Baseball
Baseball: Big Red bats unfazed by rain in sweep of Earlham
JD Wyborny fired his fourth complete game of the season in Denison's 7-1 win over Earlham.
Date: April 19, 2008
Location: GRANVILLE
The Denison baseball team took two large steps toward capturing the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division championship after 11-2 and 7-1 victories over Earlham College on Saturday. Combine that sweep with Wabash's doubleheader split with Wittenberg and the table is set for a potential number one seed in the upcoming NCAC Tournament.
Two wins by the Big Red on Sunday against this same Earlham team will assure Denison their first conference divisional championship since 2005.
In game one Denison scored seven runs in the third inning and added three more in the fourth to lock up the 11-2 win. Senior starter James Clear (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) went five innings and allowed one run while allowing only four hits. He struck out three and improved to 4-2 on the year. The team pounded out 14 hits and was led by Park Smith (Warren, N.J./The Pingry School) who was 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI. Senior Tony Christopher (Moreland Hills, Ohio/Chagrin Falls) hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning and Justin Held (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) was 2-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored.
After a rain delay in the second inning Denison took the lead in the bottom of the third thanks to three runs helped out by two Earlham errors. In all, the Quakers made five errors in the second game and senior starter JD Wyborny (Walnut Creek, Calif./Monte Vista) was not giving an inch at the plate. Wyborny lowered his already impressive ERA to a team-best 1.79 after going seven innings and allowing just three hits and no earned runs. Wyborny struck out seven and walked only two, improving to 5-2 on the year.
Sophomore catcher Alex Horn (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) was the team's hitting star as he was 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored and two RBIs.
Denison will close out their four-game series with the Quakers on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled to be delivered at 12 p.m.