Game one got off to a rough start for the Wabash baseball team at Denison University Saturday afternoon on the way to a two-game sweep by the Big Red. The Little Giants lost 8-0 in game one before rallying for four runs in the top of the seventh inning in game two, only to lose 7-6.
Wabash trailed 2-0 to Denison in the second contest before Nick George (West Lafayette, IN/Harrison) scored the first run of the day for the Little Giants after opening the inning with a single. He moved to second on a groundout by Phil Ramos (Zillah, WA/Zillah), then came home when fellow senior Danny Schubert (Lebanon, IL/Lebanon) drove him in with an RBI single.
The Big Red put together a four-run inning in the fourth to move in front 6-1 before Wabash could respond with a run in the sixth on a Shane Noble (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) solo homer, his team-leading sixth of the season. Denison answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth to head to the final inning with a 7-2 lead.
Schubert opened the seventh inning with a walk, advancing to third when pinch-hitter Shaun Rico (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) hit a single to put runners on the corners. Another single by pinch-hitter Bryan Scheffel (Fairfield, OH/Stephen T. Badin) scored Schubert. One batter later the bases were emptied when Jared Bogan (Struthers, OH/Struthers) blasted a three-run homer to cut the lead two one run.
Wabash looked like it might tie the game when George and Chris Sides (Brownsburg, IN/Brownsburg) reached on two-out singles after the Bogan shot, putting runners on first and third. But a flyout on the first pitch from reliever James Clear ended the Little Giants’ hopes and sent them to a 15-18 overall record and 6-8 North Coast Athletic Conference Western Division record with two games remaining Sunday afternoon against the Big Red.
Sides led the Little Giants with three hits in four at-bats. Bogan and George each added two hits to the Wabash total of 13.
That would be 13 more hits than the Little Giants would manage in game one, as Denison’s Drew Shamrock fired his first career no-hitter. Only walks by Ramos and Jon Elwardt (Naperville, IL/Naperville Central) kept the senior lefthander from a perfect game.
Wabash closes the NCAC portion of its season Sunday against Denison. The Little Giants will play Franklin at Victory Field in Indianapolis, Indiana April 20 before concluding the year with games against Case Western Reserve and Defiance next weekend.