ABILENE, Texas — Sophomore right-hander Austin Blaski (Pandora, Gilboa) struck out a career-high 10 hitters to lead #15 Marietta College to a 10-2 victory over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) Wednesday (March 10) afternoon on the campus of McMurry University. [Box Score]

Sophomore shortstop Tim Saunders (Alliance, Alliance) added four hits in five at-bats and senior designated hitter Chris Beatty (Seven Fields, Pa., Hampton) drove in four teammates, as Marietta finished 4-1 in Abilene and improved to 5-2 on the season. Mary Hardin-Baylor fell to 8-8.

Blaski made his first start of the spring and allowed one unearned run on three hits while walking one over seven strong innings. He moved to 1-1 on the season.

Saunders led off the bottom of the first with a single. He stole second, moved to third on a fly out. Beatty, who finished 2-for-3, then drove Saunders home with a sacrifice fly to give the Pioneers a 1-0 advantage.

Marietta added to its lead with a run in the third. Freshman right fielder Jordan Grilliot (Brookville, Northmont) delivered a two-out RBI single, plating freshman Alex Toth (Painesville, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin), who drew a one-out walk.

Mary Hardin Baylor pulled within a run, 2-1, in the top of the fourth. Seth Lynn reached base on an error. He advanced from first to third on a single by Josh Fredrick and scored before Fredrick was tagged out on a run down after attempting to reach second base on the hit.

The Pioneers pushed their lead back to two runs, 3-1, in the fourth. Three errors led to just one run, as senior catcher Dan Jones (Lima, Shawnee) scored on a double play ball.

Marietta scored two more runs in the fifth. Grilliot reached base on a fielder's choice and advanced from first to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Beatty, who made it all of the way to third when the ball was dropped by the Crusaders center fielder. Junior first baseman Casey Levens (Dayton, Centerville) drove in Beatty with a RBI ground out to give his squad a 5-1 lead.

Saunders hit a lead off triple and scored on a Beatty ground out to increase the Pioneers' advantage to 6-1 in the seventh.

Marietta capped its scoring with a four-run eighth. Jones and junior center fielder John Snyder (Altoona, Pa., Altoona), who finished with two hits in four at-bats, scored on a throwing error following a bunt single by junior left fielder Jordan Thompson (Quaker City, Buckeye Trail). Thompson then scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman third baseman Dylan Wartluft (Atwater, Waterloo). Sophomore second baseman Kirby Becker (South Euclid, St. Ignatius) followed with a walk and Saunders added a single before Beatty singled in Becker with the final run.

Freshman right-hander Evan Brockmeier (Marietta, Marietta) pitched a perfect eighth and gave up an unearned run in the ninth before closing the door on Marietta's third straight win. He allowed just one hit and struck out two.

The Etta Express begins its trek back to Marietta on Thursday (March 11) but will once again stop for a pair of games in Memphis, Tenn. The Pioneers will take on host Rhodes College Friday (March 12) afternoon at AutoZone Park, the home of the Memphis Redbirds, who are the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. First pitch of the single, nine-inning game is slated for 4 p.m. Marietta will then battle Illinois Wesleyan in another single, nine-inning game at Rhodes College on Saturday (March 13) at 12 p.m. Live statistics will be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rhodes/baseball/. Fans can listen to both games on WMOA-AM 1490 and online at http://wmoa1490.com.