Marietta baseball picks up 20th win with 10-1 victory over Washington & Jefferson
Pioneers win 20th game for 38th straight season

April 30, 2008
MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College baseball took care of business Wednesday (April 30) night at Don Schaly Stadium, defeating visiting Mideast rival Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) College 10-1. The Pioneers, who improved to 20-17, have now hit the 20-win mark for the 38th straight season, dating back to 1971. The Presidents fell to 21-15.

Four Marietta pitchers combined on a two-hitter, while the Pioneer bats collected 10 hits in the win.

Sophomore Matt DeSico (Euclid) finished 2-for-3 with a big grand slam in the fifth. Senior Tony Piconke (Clinton Township, Mich./Clintondale), freshman Casey Levens (Dayton/Centerville) and junior Cameron Cimino (Boardman) also added a pair of hits, while sophomore Brit Meador (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) and Piconke scored three runs in the win.

The Presidents took advantage of two Pioneers errors to get a their leadoff runner to third base with no outs in the first. A ground out then plated the run to give W & J the early advantage.

Marietta took the lead in the bottom of the third with a string of two-out activity. Meador drew a two-out walk. Piconke then reached on an error to put runners on first and second. Cimino made the Presidents pay by hitting a two-run triple to deep center to give the Etta Express a 2-1 lead.

DeSico stretched the Pioneers’ lead to 6-1 with a one-out grand slam to right in the fifth. The home run was his second of the season. Marietta has now hit a home run in 13 of its last 14 games.

Marietta added four runs in the eighth to take a 10-1 lead. Meador hit a triple down the right field line and scored on a RBI single by Piconke. A walk to Cimino and a hit batter (DeSico) loaded the bases for Levens. Levens cleared the bases with a three-run double just inside the third base bag.

Junior T.J. Knowlton (Greenwich/Mapleton) allowed one unearned run on two hits in two frames. He gave up a leadoff single in the second before retiring the next three hitters, which began a stretch that saw Marietta pitching set down the next 20 that came to the plate. It was not until two outs in the eighth when a President reached on an error that streak ended.

Junior Chris Stewart (Dublin/Coffman) picked up the win after pitching three perfect frames and striking out two. He improved to 5-2. Junior Jason Baumler (Crownsville, Md./Old Mill) followed with two perfect innings of his own, while junior Justin Merryman (New Philadelphia) closed the game with two solid innings. He allowed the one base runner via the error but retired the six batters he face to preserve the win.

Marietta is back in action during Alumni Weekend. On Saturday (May 3) afternoon, it closes out Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play at home against Ohio Northern at 12 p.m. The annual Alumni Game will take place at 7:05 p.m. The Pioneers have also added a junior varsity/varsity doubleheader on Sunday (May 4) afternoon against visiting Penn State-Behrend. The varsity game is slated for 4 p.m. All of the varsity games can be heard live locally in Marietta on WMOA-AM 1490 and over the Internet at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/onlinebroadcasts.html.