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Erik Sundgren and Denison Baseball Heading To NCAA Tournament As Nation’s Top Team

Posted on: by Jonathan Spina

By: Jared Barton

Denison baseball has been one of the best programs in Division III over the last two seasons, and a local product is one of the major contributors.

Former North Allegheny baseball player Erik Sundgren has been at the core of the Big Red’s success. The outfielder is one of the top players on the team this season, following a record-breaking junior campaign in 2025.

Last season, Sundgren started in all 48 games while batting .388 with 76 hits in 196 at-bats. He recorded 81 RBI’s, 54 runs, 13 doubles, two triples, and 17 home runs while leading the Big Red in OPS (1.184), hits, home runs, RBI’s, total bases, slugging percentage (.735), and was tied for stolen bases (31). Sundgren broke the Denison single-season record for home runs, was ranked 10th nationally in home runs and was the national leader in RBI at season’s end.

He picked up multiple awards in 2025, including First Team All-NCAC laurels,  ABCA/Rawlings First Team All-Region and Region 7 Player of the Year, D3Baseball.com Second Team All-Region and ABCA/Rawlings First Team All-America. Denison won the NCAC in 2025 and advanced all the way to Game Three of the DIII College World Series, where the Big Red fell to Rowan University.

His senior season has been just as important and successful so far.

Before this season, the senior was named to the Small College Baseball Player of the Year Watchlist and D3 Baseball Preseason All-American. Since then, Sundgren has been hitting .387 with 47 RBIs and 28 steals so far, with the team riding a 39-game win streak into the NCAA DIII Playoffs. Denison just captured its seventh consecutive NCAC Tournament Championship with a win over Wittenberg on Saturday. The Big Red is the NPI and D3 Baseball number one team in the nation with a 40-1 overall record. The lone loss this season came in the second game of the year on February 21st at the hands of #5 Salisbury in the D3 Showcase Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Denison is hosting the Granville, Ohio, NCAA Regional this weekend and will face Grinnell to open play. Cortland and Kalamazoo are also participating in that regional.

During his time with the Tigers, Sundgren was a key piece to a WPIAL Championship and PIAA runner-up finish in 2021. He was also named first-team all-section and honorable mention all-section during his tenure at NA.