PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (March 9, 2024) – Sporting a newly-minted national ranking of No. 7 in NCAA Division III, the Denison University baseball team started off the Snowbird Classic with 16 hits and a 13-6 win over Babson College on Saturday at Centennial Park in Port Charlotte, Florida.

Entering Saturday's matchup, the Big Red and the Beavers were 2-2 against each other in the all-time series that dates back to 1998, when Denison captured a 9-7 victory. The teams have now met four times in Port Charlotte over the past three seasons, with the Big Red taking the first game 7-1 on March 15, 2022, and the Beavers winning the rematch, 10-5, two days later. Babson took last year's contest 7-4 on March 11.

This time around, Denison trailed 1-0 after a sacrifice fly for Babson the first inning before tying it with an unearned run in the second, scoring four runs in the third and then putting up a seven-spot in the sixth.

The four-run third inning for the Big Red started with a leadoff triple to right center field by Jack Lutte, followed by an RBI-single down the left field line by Noah Leib. Later in the inning, a two-run single by Cade Nowik put the Big Red in front for the first time in the game.

The big hits in the sixth inning for Denison were a two-run double by Lutte to make it 8-1 followed by a two-out, two-run home run to center field by Jake Welsch to make it 10-1. Jake Blozy added an RBI-triple down the right field line before scoring himself on a wild pitch to make it 12-1.

The final run of the game for Denison came in the top of the seventh when Erik Sundgren led off with a double down the right field line, stole third, and then scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Eric Colaco.

In the end, Lutte was 3-for-6 with two RBI's, two runs scored, two doubles and a triple while Nowik was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI's as well. In all, five Denison players finished with two RBI's in this one while as a team, Denison had eight extra-base hits.

Will Rettig (2-0) earned the win after pitching the first 5.1 innings and allowing four total runs and three earned runs to go along with six hits, four walks and four strikeouts. He faced just three batters in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings after getting a 4-6-3 double play to end the third inning and picking off a runner at first base after a leadoff single in the fourth.
 
Day two from Florida will see the Big Red take on both the United States Merchant Marine Academy (12 p.m.) and Kean University (3 p.m.) on Sunday, March 10. It will be the first of two meetings at the Snowbird Classic this season between the Big Red and the USMMA.