Eastlake, Ohio: After a dominant 13-2 showing earlier in the morning, the No. 1 Denison Big Red earned a rubber match against the Tigers of East Texas Baptist University for a spot in the National Championship Series.
The game started in full favor of the Tigers, plating four runs in the top of the first inning. However, a pair of two-run homers from Cade Nowik and Erik Sundgren in the seventh and a 6.0 inning gem from Will Rettig propelled Denison to a historic comeback victory. With the win, Denison moves to 49-2 on the year and will play in the program's first National Championship.
CWS Bracket 1 Championship: No. 1 Denison 11, No. 8 ETBU 7
After a 9.0 inning performance by Mahoney Daunic, the Big Red escaped elimination and forced the "if necessary" game against the Tigers of ETBU. Now playing as the home team, the Denison Big Red gave the start to first-year Devin Parker, the first of his career. The Tigers pounced early, plating four runs before the Big Red could get an out. Senior Ryan Paganelis made his 30th appearance of the season. The signature stopper was able to get three outs with two strikeouts to silence the momentum.Â
Isaac Thornton got the ball for the Tigers. The righty, who shut down the Big Red on Friday, picked up right where he left off. However, in the bottom of the frame, the Big Red chipped away at the lead when a groundout from Max Fishbein scored Jack Lutte.
In the top of the second, junior Max Mullen took over on the mound. The righty retired three straight to give the Big Red a spark of energy but Thornton was quick to snuff the flame as he retired Denison 1-2-3.
The Tiger lineup was not backing down in the top of the third. A leadoff double followed by a base hit set up a sacrifice fly that pushed the ETBU lead to 5-1. In the next at-bat, a single was roped into right to extend the lead to 6-1. Thornton again sat down the Big Red three-up, three-down in the home half of the inning.
Mullen was relieved in the top of the fourth by senior All-American Will Rettig. Rettig took the mound for his first relief appearance of the season and electrified the Big Red with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Thornton continued his dominance, striking out two of three batters in the bottom of the fourth.
After a three-strikeout top of the fifth from Rettig, the Big Red lineup struck back in the bottom of the frame. A pair of sacrifice flies from Kelly Crittenberger and Lutte cut the Tiger lead down to 6-3.
East Texas Baptist recorded their final run in the top of the sixth, when a duo of base hits and a perfectly executed bunt plated run number seven for the Tigers. In the bottom of the sixth, Thornton retired, hurling over 200 pitches over 72 hours against the Big Red.
Rettig continued to groove in the top of the seventh, firing up the dugout after an eight-pitch two-strikeout frame. The bottom of the seventh is when the Big Red lineup blew the doors wide open. Crittenberger drew a full count walk to start the inning. With a 1-1 count, Cade Nowik cut the lead in half with a no-doubter over the left field wall. The momentum didn't fizzle out after the homer. Lutte reached on an error by the second baseman to put a runner back on the bases. Erik Sundgren sent a laser over the right field wall to tie the game up at seven all. This marked Sundgren's 31st career home run, placing him alone at the top of the Denison career record books. A pair of walks from Fishbein and Jack Rollo set up an RBI single from Andrew Fazio before Crittenberger capped off the seven-run inning with a two-RBI knock into right center to give Denison a 10-7 lead.
Following the breakout inning, Rettig fired another zero on the board. The Big Red bats were able to snag an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Sundgren drew a walk, which gave him the single-season walk record (40). Fishbein scored him in the next at bat with a single into centerfield.
In the final frame, Rettig took the mound for his sixth inning of work. The righty sat down the leadoff via strikeout before getting a grounder to Nowik for out number two. With one out remaining for a ticket to the National Championship. With an 0-2 count, Rettig got a flyball high over first base, where Fishbein camped under it for the final putout.
Rettig earned his 12th win of the season, moving his season record to 12-1 and tying the Denison single-season victory record. Through the arms of Parker, Paganelis, Mullen, and Rettig, the quartet recorded 11 K's with eight coming from Rettig.
In the box, Denison tallied 10 hits and drew six walks to account for the 11-run showcase. The performance was highlighted by the homers of Nowik and Sundgren. Sundgren, Fishbein, Fazio, and Nowik all recorded two hits. Crittenberger was 1-2 with three RBIs.
Up Next: Denison advances to the Division III National Championship Series against the winner of the No. 6 Endicott Gulls/No. 7 Adrian Bulldogs. The series will be best of three with game one scheduled for Wednesday, June 3rd, at 12:00 p.m.
