Marietta, Denison baseball lead OAC/NCAC
Marietta baseball left little doubt as to which team was going to walk away Ohio Athletic Conference champions.
After dropping a doubleheader against Otterbein to close the regular season, the Pioneers outscored their opponents 38-10 in three tournament games to win their 33rd conference title.
Marietta thumped Mount Union 19-2 in the opening round, edged Baldwin Wallace 3-2 in a semifinal and cruised to a 16-5 win in a Baldwin Wallace rematch for the championship.
Brett Carson (Teays Valley) batted 6 for 12 in the tournament with five runs and four RBIS, including the game-winning solo home run in the first game. Trent Castle (Thomas Worthington) was 5-for-11 with three runs and three RBIS. Damien Yenzi led the Pioneers with a .750 average (12 for 16), nine RBIS and seven runs scored.
The No. 2 Pioneers will host an NCAA regional and are one of two OAC teams (joining Baldwin Wallace) to qualify for the Division III NCAA Tournament.
Denison defeated Wooster 8-1 to win the NCAC Tournament and will host the Granville region. The Big Red took two out of three over Wooster, which received an at-large bid to play in the St. Louis region.
Big Red pitcher Kenny Lippman, who tossed a four-hit complete game in the final, set a team record by striking out 14, breaking the previous record of 13 set by Drew Shamrock in 2004.
Wooster's Tyler Chumita (Hillard
Darby) tied the program's RBI record 77 on a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning of a 5-4 win over Denison to help reach the final.
Denison's Brown breaks decathlon record again
Jacob Brown broke his own school record set two weeks ago by scoring 6,211 points in the decathlon at the North Central College Combined Events Qualifier in Naperville, Illinois. Brown, who placed second overall, ranks 21st in NCAA Division III for the event and will learn Friday whether he will qualify for nationals. The top 20 claimed scores receive a bid.
Dezenzo, Buckeyes going out on a high note
Ohio State began its final baseball homestand with a 5-3 victory over Cincinnati Tuesday. Zach Dezenzo extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 games, six games shy of the team record of 23. His 17 home runs are also two shy of tying Dan Seimetz, who hit 19 in 1997.
The Buckeyes (20-29, 9-14 in the Big Ten) did not qualify for this year's conference tournament but have won seven of their past 10 games and will host USC Upstate in a three-game series, Thursday through Saturday at Bill Davis Stadium.
Kenyon men's golf caps off program's best season
After capturing its first NCAC title, the Kenyon's men's golf team qualified for the DIII NCAA Championships for just the fourth time in program history and walked away with its highest finish - 15th - at Howey In The Hills, Florida.
Findlay wins Division II women's golf championship
The Findlay women's golf team finished its season by winning the Division II NCAA Tournament, its eighth consecutive tournament victory this spring.
The Oilers qualified by one stroke for match play as the No. 8 seed, then upset defending champion Dallas Baptist and Barry in quarterfinal and semifinal rounds in Gainesville, Georgia.
Findlay and Limestone were tied 2-2 in the final when Erin Mulcahy rallied from a three-stroke deficit at the turn to win the fifth and final head-to-head match for a 3-2 victory.
It is the first golf championship for the Oilers, the first national title for Findlay since 2009 (men's basketball) and the only women's golf team out of the Great Midwestern Athletic Conference to win the title. aconn@dispatch.com @ajconn95