Top-ranked Denison defeated No. 6 Endicott 4-3 in 10 innings on June 4 to win the NCAA Division III College World Series in Eastlake, Ohio.
The win, in the final game of the three-game series, marked the Big Red’s first baseball national title. Endicott beat Denison 11-10 in 10 innings earlier in the day to force Game 3.
Denison trailed 3-0 but a comeback was completed when Jack Lutte singled home Kelly Crittenberger with the winning run.
Denison (51-3) got a key pitching performance from Devin Parker, a freshman from Olentangy Orange. Parker pitched 7⅓ shutout innings to get the win. He allowed two hits, struck out eight and walked two.
In the clinching game, Endicott (44-14) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by John Fusco. The Gulls made it 3-0 in the third with a two-run home run by T.J. Liponis.
Denison made it 3-1 in the fifth when Max Fishbein homered. The Big Red cut the lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning when Crittenberger scored from first on a double by Eron Vega. Later in the sixth, Vega scored on a single by Erik Sundgren to make it 3-3.
Crittenberger opened the bottom of the 10th with a single and moved to second on a single by Vega before Lutte’s winning hit.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Denison beats Endicott to win Division III baseball national title
Reporting by Brian White, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brian White, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
