Chillicothe, Ohio: Following a 16-0 record in the North Coast Athletic Conference, the nation's No. 1 team earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAC tournament hosted at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio. In game one of the tournament, the Big Red took on the NCAC No. 4 Blue Streaks of John Carroll for the third straight game.
The third meeting followed suit with the season finale, as the Big Red advanced to the winner's bracket with a thrilling 13-11 victory. Denison will take on the winner of No. 2 Wittenberg and No. 3 DePauw in game three of the tournament. John Carroll will play the loser of DePauw and Wittenberg in game four of the tournament.
With the win, Denison moves to 38-1 overall and rattles off 37 consecutive wins.
Game 1: No. 1 Denison 13, John Carroll 11
Following the perfect regular season in conference play, the No. 1 Denison Big Red took the field as the home team at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio against the Blue Streaks of John Carroll.
First-year Andrew Montero got the start for the Big Red on the mound. John Carroll was able to strike first in the matchup, grabbing a run off an error to take a 1-0 lead after the first half of the frame. It wouldn't be long before Denison responded, as Max Fishbein rattled a triple off the centerfield wall to score Eron Vega and Jack Lutte.
Montero fired a scoreless second frame to keep the Denison lead. Cade Nowik thundered a triple off the left-center wall before Jack Rollo extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI single up the middle.
The score wouldn't change until the bottom of the fourth inning, where Lutte launched a three-run homer over the right field wall to take a 6-1 lead.
In the top of the fifth, John Carroll blew the doors open with an eight-run frame. The Blue Streaks notched six hits, forced one error, and drew two walks. The Big Red staff saw three different arms in the inning, as Ryan Paganelis and Cooper Marrs followed Montero. In the bottom of the inning, the Denison lineup was able to cut the 9-6 lead by one courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Rollo.
The two NCAC powerhouses traded zeroes in the sixth inning. However, the big swings from the Big Red in the bottom of the seventh propelled Denison to a six-run inning to take a 13-9 lead. A pair of singles from Kelly Crittenberger and Cade Nowik put runners on for Rollo to move them over with a bunt. With the top of the order back up, Vega cleared the bags with a two-run double off the left field wall. Now knotted at 9-9, Sundgren blasted his 28th career homer straight out of the park over the right field wall to take an 11-9 lead. The final runs of the inning came from Bobby Haarde and Andrew Fazio.
John Carroll was able to plate two runs in the eighth inning to cut the Denison lead in half. However, first-year Devin Parker was able to record the final out to escape the jam. Parker closed the game and recorded the save to secure the first-round victory for the Big Red and keep the win streak alive.
In a game that saw 30 total hits, the Denison lineup accounted for 17. Nowik, Lutte, and Vega picked up three apiece. Lutte and Sundgren collected the lone homers of the day. Collectively, the lineup knocked two triples and three doubles.
On the mound, Marrs earned the win to move to 4-0 on the year while Parker collected his fourth save of the season. The staff of Montero, Paganelis, Marrs, and Parker fanned 12 and walked three.
Up Next: The Big Red will take on the winner of Wittenberg and DePauw tomorrow, Friday, May 8th, at 10 a.m. in the winner's bracket of the NCAC Tournament.
