GRANVILLE, Ohio – Grinnell College's baseball team may have been considered by many to be a huge underdog in its opening-round test of the NCAA Division III Tournament at Denison University.
But those sentiments evaporated quickly as the Pioneers went toe-to-toe with the top-ranked hosts, who needed a walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth to eke out a 5-4 victory over Grinnell Friday.
Facing a team ranked third nationally in batting average and second in earned run average, Grinnell wasn't fazed in the slightest. Grinnell outhit the Big Red 11-9 and had a stellar pitching performance from five individuals.
Grinnell (25-17) showed it meant business from the start against a foe that entered the contest riding a 39-game winning streak, putting runners on third base in both the first and second innings but coming up scoreless. In the first,
Nikolas Ruden '26 singled to left field and took third on
Connor Goodson's '26 single through the right side. Goodson's single was his 65
th hit of the season, putting him alone atop the school-record list in that category. In the second,
Stuart Cash '27 hit an infield single and stole both second and third before being stranded. He now has 45 career steals, fifth in program history.
In the meantime,
Shea Goel '28 was masterful on the mound for Grinnell and tossed perfect ball through two innings. Grinnell got on the board in the third inning as
Connor Pink '29 singled through the right side, stole second and scored on a double through the right side by
Joe Chanis '27. Ruden followed with a single to center and
Wyatt Raymond '28 lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Chanis.
Denison (41-1) got on the board in the bottom of the third, both runs coming on sacrifice flies, to tie the game at 2-all.
Goel tossed three-hit ball and struck out one in 4.1 innings of work, and was relieved by
Jakob Runkel '26 who fanned two in 2.2 innings. Runkel's appearance was the 57
th in his Grinnell career, second in program history.
Denison grabbed a 3-2 lead in the seventh, but the Pioneers bounced back immediately with two runs in the eighth. Ruden led off with a single to right, stole second, went to third on Raymond's single to left and scored on Cash's RBI single to center. Raymond later scored on a single to left by
Maddux Anderson '29.
Daniel Shaul '26 and
Adam Gallegos '28 followed Runkel with valuable pitching relief, with Gallegos striking out one in one inning of work. Pink was inserted in the bottom of the ninth and recorded two consecutive outs before the Big Red scored to win the game.
Ruden led Grinnell's offense with four hits while boosting his career doubles total to 32, ninth in GC history. Cash had two hits and also was part of a perfect defensive performance that saw no Pioneer errors in the game.
Grinnell will play either SUNY Cortland or Kalamazoo in the loser's bracket at 9 a.m. Central time Saturday.
