NCAC Baseball

Edited: April 26, 2010

The North Coast Athletic Conference Baseball tournament pairings are set. West Division top seed Denison (11-5, 21-16) faces East Division second seed Allegheny (12-4, 24-10), in the evening’s first game. First pitch is at 4 p.m. on Thursday. East Division top seed Wooster (13-3, 31-7) takes on West Division second seed Wabash (9-7, 18-21) at 8 p.m. that night. The double-elimination tournament games are set for 12 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 pm. on Friday, and Saturday’s final two contests would be played at 1 p.m. and 30 minutes following Game 6 if necessary. The entire tournament will be held in Chillicothe, Ohio, at VA Memorial Stadium.

Wooster is the defending champion and the Fighting Scots and Ohio Wesleyan have combined to win the past 10 NCAC titles, with each taking home five trophies. Overall, Wooster has 12 NCAC championships, Ohio Wesleyan has 10. Allegheny is the only other school to have won a North Coast baseball title. They won in 1999, 1997, 1993 and shared with Wooster in 1985.

ALLEGHENY went 5-1, including clinching an NCAC Tournament berth by taking three of four from Oberlin. The Gators also defeated Penn State-Behrend and Thiel in non-conference action. Junior Matt Stahl (Meyersdale, PA/Meyersdale) batted .600 (9-for-15) with seven runs and four RBI while freshman Eric Hansen (Erie, PA/McDowell) went 9-for-19 (.474) with three doubles, three RBI and nine runs ...

DENISON locked up the West Division with a pair of victories over Earlham. Junior Danny Pritz (Wilmette, IL/New Trier) went 4-for-7 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Junior Bob Giarratani (Winthrop, MA/Bishop Fenwick) recorded his first win of the season while senior Aidan Lucas (Evanston, IL/Evanston Township) held opposing batters to a .059 average while striking out five in five innings of one-hit baseball ...

EARLHAM dropped two games to Denison including an extra inning affair ... HIRAM was swept by Wooster. Freshman outfielder Ian Sewolich (Cleveland, OH/St. Ignatius) went 6-for-12 (.500) with a double, an RBI and two runs scored ...

OBERLIN went 1-4 for the week. Junior pitcher Phil Brua (Avon, OH/Avon) pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout in the second game of a doubleheader versus Allegheny. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter ...

OHIO WESLEYAN went 2-1 in non-conference action with wins over Otterbein and a loss to Muskingum. Sophomore second baseman James DiBiasio (Westlake, OH/Westlake) batted .583 (7-for-12) with three runs and four RBI. Sophomore Robbie Shane (Hilliard, OH/Bishop Ready) pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout in the first game versus Otterbein. He struck out nine and walked two batters ...

WABASH went 2-2 last week with wins over Elmhurst and Wittenberg but fell to Purdue and Wittenberg. Junior Tanner Coggins (Tulsa, OK/Metro Christian) batted .467 (7-for-15) with a triple, five RBI and three runs. Sophomore Andrew Stewart (Crawfordsville, IN/Crawfordsville) went 1-0 in two appearances while striking out eight and walking just four. He pitched a complete-game shutout of Wittenberg for his second shutout of the season against the Tigers as well as pitching 1-2/3 innings of work versus Purdue where he allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out three ...

WITTENBERG went 3-1 last week with a conference split with Wabash and sweep of Capital. The Tigers finished in a three-way tie in the West but will not appear in the post-season tournament due to the tiebreaker. Freshman Nate Lavey (Covington, Ohio/Covington) went 5-for-7 with a home run and three RBI ...

WOOSTER was a perfect 6-0 last week and secured the East Division with a sweep of Hiram. The Fighting Scots also defeated Case Western Reserve and Denison in non-conference action. Senior second baseman Matthew Johnson (Orrville, OH/Orrville) went 15-for-23 (.652) with four doubles, two triples, two home runs, five RBI and 13 runs. He has now 10 consecutive hits and has not been retired in last 13 plate appearances. Junior right-hander Justin McDowell (Willard, OH/Willard) won a pair of games and did not allow a run in over eight innings of work. He allowed just six hits, all of which were singles, struck out three and walked two.