nowik in the top of the sixth, making the score 9-3.

From there, Nate Dinges pitched 3.2 innings allowing one hit, one run, three walks and three strikeouts to earn the save.

Lee earned the win after finishing with 3.1 innings pitched allowing two hits, one unearned run, three walks and five punch outs.

Offensively, Wilson finished 3-for-5 with three RBI's, Blozy was 3-for-6, Lutte was 2-for-4 with three runs scored, Welsch was 2-for-5 with two RBI's, and in addition to his grand slam, Nowik walked twice and scored three runs.

Tomorrow (Mar. 26) will see Denison host Muskingum University in its final game before the start of conference action. The Big Red and the Fighting Muskies are slated to square off starting at 5 p.m. on Big Red Field as Denison looks to extend its winning streak to 10 games.