Sophomore Reid Pittard swings at a pitch during DePauw's against
Denison University earlier this season.
BROCK TURNER / THE DEPAUW
While most DePauw University students were enjoying Little 5 on a beautiful Greencastle day, this past Saturday the baseball team left the parties behind and travelled to most students least favorite town in Indiana—Crawfordsville, home of the Wabash College Little Giants.
At the end of the night, however, the Tigers had just as much reason to celebrate as the rest of us: they swept the Little Giants, winning the first game 4-3 and taking the second 16-7.
“It's always a competitive series against Wabash,” senior Ryan Allee said. “We just wanted to play hard all day and not let the emotion of the rivalry interfere with anything.”
DePauw is now 10-4 in North Coast Athletic Conference play, and 13-16 on the season. Wabash dropped to 3-7 in NCAC play and 11-18 overall.
Part of the win can be credited to a recent NCAC hot streak the Tigers have been on, after winning four games in a row, including a sweep of Wittenberg University.
“The sweep definitely boosted our confidence as a team because we kind of got off to a slow start and now we're in a pretty good spot to make a run in the conference tournament,” sophomore Riley Futterknecht said.
The first score of the day—a home run from junior Connor Einertson—set the tone for a huge offensive day for the Tigers.
In the first game, the Tigers had a 4-0 lead over Wabash until the Little Giants attempted to rally in the seventh inning, scoring three runs before starting pitcher, senior Jack Peck, put Wabash’s Lucas Stippler away with a fast ball, securing the Tigers first victory of the day.
“I just think we were all out there looking for pitches in the zone and pitches we could drive,” Allee said of the cause of the team’s success. “When a guy got on, another was able to move him to the next base. Everyone was relaxed at the plate and seemed to be seeing the ball well.”
The second game was nowhere near as close, even though Wabash held a 5-2 lead at the end of the first inning. Then, the Tigers offense kicked it up another notch entirely, battling back to take a 10-6 lead at the end of the seventh inning.
The ninth inning produced six more runs for the Tigers, making the final score 16-7. The Tigers only had 17 hits, showing how well they capitalized on their opportunities.
DePauw will play another doubleheader—and look to continue their success—against Wabash starting today at 1:00 p.m. at Wabash.
“I think this gives us some momentum and confidence going forward,” Allee said. “We still have a chance to win our side of the conference, which has been a goal of ours since day 1.”
This sets the Tigers up for what they hope will be another NCAC tournament championship, and the higher the seed, the better their chances are.
“With a good weekend against Wabash, we should easily get the 1 or 2 seed in our division,” sophomore Nick Horvath said. “Hopefully we sweep again and can claim the number one seed.”