The Tigers split their first home series of the season, a double-header against the Franklin College Grizzlies, Sunday, March 20. DePauw fell in the first game 16-14, after Franklin took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. The loss wasn’t without a fight; the Tigers kept pace with the Grizzlies, scoring two runs in both the first and second innings, but just couldn’t recover after Franklin’s twelve-run third inning, in which they sent fifteen batters to the plate and finished off with a grand-slam. The Tigers rallied back and shortened the lead thanks to bats of Cameron Allen (RF), Danny Sheehan (LF), Brian May (3B), who hit a three-run shot in the seventh, and Nick Nelson (CF), who lead off the eighth inning with a solo home-run, but they just couldn’t take the lead. The loss put DePauw pitcher Joe Runnells at 0-2 for the season.
DePauw kicked off the second game by putting away the first six Grizzly batters, and scoring five runs in the first, three which were driven in by a homer up the middle courtesy of Nick Nelson. The Tigers had another five-run inning in the fourth with two of those runs being driven in by a bases-loaded double by Cameron Macon (2B). Pitcher Michael Vallone moved to 4-0 on the season following the 11-2 win. He finished the game having struck out thirteen of fifteen batters he faced.
Second-baseman, Cameron Macon said of the team’s performance during Sunday’s games: “Overall we looked at the weekend in a positive light. The first game on Sunday didn't have the outcome that we wanted, but I was proud of how we continued to fight back even after a big early deficit. I think that's an important quality of our team: you can't count us out until the final out. Then in the second game, Michael Vallone started extremely strong on the mound for us and put us in a great position to get an early lead and we were able to pull out the win.”
Looking toward the team’s future he added: “In regards to the rest of the season, we're so close to putting the final pieces together to elevate our level of play as a team, and I'm confident that with the leadership and direction of our coaching staff and the active work ethic of the team, we will be able to put it all together. And once we get there we're going to be a fun team to watch.”
Riding the waves of their win over Franklin, DePauw headed to Rose-Hulman Monday night to take on the Fightin’ Engineers. The Engineers took a 3-0 lead in the first and then scored two more runs in the second. After two shutout innings, the Tigers put up three runs in the third inning with RBIs from Kyle Callahan (1B) and Evan Barnes (SS). DePauw took the lead in the fourth after an RBI double from Brennan Roach (C) and a three-run homer off the bat of Kyle Callahan. The Tigers capped off their scoring with a three-run eighth inning, the runs courtesy of RBIs from Cameron Allen (RF) and Kyle Callahan. With the 10-5 win against Rose-Hulman, DePauw’s Griffin Albright picks up his first save of the season. Additionally, the win puts the Tigers at 6-5 for the season.