MARIETTA, Ohio — #8 Marietta College split its Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) doubleheader with visiting Baldwin-Wallace College on a windy Saturday (April 3) afternoon at Don Schaly Stadium. The Yellow Jackets, who improved to 6-8 overall and 1-1 in league play, slugged their way to a 14-5 victory in the opener, while the Pioneers rallied to win the night cap 9-5 and salvage the split and move to 17-4, 3-1 in the OAC. [Game 1 Box Score] [Game 2 Box Score]

The runs came in bunches during game one, which saw Baldwin-Wallace out hit Marietta 15-8. Baldwin-Wallace scored five runs with two outs to take the lead in the second. Marietta answered with five runs of its own with two outs in the third to knot the game at 5-5. The Yellow Jackets, aided by two errors, reclaimed the lead with three unearned runs on no hits in the fourth. They then increased their advantage to 13-5 with five more runs in the fifth. Baldwin-Wallace scraped across another unearned run in the sixth and cruised to the 14-5 win, which snapped Marietta's win streak at eight games.

Junior Mark Williams (Fayetteville, Perry) gave up eight runs (five earned) on seven hits in the loss to fall to 4-2. He struck out two and walked four in 3 2/3 innings. Sophomore Kyle Lindquist (Columbus, Worthington Kilbourne) worked the next 1 1/3 frames, giving up five runs on five hits while walking one and striking out another. Freshman Luke Langdon (Troy, Troy) held Baldwin-Wallace's bats to one run over the final two innings.

Junior center fielder John Snyder (Altoona, Pa., Altoona) finished 1-for-3 with a home run to stretch his hitting streak to 14 games. Senior catcher Dan Jones (Lima, Shawnee) collected two hits in three at-bats in the loss.

Justin Novak earned the complete game victory to improve to 2-1. Novak scattered five runs on eight hits and struck out five in the win.

Chris Nealon led Baldwin-Wallace with a 4-for-4 peformance in the opener. Anthony Longhitano added three hits, while Nolan Neuschaefer and Scott Nealon both collected two hits in the victory.

The Yellow Jacket bats stayed hot early in the game two, producing one run in the second and four in the third to stake themselves to another 5-0 lead. Marietta fought back with three runs in the third and one in the fourth before taking the lead with a three-run fifth. The Pioneers then extended their lead to 8-5 with a run in the sixth and capped their scoring with another in the eighth to secure the 9-5 win.

Four Pioneer players—sophomore shortstop Tim Saunders (Alliance, Alliance), senior catcher Chris Beatty (Seven Fields, Pa., Hampton), junior left fielder Britt Meador (Columbus, Worthington Kilbourne) and sophomore second baseman Kirby Becker (South Euclid, St. Ignatius)—finished with two hits in Marietta's 11-hit attack. Snyder had the big hit, a two-run triple in the fifth, to give Marietta its first lead of the game. It also extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

Sophomore Austin Blaski (Pandora, Gilboa) worked in and out of trouble early but scattered five runs (four earned) on 10 hits over six innings to earn the victory and improve to 4-1. He walked three and struck out three. Sophomore Brian Gasser (New Philadelphia, Indian Valley) threw three hitless innings to pick up his first save of the season. Gasser walked two and fanned three in the game.

Scott Luthman (1-2) got the start for B-W in game two. He allowed eight runs on 10 hits, struck out two and walked one in six innings. Pat Havens pitched the final two frames, giving up one run on one hit. Matt Rollins went 3-for-5, while Jim Martin was 2-for-4 for Baldwin-Wallce which had 10 hits in the loss.

Marietta is back in action Tuesday (April 6) when La Roche (Pa.) College visits Don Schaly Stadium for a junior varsity/varsity doubleheader. First pitch of the reserve game is set for 4 p.m. The varsity game will follow at 7 p.m. WMOA-AM 1490 will broadcast the varsity game. Its broadcast can also be heard online at http://wmoa1490.com. Live statistics can be tracked at http://www.marietta.edu/athletics/livestats/xlive.htm.