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Eastlake, Ohio - For the second-straight season, the Denison baseball team will take the short trip up I-71 to Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio, home of the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, to compete in the NCAA Division III World Series. The Big Red won their Super Regional matchup against Piedmont University last week in a two-game sweep, and will look to capture their first national championship.

Super Regional Recap

Having to fight off mother nature, game one between the Big Red and Lions kicked off at 9 am, with both teams ready to roll. Piedmont entered in their first super regional appearance in school history, and started things off hot, scoring the first three runs of the game in the top of the fourth to take a 3-0 lead on the Big Red. Denison wasted no time answering themselves, as Jack Lutte doubled down the right field line to bring in Eron Vega and Cade Nowik to cut the deficit to one. The home squad tied up the game in the next inning, as Nowik put a ball in play which caused an error, scoring Kelly Crittenberg to knot the game up 3-3 heading into the final three innings. 

The Big Red blew the game wide open in the bottom of the eighth, scoring six runs with two outs to go up 9-3. The charge was led by Nowik, Vega, Lutte, Erik Sundgren, and Max Fishbein, who all had RBI's. Ryan Paganelis was able to shut down the Lions in the final innings, giving Denison the win, and needing one more W to reach the World Series.

Just as game one started, Piedmont got the bats rolling in a hurry, plating two in the first inning to take the early 2-0 lead at Big Red Field. Just as they had done all tournament, the Big Red struck back, scoring two in the top of the third thanks to RBI's from Vega and Lutte to tie game 2-2. Nate Lloyd would then score Jack Rollo on a sacrifice fly to go up 3-2 before the Lions secured another run to knot things up once again. Continuing his impressive day, Rollo would smack a two-run double into the right center gap, and Andrew Fazio and Lloyd would cash in RBI's to give the Big Red a 7-3 lead. Another Piedmont run would score, but Sundgren answered back with a fielder's choice RBI, bringing home Vega to go back up four, 8-4.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Lions were not ready to go home, as they exploded for three runs in the final frame to go down one with just one out. First-year Devin Parker stepped in, and delivered, sitting down the last two batters on groundouts to win the series and move onto the World Series for the second time in program history.

Format

The World Series consists of eight teams who won their Super Regional. From there, the teams are reseeded and separated into groups of four to compete in a double-elimination style bracket. The team who wins their pods will then advance to the championship final in a best-of-three. Below are the seeds for the World Series:

1. Denison
2. Rowan
3. Salisbury
4. Johns Hopkins
5. Baldwin Wallace
6. Endicott
7. Adrian
8. East Texas Baptist

Team Profiles

Denison Big Red

• City/State: Granville, Ohio
• Conference: North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC)
• Record: 45-1
• NPI: #1
• World Series Appearances: 2
• World Series Record: 1-2
• Regional Results: W vs. Grinnell 5-4, W vs. Cortland 4-3, W vs. Kalamazoo 13-12
• Super Regional Results: W vs. Piedmont 9-3, W vs. Piedmont 8-7

Rowan Profs

• City/State: Glassboro, New Jersey
• Conference: New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC)
• Record: 37-5
• NPI: #5
• World Series Appearances: 9
• World Series Record: 11-13 (1978 and 1979 National Champions)
• Regional Results: W vs. RIT 7-5, W vs. Southern Maine 18-7, W vs. Southern Maine 13-8
• Super Regional Results: W vs. Randolph-Macon 11-7, W vs. Randolph-Macon 9-5

Salisbury Sea Gulls

• City/State: Salisbury, Maryland
• Conference: Coast 2 Coast (C2C)
• Record: 37-9
• NPI: #7
• World Series Appearances: 9
• World Series Record: 12-14 (2021 National Champions) 
• Regional Results: W vs. Bridgewater State 11-2, W vs. Hobart 11-6, W vs. Hobart 4-3 (12)
• Super Regional Results: W vs. UChicago 5-3, W vs. UChicago 7-4

Johns Hopkins Blue Jays

• City/State: Baltimore, Maryland
• Conference: Centennial Conference (CC)
• Record: 38-10
• NPI: #9
• World Series Appearances: 8
• World Series Record: 13-15
• Regional Results: W vs. Pfeiffer 9-6, W vs. Pomona-Pitzer 7-5 (10), W vs. Pomona-Pitzer 7-3
• Super Regional Results: W vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 16-15 (10). L vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 10-9 (10), W vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 11-7

Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets

• City/State: Berea, Ohio
• Conference: Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) 
• Record: 36-10
• NPI: #10
• World Series Appearances: 4
• World Series Record: 4-5
• Regional Results: W vs. Wartburg 9-3, W vs. Wisconsin-La Crosse 5-4, W vs. Wartburg 11-1
• Super Regional Results: W vs. Messiah 4-0, W vs. Messiah 11-2

Endicott Gulls

• City/State: Beverly, Massachusetts 
• Conference: Conference of New England (CNE)
• Record: 40-11
• NPI: #13
• World Series Appearances: 4
• World Series Record: 3-6
• Regional Results: W vs. Husson 17-0, W vs. Montclair State 6-5, L vs. Whitworth 19-8, W vs. Whitworth 19-12
• Super Regional Results: W vs. Salve Regina 9-7, L vs. Salve Regina 6-5, W vs. Salve Regina 12-4

Adrian Bulldogs

• City/State: Adrian, Michigan
• Conference: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) 
• Record: 37-12
• NPI: #17
• World Series Appearances: 3
• World Series Record: 2-4
• Regional Results: L vs. DePauw 12-4, W vs. Wittenberg 8-2, W vs. Webster 2-1, W vs. DePauw 13-5, W vs. DePauw 13-4
• Super Regional Results: L vs. Bethany Lutheran 3-2, W vs. Bethany Lutheran 8-2, W vs. Bethany Lutheran 3-2

East Texas Baptist Tigers

• City/State: Marshall, Texas
• Conference: American Southwest Conference (ASC)
• Record: 38-11
• NPI: #18
• World Series Appearances: 2
• World Series Record: 2-2
• Regional Results: W vs. Concordia Texas 9-6, W vs. Rhodes 11-6, W vs. Concordia Texas 13-9
• Super Regional Results: W vs. Lynchburg 8-2, L vs. Lynchburg 3-1, W vs. Lynchburg 6-2

The winner of No. 1 Denison and No. 8 East Texas Baptist will play the winner of No. 4 Johns Hopkins and No. 5 Baldwin Wallace on Saturday, May 30 at 1:15 pm, while the losers will play at 10 am the following day.