GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Wittenberg Tigers fell out of first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) West Division after suffering a doubleheader sweep at Denison.

The two games could not have been more different, as the Big Red rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull out a narrow 3-2 decision in the opener and then blistered the Tigers for seven runs in the first two innings en route to a 14-2 thrashing in the nightcap. Heading into another doubleheader on Sunday between the two teams, Wittenberg is 12-5 overall and 3-3 in the NCAC West and Denison is now 10-8 overall and 4-2 in the division.

Wittenberg led the opener 2-1 before Denison scored a pair of two-out runs against Tigers' senior ace Zach Finke (Maineville, Ohio/St. Xavier) in the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh, Wittenberg put the winning run on base before a double play ended the game.

Finke suffered his first loss of the 2013 season after tossing 5.2 innings of nine-hit baseball. He was charged with three earned runs while striking out six and not walking a batter.

Offensively, senior Grant Goodwin (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) went 2-for-3 with an RBI and senior Graham Wolff (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) drove in a run as well.

In Game 2, it was all Denison from the start. Freshman Jordan Hitt (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) picked up his first collegiate defeat after giving up seven runs (six earned) in 1.2 innings. In all, four Tiger hurlers allowed 17 base hits in the game.

Offensively, the lone bright spot was provided by sophomore Aaron Patrick (Eldorado, Ohio/Tri-County North), who hit his first collegiate home run in the ninth inning.