The Case Western Reserve University baseball team ran its winning streak to a season-high six games with a doubleheader sweep over Denison University on Saturday at Nobby's Ballpark, defeating the Big Red 7-5 in the first game, before claiming an 11-2 win in the second contest of the day.
The Spartans improved to 4-0 at home this season and to 14-9 overall on the season. Denison dropped to 9-5 on the year with the two losses.
Game 1: CWRU 7, Denison 5
The Spartans scored all seven of their runs in the game with two outs, including three in the bottom of the seventh that helped propel the team to a 7-5 win over the Big Red in the first game of the day.
After Case Western Reserve freshman Mark Gross and Denison freshman Mikey Rivera held their opposition scoreless through the first three innings of the game, Denison got on the board in the top of the fourth, scoring a run on a passed ball. The Spartans would counter with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, scoring on singles from freshman Mike Najmowicz and sophomore Danny Souza, and a double from freshman Jacob Kucia. A two-run double from Eric Zmuda helped to key a three-run fifth inning for Denison that gave the Big Red a 4-3 lead, but sophomore Daniel Watson tied the game at 4-4 with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
Denison regained the lead with a run in the top of the seventh, but the Spartans would again have an answer for the Big Red in the bottom of the inning. Freshman Tyler Wypiszenski and Watson reached on back-to-back walks with one out, and then after a strikeout, Wypiszenski came around to score, tying the game on an error by the Denison second baseman. Watson would then give the Spartans the lead, stealing home on a pickoff attempt at second base, and senior Tyler Schovanec followed with an infield hit to score senior Josh Neal, and extend the Spartans' lead to 7-5.
CWRU senior Connor Tagg held Denison scoreless on one hit and a walk, while striking out four batters over the final 2.1 innings to secure the victory for the Spartans. Tagg earned the victory, improving to 2-0 on the year, while lowering his ERA to 0.73.
Kucia went three-for-four in the game with a double and an RBI, while Wypiszenski added a two-for-four games with a pair of runs.
Relief pitcher Perley Provost took the loss for Denison, falling to 0-1 on the year.
Game 2:
Case Western Reserve junior Jake Shields pitched seven strong innings, and the Spartans batted around on two separate occasions in the late contest, as the team cruised to an 11-2 win over Denison.
The three-through-seven hitters in the Spartans lineup combined for 10 of the team's 13 hits in the game, and drove in 10 runs. Watson was three-for-four during the second game with two runs, two RBIs and a stolen base, while sophomore Alex Capetillo went two-for-three with three RBIs.
Denison would get on the board in the first inning, but Shield would not allow another run in his outing, holding the Big Red to seven hits and two walks in the game, while striking out five batters. He earned the win to improve to 5-2 on the year, and lowered his ERA to 3.76 with the 105-pitch effort.
The Spartans scored five runs in the bottom of the first to take a lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. After Neal was hit by a pitch with one out, CWRU rallied off five-straight hits, including RBI singles for Wypiszenski, Watson and Capetillo, and a two-RBI double for Najmowicz.
CWRU added a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from junior Aaron Cain, extending the lead to 6-1. Case Western Reserve then cemented its lead with a five-run bottom of the sixth, including a sacrifice fly from junior Tony Damiano, RBI singles from Wypiszenski and Watson, and a two-RBI single for Capetillo.
Denison scored a run in the ninth to cut the lead to 11-2, but senior Eddie Abramson would get the final three outs to close out the team's sixth-straight win.
Denison starter Cory Mauri allowed nine earned runs to take the loss, falling to 0-2 on the season.
The Spartans will return to action on Monday, April 4th, when the team makes the trip across town to take on John Carroll University at 4:00 p.m.