Wabash began its defense of the North Coast Athletic Conference baseball title with a pair of victories over Ohio Wesleyan University Saturday afternoon. Andrew Swart went the distance in 4-0 shutout win in game one, while JT Miller improved to 4-1 for the year with a 4-1 win in game two.

Swart recorded his third victory of the season, giving him 19 in his career and tying him for third on the Wabash all-time wins list with Kelly Smith (19-13 from 1995-1998). Swart also added five more strikeouts for a career total of 181, keeping him the chase for the all-time record of 226 set by Kelley House (1987-1990).

The Wabash senior held Ohio Wesleyan (9-6, 0-2 NCAC West) to six hits while walking only two of the 29 batters he faced. The Bishops threatened in the first by putting a runner on third with two outs but were unable to score. OWU had runners on the corners with one out in the second, but a ground ball to Andrew Rodgers at third turned into a double play when John Holm threw to Tyler Hampton at the plate to retire the runner trying to score from third. Swart would not let a base runner beyond second for the remainder of the contest.

The Little Giants scored the only runs they needed in support of Swart in the first inning. Chris Deig opened the frame with a single to left, moving to second by reaching base safely on a fielder's choice by Tanner Watson. After the next two Wabash batters were retired and John Pennington was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Rodgers hit a single through the right side on a hit-and-run play, scoring Deig and Watson.

Montana Timmons added another run in the third with a sacrifice fly to score Watson after he opened the inning with a double down the left field line. John Holm produced another run off a sac fly in the fifth to score Dieg after he doubled with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch.

Miller recorded his third consecutive complete-game win as a starter, going nine innings while scattering seven hits and allowing only one earned run in the first inning. At one point in the game the sophomore retired 14 consecutive hitters. He struck out five and walked one in 116 total pitches.

After Ohio Wesleyan scored in the first inning, Wabash answered immediately with an RBI single from Timmons, plating Deig who had reached on an error to lead off the first. Timmons singled home another run in the third for his 24th RBI of the season to give the Little Giants the lead.

Wabash tacked on two more runs when Holm hit his seventh home run of the season in the seventh inning with Watson aboard to put the game out of reach. Holm's homer was the 37th of his career and produced his 156th career RBI.

Timmons and Watson each finished with three hits in two games, while Holm, Deig, and Robby Hechinger collected two hits apiece.

The Little Giants take the early lead in the NCAC West Division with a 2-0 record, tied with DePauw University after the Tigers made their conference debut on Saturday with a pair of victories over Wittenberg University in Greencastle.

Wabash (10-9, 2-0 NCAC West) and OWU will complete the four-game series on Sunday with a seven-inning and nine-inning contest beginning at noon at Wabash Ballpark.