No. 1 Denison baseball eliminated the No. 5 Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets from the NCAA Division III College World Series with a 6-4 victory May 31 in Eastlake, Ohio.
The Big Red’s NCAA DIII record-tying 44-game win streak ended with a 5-1 loss to East Texas Baptist in the teams’ tournament opener. Relegated to the elimination bracket, Denison shut out No. 4 Johns Hopkins 8-0 to earn a match-up with in-state opponent Baldwin Wallace.
All of Denison’s offense came in the first four innings. Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the first, Denison’s Jack Rollo hit an RBI double to left field. The Yellow Jackets scored two more runs in the top of the second off a throwing error, after which Denison shortstop Kerry Crittenberger hit an RBI single to even the score at 3-3 in the third inning.
The Big Red broke away in the fourth by scoring three runs on a throwing error and RBI singles from Erik Sundgren and Max Fishbein. Starting pitcher Robbie Lee finished his 5⅔ innings with eight strikeouts, and Rollo pitched the final three innings, striking out three batters while allowing a run.
Denison will play against East Texas Baptist again at 10 a.m. on June 1 in the Bracket 1 final. A win would force a winner-take-all game later that day at 5 p.m. The team that advances out of Bracket 1 faces the Bracket 2 winner in the CWS finals June 3.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Denison baseball beat Baldwin Wallace 6-4, push to CWS bracket final
Reporting by Dan Aulbach, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
