Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Wabash will not have the opportunity to defend its 2011 North Coast Athletic Conference baseball title in two weeks when the league tourney begins in Chillicothe, Ohio. The Little Giants won game one Sunday over Denison 6-5 in dramatic fashion, but lost 9-8 in the series finale.

The loss, coupled with a pair of Ohio Wesleyan victories over Wittenberg, means Wabash will finish no better than third in the final NCAC West Division standings. The top-two teams in each division advance to the NCAC Tournament.

The Little Giants trailed Denison 5-3 heading into the final inning of game one. Robby Hechinger opened the frame with a single to short, moving to second after a single by Chris Deig. John Pennington's sacrifice bunt put the tying run at second, but the Big Red recorded another out before walking John Holm intentionally to load the bases with two outs.

Freshman Andrew Rodgers fell behind in the count 0-2 before ripping a single to right-center, scoring Hechinger and Deig to tie the game at 5-5. Tyler Owensby entered the game as a pinch-hitter, but was hit by the second pitch he saw to lead the bases. Trey Fankhauser followed Owensby, taking four consecutive pitches outside the strike zone to draw the bases-load walk to give the Little Giants the one-run victory.

Hechinger produced the first run of the game for Wabash with an RBI single in the second to score Rodgers. Deig raced home with the second run of the game in the same inning on a wild pitch. Dieg added an RBI single in the fourth to put Wabash up 3-0 before Denison (12-25-1, 6-10 NCAC West) responded with two runs in the fifth and sixth innings and another in the seventh.

Chris Widup worked four innings without allowing a hit, giving up only a one-out walk in the first inning to the Big Red for their only base runner. He finished with five innings of work on mound, giving up four runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Luke Zinsmaster came on in relief, recording his third victory of the season after pitching two innings and allowing one unearned run on three hits with one strikeout.

Deig and Hechinger each had two hits, while Pennington, Holm, Rodgers, and Montana Timmons each collected one hit.

Wabash held an early 4-0 lead in game two, but the Big Red posted three-run innings in the third and fifth to move in front 6-4. The Little Giants eventually took an 8-6 lead in the seventh on an RBI single by Fankhauser before Denison produced a run in the eighth and one more in the ninth to tie the game. The go-ahead run scored in the ninth during a first-and-third run down by the Wabash defense. Andrew Mahle raced home, scoring just before Tanner Watson could tag out Justin Vaske at first base.

The Little Giants had the tying run at third base with only one out in the ninth after Holm walked and moved to third on two wild pitches. Denison reliever Tim Duxbury retired the final two batters to pick up his first save of the season. Reliever Joro Forman improved to 2-0 after holding Wabash scoreless in the eighth inning prior to the two-run rally in the ninth.

Zinsmaster took the loss to fall to 2-2 for the season. The senior worked five innings of relief, allowing three total runs with two earned on four hits. He walked one batter and struck out two. Jeff Soller pitched four innings as the starter, giving up six runs — three earned — on nine hits. He walked one and struck out one.

Deig, Pennington, Timmons, Holm, Fankhauser, Hechinger, and Tyler Hampton each had one of the Little Giants' seven hits in the contest. 

Wabash fans honored seniors Deig, Eric Foust, Holm, Pennington, Soller, Andrew Swart, and Zinsmaster prior to the start of Sunday's games. View photos of the seniors here.

Wabash (15-22, 6-8 NCAC West) will close out the 2012 season this week with a home game at 4 p.m. on Thursday against Robert Morris College from Chicago before traveling to Greencastle on Saturday for the final two games of the NCAC series against DePauw University beginning at noon.