MARIETTA, Ohio — #18 Marietta College locked up the second seed in the upcoming Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament with a 20-0 and 13-4 sweep of visiting Wilmington College Friday (May 7) night at Don Schaly Stadium. The Etta Express improved its record to 29-9 overall and finished the season 13-5 in the OAC. The Quakers fell to 6-28-1 overall and 2-13-1 in league play. [Game 1 Box Score] [Game 2 Box Score]

OAC regular season champion Heidelberg University will host the OAC Tournament May 13-15 in Tiffin, Ohio. The final two participants in the tournament will be determined later this weekend.

The Etta Express got its offense rolling in game one with a seven-run first inning. Senior catcher #Dan Jones (Lima/Shawnee)# began the scoring with his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field. Freshman third baseman #Braden Park (Oxford/Talawanda)# and sophmore second baseman #Kirby Becker (South Euclid/St. Ignatius)# both added one-out RBI singles. Freshman right fielder #Jordan Grilliot (Brookville/Northmont)# followed with a two-run triple to center, while sophomore shortstop #Tim Saunders (Alliance/Alliance)# came through with a sacrifice fly to play the seventh run of the frame.

Marietta plated six more runs in the second inning. Park drove in the first run with a double down the left field line. Junior first baseman #Casey Levens (Dayton/Centerville)# hit a two-out, three-run home run over the scoreboard. The blast was his fifth of the spring. Later in the frame, Jones hit a two-run single to center to extend the advantage to 13-0.

Junior left fielder #Britt Meador (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne)# stretched the lead to 14-0 with a RBI single up the middle in the fourth.

Levens added his second home run of the game, a two-run shot to left, in the fifth. Grilliot scored the third run of the fifth on a wild pitch. Freshman pinch hitter #Ty Welch (Hilliard/Hilliard Darby)# drove in the fourth run with a single to right to give the Pioneers an 18-0 advantage.

Grilliot capped the scoring with a two-out, two-run double down the left field to bring the final score to 20-0.

Levens led Marietta's 21-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI. Park finished a perfect 4-for-4, while Grilliot and Jones both added three hits and four RBI in the win. Jones stretched his hitting streak to 19 games, and Park increased his to 16 games. Senior center fielder #John Snyder (Altoona, Pa./Altoona)#, however, had his 30-game hitting streak come to an end with an 0-for-5 performance in game one. Mitch Fogg finished with two of Wimington's five hits.

Sophomore Austin Blaski (Pandora/Gilboa) scattered just four hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out five without allowing a run to improve to 8-3 on the season. Senior #Nate Eschbaugh (Marietta/Marietta)# worked the final two innings and preserved the shutout. He gave up just one hit and fanned two. Rob Boyd suffered the loss after allowing 13 runs (11 earned) on 13 hits in two innings.

In the nightcap, Wilmington jumped ahead 2-0 with a solo home run from Dan Roncolato. Marietta responded with four runs in its first at-bat of game two. Senior designated hitter #Chris Beatty (Seven Fields, Pa./Hampton)# started the scoring with a RBI single. Park then added a sacrifice fly. Becker drove in the third run with a single. Beatty and Becker then executed a double steal to account for the fourth run of the inning.

Marietta extended its advantage to 5-2 when Beatty delivered a two-out RBI double to left center in the second. A second double steal produced the Pioneers' sixth run in the fourth. Meador, who tripled, scored after Jones was hit by a pitch and stole second.

The Etta Express broke out for four more runs in the fifth to increase its lead to 10-2. Levens hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Park, Becker scored on a wild pitch, Grilliot crossed the plate on an error and Saunders came across on Marietta's third double steal attempt. He was not given a stolen base, however, because the runner at first base was tagged out after getting into a rundown.

Jones drove in a run with a double and Snyder another with a single to give the Pioneers a 12-2 lead in the seventh. Wilmington rejoined the scoring when it plated two unearned runs in the top of the eighth.

Grilliot, who finished 3-for-4, picked up a RBI single in the eighth to provide Marietta's 13th and final run of the game.

Meador, Snyder, Beatty and Becker all had two of the Pioneers' 14 hits in the win. Roncolato, Fogg and Zach Butler all had a pair of hits for Wilmington.

Sophomore Brian Gasser (New Philadelphia/Indian Valley) earned the game two victory after allowing just two runs on four hits over six innings of action. Gasser, who improved to 8-1, struck out six and did not walk a batter. Bruce Dunlap (1-1) took the loss after allowing nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Marietta is back in action Monday (May 10) evening when it plays host to Penn State-Behrend in a single, nine-inning game at 6 p.m. A junior varsity game will also be play at Don Schaly Stadium beginning at 3 p.m. WMOA-AM 1490 will broadcast the action locally and online at http://wmoa1490.com. Live statistics will also be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/marietta/baseball/index.htm.