CHILLICOTHE — The top-seeded Wittenberg baseball team dropped a doubleheader to second-seeded and No. 2-ranked Denison on Sunday to finish as the runner-up in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. In the double-elimination format, Wittenberg needed to win just one of a possible two-game set to claim the tournament championship. The Big Red forced a second game with a 9-3 win to begin the day and went on to win the championship with a 17-7 victory in seven innings in the winner-take-all Game 2.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (26-17 overall), Denison (39-6 overall)
• Venue: V.A. Memorial Stadium - Chillicothe, Ohio
• NCAC Tournament site
• The four-team, double-elimination NCAC Tournament featured top-seeded Wittenberg, No. 2 seed Denison, No. 3 seed DePauw and No. 4 seed Kenyon. Denison is ranked No. 2 nationally in both the D3Baseball.com Top 25 Poll and ABCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll this week.
• This marked the Tigers' third straight, and 16th all-time, appearance in the NCAC Tournament, and they were seeking their first-ever championship. Wittenberg shared the regular-season conference title with Denison, marking the first NCAC regular-season title in program history.
• During the regular season, Wittenberg split its doubleheader with Denison, winning 10-7 in Game 1 before falling 9-8 in Game 2. The Tigers defeated the Big Red 4-3 in the tournament on Friday to advance to the championship game.
• As the NCAC champion, Denison earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship tournament.
• Juniors Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest), Charlie Schafer (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) and Ben Seibert (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) and freshman Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, P.R./Franklin County) were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Stat Leaders - Game 1

• Senior Conor O'Malley (Avon, Ohio/St. Edward's) hit a home run with one RBI and one run scored.
• Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with a double.
• Senior Matt Moore (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) tallied two hits and one run.
• Royer had one hit and two RBIs.
• Sophomore Alex Nemunaitis (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) had one hit and one run.
• Eric Colaco led the Denison offense with two hits, four RBIs and two runs.
• Peter Lemke earned the win on mound for the Big Red to improve to 8-0 on the year. He tallied seven strikeouts over eight innings.

Game 1 - Denison 9, Wittenberg 3

• Denison got out to an early lead with four runs in the top of the first inning and added one more in the top of the second.
• Wittenberg plated a run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single from Royer, making the score 5-1.
• Denison added three more runs in the top of the fourth, and Wittenberg scored a run on an RBI fielder's choice from Royer in the bottom of the frame.
• The Big Red scored a run in the top of the fifth to increase their lead to 9-2.
• O'Malley led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run, and Moore followed with a single. Rodriguez added a one-out single to put runners on first and second, but the Big Red got the final two outs to end the game.
• Denison out-hit Wittenberg by a 13-9 margin and committed no errors to the Tigers' two.

Stat Leaders - Game 2

• Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a home run, one RBI and two runs.
• Senior Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, Ohio/Tallmadge) was 1-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and one run.
• Seibert was 2-for-4 with one run.
• O'Malley was 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
• Freshman Thatcher Dietz (Westerville, Ohio/South) was 1-for-3 with two runs.
• Royer was 1-for-2 with one run.
• Erik Sundgren led the Denison offense, going 3-for-4 with a double, six RBIs and one run.

Game 1 - Denison 17, Wittenberg 7 (7 inn.)

• Denison scored three runs on the bottom of the first inning and added four in the second after Wittenberg scored a run in the top of the frame. The Tigers scored their first run of the game on a two-out solo homer from Rodriguez.
• The Tigers added a run in the top of the third on a two-out RBI single from O'Malley, making the score 7-2, but the Big Red answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
• Wittenberg plated three runs in the top of the fourth on an RBI sac fly from sophomore James MacAuley (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North) and 2-RBI double from Thomas, making the score 9-5.
• Denison scored a run in the bottom of the fourth and three more in the fifth for a 13-5 lead.
• Wittenberg scored twice in the top of the sixth courtesy of a Denison error and RBI sac fly from O'Malley.
• The Big Red answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and ended the game via the mercy rule with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
• Denison out-hit Wittenberg by a 15-8 margin and committed one error to the Tigers' three.

Records & Milestones

• Eighth-year head coach Brian McGee is now 159-116 all-time at Wittenberg.
• The Tigers have hit a program-record 41 home runs this season, breaking the prior single-season record of 35 from 1997.
• Moore has 164 hits, 24 doubles and 127 RBIs in his career. He ranks third all-time in RBIs and is two hits and 12 doubles shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• O'Malley has 164 hits, 36 doubles, 18 home runs, 123 RBIs, 125 runs scored in his career. He ranks fourth all-time at Wittenberg in home runs and RBIs, tied for ninth in doubles and 10th in runs and is two hits shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in that category.
• Thomas has 147 hits and 35 doubles in his career. He is 19 hits and one double shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Senior Nick Cunningham (Fredericktown, Ohio/Fredericktown) has a 17-9 career record with 133 strikeouts. He is tied for seventh all-time at Wittenberg in pitching wins.
• Senior Austin Luther (Hughesville, Md./St. Mary's Ryken) has a 14-7 career record with 152 strikeouts, which ranks ninth all-time at Wittenberg.
• Senior Joe Horoszko (Seven Hills, Ohio/Saint Edwards) has a 15-6 career record with five saves and 124 strikeouts. He is tied for fifth all-time at Wittenberg in career saves.
• Schafer has an 8-2 career record with eight saves and 99 strikeouts. He ranks third all-time at Wittenberg in career saves.

Up Next

• The Tigers will hope to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The selection show will be streamed online on Monday at 12 p.m. on NCAA.com.