Chillicothe, Ohio – Wooster defeated DePauw twice on Saturday to claim the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, winning game one 5-1 and game two 10-5.

Needing just one win after advancing in the winner's bracket, DePauw could not duplicate its success it had against Wooster the day before in an 11 inning affair.

In game one, DePauw took an early 1-0 lead thanks to a Connor Einertson single that brought home Lucas Italiano. But Wooster scored five in the fifth, which ultimately decided the game.

Starter Mike Hammel recorded two quick outs in the inning but proceeded to walk the next four batters. With the game now tied at 1-1, Drew Tornow put the exclamation point on the game with a grand slam to left field.

Einertson, Italiano and Ryan Grippo each had two hits in the game. Hammel took the loss in 6.2 innings of work before being relieved by Jack Dillon, who pitched the remainder 2.1 innings and allowing just one hit.

In game two, the Tigers trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth and had a rally abruptly cut short after scoring two runs via RBI singles from Zack Wade and Reid Pittard.

DePauw had the bases loaded with two outs and Tate Stewart at bat, and an inside pitch looked to have made contact with Stewart. The confusion caught Wade, who was the runner on third base, off guard, and he was caught in a rundown to end the inning. Stewart and coach Jake Martin pleaded their case to the home plate umpire, but to no avail, as the Tigers' left runners in scoring position to end the inning.

Wooster came back to score six runs in the next three innings. DePauw put up a 3-spot in eighth but it was not enough to come back from what was at the time a 10-2 deficit.

Andrew Quinn started and took the loss. In his 4.2 innings of work, he gave up four runs but none were earned. Hank Schlueter took the win in relief for Wooster.

Wade led the Tigers with a 3-for-4 performance with a double and one RBI. Grippo was 1-for-3 with a triple, two RBI and two runs scored.

DePauw finishes its season at 25-19. Wooster improved to 34-11 and earned the NCAC automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

NCAC All-Tournament Team

Tyler Flaherty, Ohio Wesleyan
Perley Provost, Denison
Eric Zmuda, Denison
Wyatt Spector, DePauw
Jack Thompson, DePauw
Lucas Italiano, DePauw
Mike Hammel, DePauw
Michael Houdek, Wooster
Michael Wielansky, Wooster
Drew Tornow, Wooster
Tyler Schuch, Wooster
MVP - Jamie Lackner, Wooster