Tigers Fall to No. 4 Denison in Final Regular-Season Game

GRANVILLE, OH – Originally scheduled for Saturday, the rain held off long enough for Wittenberg and No. 4 ranked Denison to play Game 1 of what was supposed to be a season-ending doubleheader on Sunday, May 4, at Big Red Field. However, rain came through again and washed away Game 2.

A total of eight innings were played before the washout, and the Big Red captured their 11^th win in a row by defeating Wittenberg, 7-0, to improve to 32-5 overall and remain atop the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) grasping the regular-season title with a record of 14-1.

The Tigers dropped to 28-10 overall and 11-4 in the NCAC with the loss. Wittenberg finished in a third-place tie with Wooster, and by virtue of tiebreaker criteria, the Tigers were awarded the No. 3 seed in the upcoming NCAC Tournament. The double-elimination NCAC Tournament will start on Thursday, May 8, at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, with the Tigers set to square off with second-seeded Wabash, which finished at 12-4 in regular season league play. That game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., with Denison taking on Wooster in the tourney opener at 12 p.m.

Denison scored seven runs on eight hits with no errors against Wittenberg. The Big Red scored one in the first, four in the second, and two more in the fifth. The Tigers were unable to put together an offensive attack against the Big Red, getting just two hits on the day. Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County) was 1-for-2 with a walk and James MacAuley (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI / Grosse Pointe North) was 1-for-3 at the plate. Andrew Rust (Dublin, OH / Dublin Coffman) got the starting assignment and took the loss on the mound for Wittenberg.

Written By: Cindy Holbrook