Two victories Saturday afternoon by Wabash at Denison moved the Little Giants into sole possession of second place in the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division standings. The Little Giants took a 4-3 win in game one before winning 8-4 in game two over the Big Red.
The victories put Wabash in sole possession of the number-two spot with a 7-3 league mark, trailing Ohio Wesleyan at 10-4. Denison holds third place with a 6-5 record. The top-two teams in the division earn a berth in the NCAC Baseball Tournament, something the Little Giants are hoping to do for the first time since joining the league for the 2000 season.
PJ Tyson gave Wabash an early lead in game one, blasting his first home run of the season down the left field line for a 1-0 lead. The Big Red tied the game in the third when Justin Held's triple to right center scored Evan Nicholson after a one-out single by the second baseman.
The Little Giants took the lead back in the fifth. John Holm doubled to left to opening the inning, then moved to third on a bunt single by David Seibel before scoring when Brian Lares lifted a sacrifice fly to center. Denison tied the game in the bottom half of the inning with three singles.
John Pennington opened the sixth inning with a single. Back-to-back walks to Chris Deig and Jake Thomas loaded the bases for the Little Giants' all-time leading hitter, Matt Dodaro. The senior came through with an RBI, lifting a fly ball to right to score Pennington for a 3-2 Wabash lead.
Denison answered with a manufactured run in the sixth. A walk to Kevin Teague started the inning. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, then took third when Keegan Leckrone's pickoff throw sailed into the outfield. Teague scored a few moments later on a wild pitch to tie the game at 3-3.
Pennington, filling in for injured starting second baseman Tyler Burke, would end the back-and-forth ballgame in the seventh. Seibel led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lares. Seibel scored the eventual winning run when Pennington drilled a Drew Rice pitch to right center for an RBI double.
Leckrone retired three of the final four Denison batters in the seventh to earn his fifth win of the season. He allowed one run and one hit with three walks in two innings of work. Andy Weeks started for Wabash, pitching five innings of five-hit baseball with two earned runs, five walks, and five strikeouts.
The Little Giants managed just four hits in game one, but would explode for 11 in game two for the Saturday sweep. Wabash took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI double by Tanner Coggins and another double off the bat of Pennington. A five-run third came on doubles by Dodaro and Seibel along with a Denison error, walk, balk, and wild pitch. Pennington and Holm added sacrifice fly RBIs in the inning to help Wabash to five runs on just four hits in the frame.
Wabash pushed another run across in the fourth when Thomas singled and stole second ahead of another Dodaro double. The second two-base hit by Dodaro was the 39th of his career, placing him one away from tying the Wabash mark of 40 set by Chris Sides.
Denison picked up two runs in the fourth along with solo runs in the sixth and seventh, but would get no closer. Senior Mike Korfhagen went the distance, picking up his second complete game victory of the season to move to 2-3 overall. He scatttered 11 hits in seven innings of work with two walks and one strikeout.
Dodaro and Seibel each had three hits for the day to pace the Wabash effort. Pennington's three RBIs led that category for the Little Giants, who evened their overall season mark at 13-13.
Wabash and Denison will try to play the final two games of the series Sunday by moving the start time to 10 a.m. in an attempt to avoid impending rain in the weather forecast.