GRANVILLE, Ohio (May 8, 2024) – Denison University had a league-best seven student-athletes named to the North Coast Athletic Conference's 40th Anniversary All-Decade Baseball Team. Former athletes Charlie Fleming '23, Zack Huarte '17, Tanner Johnson '18, Will Krushena '21, Brian McAuliffe '21 and Perley Provost '18 earned spots on the list, while current junior Eric Colaco also represented the Big Red baseball program.

Denison baseball has won three straight NCAC Championships ('21, '22, '23) and four straight NCAC Tournament Championships ('19, '21, '22, '23), has advanced to five straight NCAA Regional Tournament ('18, '19, '21, '22, '23), has played in the regional championship game in each of the last three seasons, and has hosted regionals during each of the last two years.

Denison was responsible for producing the NCAC Player of the Year for three straight seasons ('18, '19, '21) and had four conference players of the year overall in the decade.

Charlie Fleming (2020-2023) was a two-time NCAC Pitcher of the Year ('21, '23). He was named to the NCAC All-West Team in 2021 and earned first-team all-conference accolades as a senior after tying the program record for wins in a single season with 10. In 2023, he was named first-team all-region by both the ABCA and D3baseball.com, was a Second-Team All-American by the ABCA, and was a First-Team Academic All-American® by College Sports Communicators. He was also a 2021 second-team all-region pick by the ABCA. On May 6, 2023, Fleming pitched the third no hitter in program history in a 14-0 home win over Waynesburg University. For his career, Fleming is second in program history in winning percentage (.786) and strikeouts (221) and is third in wins (22), tied for fourth in games started (37), sixth in innings pitched (224.0), and ninth in earned run average (3.70).

Zach Huarte (2015-17) was a three-time First-Team All-NCAC pitcher ('15, '16, '17). As a senior, Huarte tied the program record with 14 starts. He is fourth in program history in lowest earned run average (3.17) and is tied for sixth in games started (35), seventh in strikeouts (166), is tied for seventh in wins (17), and ninth in innings pitched (204.0) in a career.

Outfielder Tanner Johnson (2015-18) was the 2018 NCAC Player of the Year, becoming the first Denison player to win the award since Derek Johnson in 2001. He earned back-to-back first-team all-conference certificates in 2017 and 2018 and was second-team all-conference in 2016. In 2018, he was named first-team all-region and Second-Team All-American by the ABCA and was a first-team all-region selection and Honorable Mention All-American by D3baseball.com. He was also a 2017 third-team all-region pick by the ABCA. He is Denison's career leader in triples (14) and walks (96) and was the leader in stolen bases (79) before that record was broken earlier this season by Eric Colaco. Johnson is also second in program history in at bats (576) and is third in games played (159) and runs (161), fourth in hits (201), fifth in doubles (44) and total bases (309), and tied for eighth in runs batted in (124).

First baseman Will Krushena (2017-21) was the 2019 NCAC Player of the Year. He earned first-team all-conference accolades in 2019 before being named to the NCAC All-West Team in 2021. In 2019, he was named first-team all-region and Second-Team All-American by the ABCA. He was also named second-team all-region by the ABCA in 2021 and was a two-time first-team all-region selection by D3baseball.com ('19, '21). In 2019, Krushena set a single-season program record with 69 runs batted in and 28 consecutive games with a hit (Feb. 24-April 16). He became the second player in program history to hit for the cycle in a 12-9 win over Kenyon College on April 16, 2019. He is second in program history in both doubles (51) and runs batted in (155), and is fourth in total bases (323), fifth in hits (188), tied for fifth in home runs (20), sixth in at bats (538) and runs scored (137), ninth in games played (149), and 10th in walks (64). Defensively, he is third in program history with 822 putouts and is sixth in double plays (70).

Infielder (1B/3B) Brian McAuliffe (2017-21) was the 2021 NCAC Player of the Year. He also earned first-team all-conference accolades in 2019 before being named to the NCAC All-West Team in 2021. As a fifth-year senior, he broke the single-season program record with 13 home runs, was the named the Regional Player of the Year by both the ABCA and D3baseball.com, and was an ABCA Second-Team All-American and a D3baseball.com First-Team All-American. He was a two-time first-team all-region selection ('19, '21) by both organizations. He is the program's career leader in games played (166), home runs (30) and runs batted in (158). He is also second in total bases (333), third in at bats (554) and doubles (46), fourth in slugging percentage (.601), tied for sixth in hits (183), and eighth in runs scored (125) and walks (68) in a career.

Perley Provost (2015-18) was the 2018 NCAC Pitcher of the Year. He was named honorable mention all-conference in 2016, second-team all-conference in 2017 and first-team all-conference in 2018. He was also named first-team all-region by both the ABCA and D3baseball.com as a senior after tying the program record for wins in a single season with 10. Provost ranks fourth in program history in appearances (62), innings pitched (239.1) and wins (21) in a career, and is sixth in carer earned runs average (3.42).

After being named the 2022 NCAC Newcomer of the Year and earning second-team all-conference honors as a freshman, outfielder Eric Colaco (2022-Present) followed that up with a great sophomore season last year that saw him win the NCAC Player of the Year award and be named first-team all-conference. In 2023, he was named first-team all-region by both the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and D3baseball.com, was a Third-Team All-American by the ABCA, and was a Fifth-Team All-American by D3baseball.com. That season he set program records for at bats (201), hits (76), total bases (130), runs scored (70) and stolen bases (38) in a single season and tied the program's hitting streak record with a hit in each of the first 28 games of the year (Feb. 24-Aprl 19). Colaco has broken the Big Red's stolen bases record during each of his first two seasons, and earlier this season he became Denison's career stolen base leader during a win over the United States Merchant Marine Academy on March 12, 2024, in Florida. With 33 stolen bases this season, he has 103 in his career, surpassing the original record of 79 career stolen bases set by Tanner Johnson in 2018. In addition, through his first two seasons, Colaco ranked third in slugging percentage (.602), seventh in runs scored (130), and tied for eighth in batting average (.369) in a career.

Denison had the most honorees on the 40th Anniversary All-Decade team, while Wooster was second with six and Allegheny had three.

NCAC Baseball All-Decade Team