CHILLICOTHE, OH – After two complete games of the 2024 NCAC Baseball Tournament, top-seeded Wittenberg and second-seeded Denison captured victories and will face off in game three at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 10. Third-seeded DePauw and fourth-seeded Kenyon will meet up in an elimination game (game 4) at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The winner of game 4 will take on the loser of game 3 at 5:00 p.m. for the right to play in the tournament title game against the winner of game three.
 
Wittenberg took a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after sophomore Alex Nemunatis (Ottawa Hills, OH/Ottawa Hills), with bases loaded, singled to center field, sending senior Conor O’Malley (Avon, OH/St. Edward’s) across home plate. Kenyon junior righthander Edwin Groff (Los Angeles, CA/Campbell Hall) held the Tigers scoreless for 2.2 innings until Wittenberg senior Luke Thomas (Tallmadge, OH/Tallmadge) homered to right field with the bases loaded, extending the Tigers lead to four.
 
In the top of the sixth, Kenyon pulled within two scores, due to an overthrown toss to first base, advancing junior Dustin Lee (Nashville, TN/Montgomery Bell Academy) and senior Ben Nash (Stamford, CT/Greenwich) home. However, Wittenberg would score back-to-back times as junior Rocco Royer (Lake Bluff, IL/Lake Forest) hit a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Nemunatis to score once again. Senior Parker Gryskevich (Brownsburg, IN/Brownsburg) then sent the ball out of the park on a homer to left field (6-2).
 
Thomas finished 2-for-4 on the day with three RBI and one run scored while Royer was 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored, and Nemunaitis was 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Wittenberg senior righthander Joe Horoszko (Seven Hills, OH/Saint Edwards) earned the win, pitching 5.1 innings, allowing just two hits, two runs, and three walks. He held the Owls scoreless until the sixth inning.
 
Lee led the Owls offensively, going 2-for-4 with one run scored. Junior left-handed pitcher Christian Harris (Canton, OH/Canton Central Catholic) took the loss after giving up two hits and one run in the first inning. Despite not getting a hit in game one, junior Nate Rosen (Thousand Oaks, CA/Westlake), junior Parker Gibbons (Harrison, NY/Harrison), and Nash made it on base after being walked in the first, third, and sixth innings, respectively.
 
In game two on Thursday afternoon, DePauw jumped to a 1-0 lead during the first at-bat as sophomore Louis Florida (Wilmette, IL/New Trier) sent a homer to right field on Denion sophomore righthander Will Rettig’s (Perrysburg, OH/Perrysburg) the second pitch of the game. After the next three DePauw batters went down consecutively, Denison responded with two, two-run homers from junior Eric Colaco (Richfield, OH/Revere) and senior Jake Welsch (Glenmoore, PA/Downingtown West) to make the score 4-1. During the bottom of the third, Denison extended its lead to four,  building a lead that DePauw just couldn’t catch. The Big Red continued to score as Colaco recorded his second two-run homer of the game during the sixth inning. DePauw added one run during the top of the fourth inning, however they were held scoreless the rest of the game.
 
Colaco led the Big Red offensively, going 3-for-5 with four RBI, two two-run home runs, and one double while senior Noah Leib (Evanston, IL/Evanston Township) went 3-for-4 with two RBI, one home run, and a double. Sophomore Cade Nowik (Lake Forest, IL/Lake Forest) contributed to Denison’s scoring as he went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one home run. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Michael Gray (Lake Forest, IL/Lake Forest), who is now 3-0, earned the win, pitching two innings and striking out two and allowing just one hit and one walk.
 
Florida finished the game going 2-for-5 with one RBI and one run scored while junior Hunter Hrbek (Plainfield, IN/Plainfield) finished 1-for-3 with one RBI and one walk. Senior lefthander Michael Vallone (Lake Forest, IL/Lake Forest) suffered his first loss of the season as he allowed eight earned runs on nine hits in 4.0 innings.