Zac Mathie

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster knocked 11 hits around a rainy Art Murray Field Friday, but left 12 runners on base, and Denison University, behind a complete-game performance from Nick Smith, came away with an 8-3 North Coast Athletic Conference victory Friday afternoon. Game two of the scheduled doubleheader never got underway and was postponed due to the weather with no immediate plans for a make-up date.

Wooster's (19-12, 9-4 NCAC) pitching staff escaped one-out, bases-loaded jams with inning-ending double plays each of the first two frames. Denison (16-18, 8-5 NCAC) did push one run across during the first, only to see the Fighting Scots answer in their initial at bat via a Derek Wyman single and Zac Mathie RBI double.

Tied 1-1 entering the third, the Big Red started that inning with back-to-back singles, and an out later, Kyle Clemmenson scored them both when he drove a double into the left-center gap. Later, Clemmenson sprinted home on a two-out wild pitch to make it a 4-1 game.

Wooster got one back in the bottom of the third, courtesy another Mathie RBI as he singled in Eddie Reese, who had doubled to the opposite field (right-center).

Denison, though, put another crooked number on the board in the fourth. This time, two unearned runs came in when the Scots were unable to corral Clemmenson's infield fly that would have been the third out. Right after that, Josh Butler dropped a double down the right-field line for a 6-2 score.

The Big Red tacked on two more during the sixth inning, and Smith overcame three errors by his fielders during Wooster's final two at bats. The Scots mustered one unearned tally in the bottom of the sixth, but stranded the bases loaded both that frame and in the seventh.

Smith's complete game included eight strikeouts and he improved to 3-2, while Wooster utilized seven pitchers, with Steve Hagen getting tagged with the loss (3-3).

Reese (2-for-4), Wyman (2-for-3), Mathie (2-for-4), and Michael Wellstead (2-for-4) each had two hits for the Scots, while Denison's Peter Krieger led all hitters with a 3-for-4 performance.

Wooster will play another NCAC doubleheader at Allegheny College (12-13, 4-5 NCAC) Easter Sunday, starting at 1 p.m.