Baseball

The Big Red captured the 2008 NCAC West Division Championship following their four-game sweep of Earlham College. They will host the NCAC Semifinals on May 3-4.

Four weeks ago the Denison Big Red opened their North Coast Athletic Conference divisional schedule with a four-game sweep of Wittenberg.  This afternoon they completed their conference slate in exactly the same fashion, and in the process locked up their first NCAC West Division championship since 2005.

Denison topped Earlham College 6-3 in the opener and rallied with six runs over the final three innings for a 9-7 victory in game two.  Denison actually clinched the championship following their game one victory thanks to Wittenberg's win over Wabash College in Crawfordsville.  The Little Giants, who entered the weekend with an outside shot at the division crown, dropped three out of four to the Tigers and opened the door for Ohio Wesleyan, who will be the second-seed and face The College of Wooster in the tournament semifinals.  Denison's semifinal opponent is yet to be determined.

Sophomore Park Smith (Warren, N.J./Pingry School) got the start in game one and went five innings, allowing three runs off seven hits while striking out four.

After Earlham scored two runs in the top of the first, Denison answered with three runs off five hits in the bottom of the first thanks to RBI singles by Smith, Justin Held (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) and Kevin Teague (Fairfax Station, Va./St. Stephen's & St. Agnes).

DU would add another run in the second and third inning and senior Tim LaBolt (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) added a little breathing room with a solo home run in the fourth.

Freddy Marino (Shaker Heights, Ohio/University School) worked a scoreless sixth inning and gave way to Aidan Lucas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Twp.) who picked up his fourth save of the season by pitching a scoreless seventh inning.

Senior Tony Christopher (Moreland Hills, Ohio/Chagrin Falls) was 3-for-3 in game one and junior shortstop Andy Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) joined Smith with a 2-for-3 game at the plate.

With DU trailing 7-3 in the fourth inning of game two, the Big Red would score four runs off five hits to tie the game at 7-7.  In the fifth, Johnson's ground out to second would score Christopher with the go-ahead run.

Marino and Lucas again teamed up for three innings of scoreless relief to complete the sweep.  Marino picked up his third win of the season and Lucas was credited with his second save of the afternoon.  The Big Red pounded out 12 hits in game four and was led by Held's 2-for-4 effort and three RBIs.  At the top of the order, center fielder Danny Pritz (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. 

This marks Denison's fourth NCAC West Division crown and their first since the 2005 season.  Wooster has already locked up the east championship.  The Big Red will host the No. 2 team from the east division in a best 2-out-of-3 series on May 3-4.  Win or lose, Denison will also serve as the host site for the 2008 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship series on May 8-9.

Game 1 Box

Game 2 Box