MEMPHIS, Tenn — The #15 Marietta College baseball team stretched its win streak to four games with a 12-inning, 11-8 victory over host Rhodes College Friday (March 11) afternoon at AutoZone Park, the home of the Memphis Redbirds, who are the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. [Box Score]

Sophomore second baseman Kirby Becker (South Euclid, St. Ignatius) finished with four of Marietta's 16 hits, while senior designated hitter Chris Beatty (Seven Fields, Pa., Hampton) added three hits, while freshman right fielder Jordan Grilliot (Brookville, Northmont)and freshman third baseman Braden Park (Oxford, Talawanda) both added two hits in the win.

Rhodes (12-4), who finished with 14 hits, scored a pair of run in the second inning to take the early advantage.

Marietta (6-2) came back to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the third. Grilliot led off with a single. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore shortstop Tim Saunders (Alliance, Alliance). Beatty drove in Grilliot with a triple. Junior first baseman Casey Levens (Dayton, Centerville) followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Beatty with the tying run.

The Pioneers took their first lead of the day in the fourth. Senior catcher Dan Jones (Lima, Shawnee) reached on a one-out single. Becker advanced him to third with a double. Sophomore third baseman Kyle Lindquist (Columbus, Worthington Kilbourne) them came through with a RBI single to give Marietta the 3-2 advantage.

Five straight two-out walks by junior starter Mark Williams (Fayetteville, Perry) ends his afternoon and allowed the Lynx to reclaim the lead, 4-3, in the bottom of the fourth. Williams lasted just 3 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits. He walked seven and struck out four.

The back-and-forth continue when the Pioneers plated two more runs in the top of the fifth. Beatty hit a one-out double, Levens walked and junior center fielder John Snyder (Altoona, Pa., Altoona) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Freshman left fielder Sam Ward (Bay Village, Bay) picked up a RBI when he reached on a fielder's choice. Park then singled to plate Levens and give Marietta the 5-4 lead.

The Lynx regained a one-run lead by scoring a pair of unearned runs in the sixth, only for the Pioneers to go back ahead with a two unearned runs of their own to take a 7-6 advantage in the seventh.

Rhodes tied the game at 7-7 with a two-out single in the eighth and the game remained tied until the 12th.

Snyder led off the 12th with a single. Junior left fielder Jordan Thompson (Quaker City, Buckeye Trail) moved him up to second with a sacrifice bunt. Park followed with a RBI double. Becker then singled, and freshman Aaron Hopper (Wheelersburg, Wheelersburg) added a pinch-hit RBI double to give Marietta a 9-7 lead. Saunders extended the lead with a RBI single, while Beatty capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly.

Back-to-back hits produced a run for the Lynx in the 12th, but sophomore Mike Mahaffey (Worthington, Bishop Watterson) settled down and retired the next three hitters to secure the 11-8 win.

Sophomore Brian Gasser (New Philadelphia, Indian Valley) (2-0) earned the win after pitching five solid innings of relief. Gasser scattered one run on nine hits, walked two and struck out four.

Marietta closes out its spring break trip Saturday (March 12) afternoon with a match-up against Illinois Wesleyan University. First pitch of the single, nine-inning game that will take place at Rhodes College is slated for 12 p.m. Fans can listed to the action on WMOA-AM 1490 and online at http://wmoa1490.com. Live statistics are available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rhodes/baseball/index.htm.