CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – Denison University capitalized on offense when needed and added some stellar pitching to eliminate Kenyon College from the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at VA Memorial Stadium. The Big Red improved to 32-9 while the Lords ended their season with a 16-18 mark.
 
Kenyon threatened in the first two frames. With two out, Matt von Roemer singled and Alex Gow walked in the first. The opportunity came quickly to an end, though, as Danny Brackman picked off Gow.
 
A frame later, Alex Hoskins singled to center field and moved Patrick O'Leary to third base. After that, Brackman struck out one and induced a fielder's choice groundout.
 
With Kenyon missing opportunities, Denison came through in the bottom of the second. Will Krushena reached on a fielder's choice and a couple sequences later got to second on a wild pitch. The Big Red had two in scoring position at that point and third baseman Brian McAuliffe followed with a two-run double. Denison's third run came on a Tanner Johnson fielder's choice RBI.
 
The Lords were able to respond in the fourth. O'Leary, who was up to bat during the pick-off play that ended the first, launched a solo shot over the left-field wall to get Kenyon on the scoreboard.
 
Denison then returned the favor in its next at-bats. Kenyon reliever Will Oakley walked McAuliffe and two batters later, Johnson smacked a two-run bomb with two out to extend the Big Red's lead to 5-1.
 
An inning later, Vince Walker added a solo homer to push the lead to 6-1. With Denison's offense coming through, Brackman did his part on the mound as he tossed 5.2 innings, allowed six hits, two earned runs and fanned seven.
 
The Lords responded one more time in the top of the sixth.
 
von Roemer singled again and Gow got on base with a walk. After a balk moved those two into scoring position, O'Leary connected with a sacrifice fly to left field. Gow later scored after a Hoskins single to center was followed by an error from Denison's catcher.
 
Kenyon wasn't able to pull the 6-3 deficit any closer as the Big Red added three more runs, all in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Hoskins led the Lords with three hits while von Roemer added two in his final game in a Lords uniform. On the mound, Oakley struck out a season-high five batters.