Baseball: Wabash earns key NCAC sweep over Big Red

Wabash College took two from the Denison University baseball team in a critical North Coast Athletic Conference West Division matchup on Saturday afternoon in Granville. The Little Giants edged the Big Red in the opener 4-3 and posted an 8-4 victory in game two.

Wabash jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a lead off home run by catcher PJ Tyson in the top of the first inning. DU knotted the game in the bottom half of the third on an RBI triple by senior Justin Held (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) that scored rookie Evan Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) from first.  The two squads scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings as the score was tied at 3-3 heading into the seventh frame.  The Little Giants broke the tie when John Pennington roped an double to right center that scored the game-winning run in the form of David Seibel.

Nicholson went 2-for-2 at the dish with two runs scored and two walks while sophomore Kevin Teague (Fairfax Station, Va./St Stephens and St. Agnes) drew three base-on-balls and scored once. Held and senior Alex Horn (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) each recorded an RBI hit for Denison. Freshman reliever Tyler Nicholson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) fell to 1-2 on the year after suffering the loss. Nicholson surrendered one run off one hit with one strikeout in 1.2 innings. Sophomore Nick Smith (Mirror Lake, N.H./Holderness School) got the start allowing three runs on five hits with four Ks.

In his first career start, Pennington logged the first two hits of his young career. Keegan Leckrone picked up his fifth win of the season out of the bullpen for Wabash. Leckrone went two innings allowing just one run on one hit. Starter Andy Weeks gave up two runs off five hits and struck out five in five innings of work.

In game two, the Little Giants erupted for five runs in the third inning to put DU into a 7-0 hole. Denison was able to trim the deficit in half at 8-4, but the offensive outburst by Wabash was too much to over come.

Sophomore Peter Krieger (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored to pace the DU attack while rookie Bill Sanders (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Dale McOsker (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) allowed one run and scatter three hits in four innings out of the bullpen. Starting pitcher Bob Giarratani (Winthrop, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits in 2.1 innings.

Senior Mike Korfhagen went the distance allowing four runs on 11 hits to earn his second win of the year. Matt Dodaro, Seibel and Coggins all recorded multi-hit performances for the Little Giants.

Denison falls to 16-15 on the season and 6-6 in the NCAC West while Wabash improves to 13-13 overall and 7-3 in the division. The two teams close out their weekend series on Sunday. First pitch of the doubleheader is slated for 12 p.m.

Game One Box [htm]

Game Two Box [htm]