DEMOREST, Ga. – The Marietta College baseball team exacted some revenge against Piedmont College Saturday (March 10) afternoon at Loudermilk Field. Less than 24 hours after losing their first game of the season, the No. 1 ranked Pioneers dominated the Lions in all phases of the game en route to a 9-0 victory. [Box Score]

The Etta Express improves to 4-1 overall. Tenth-ranked Piedmont falls to 13-4 on the season.

Junior centerfielder #Aaron Hopper (Wheelersburg/Wheelersburg)# blasted a towering three-run home run to left-center in the top of the first inning to give the Pioneers all the runs they would need. Marietta added two more runs in the inning for an early 5-0 lead.

Second baseman #Kirby Becker (South Euclid/St. Ignatius)# reached on an infield single to start the first inning rally. Shortstop #Tim Saunders (Alliance/Alliance)# walked setting the stage for Hopper's round-tripper. Junior #Alex Toth (Painesville/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin)# walked and advanced to third when the Lions' right fielder dropped a fly ball of the bat of  #Bryan Gregorich (Chardon/Chardon)#.

Designated hitter #Braden Park (Oxford/Talawanda)# grounded out to second base scoring Toth and moving Gregorich to third. Gregorich scored the Pioneers' fifth run of the inning on a wild pitch.

Senior right-hander #Brian Gasser (New Philadelphia/Indian Valley)# started and pitched 5.0 shutout innings for his second win of the season. He scattered four hits and struck out five Lion hitter. Gasser had four walks.

Seniors #Logan Lewis (Nashport/Tri-Valley)# and #Mike Mahaffey (Worthington/Bishop Watterson)# and junior #Luke Langdon (Troy/Troy)# all threw in relief for the Pioneers.  Lewis went 2.0 innings and had one walk and two strikeouts. Mahaffey and  Langdon both threw 1.0 inning. Mahaffey faced three hitters and struck out one, while Langdon allowed one hit and had one strikeout.

The Pioneers added one in the fifth, two in the seventh and one more in the eighth inning. Gregorich had an RBI double in the fifth.  Hopper and #Zach Bukiewicz (Minford/Lucasville Valley)# knocked in runs in the seventh and Saunders had a run-scoring double in the eighth.

Senior left-hander Caleb Cochran (3-2) took the loss for Piedmont. Cochran pitched 6.0 innings and allowed six runs, four earned, on eight hits. He walked three and struck out four.

Hopper ended the day 3-for-5 with the home run and four runs batted in. Becker, Saunders and first baseman #Evan Brockmeier# each had two hits for the Pioneers. Brockmeier has had multiple hits in each of Marietta's five games and is batting .571 on the season.

The shutout was Marietta's second of the year. Defensively, the Pioneers played their second errorless game of the season.

Tomorrow is a travel day as the Etta Express heads to Port Charlotte, Fla. The Pioneers next game is on Monday (March 12) at 4 p.m. against Denison University.