APPLETON, Wis. – The defending national champion Marietta College Pioneers served notice to the other seven teams at the NCAA Division III Championship that they fully intend on keeping their crown. The Etta Express thumped Whitworth University (Wash.) by the score of 13-2 Friday (May 25) evening in the first round of the 2012 Championship. [Box Score]

“We weren't real sharp tonight,” Marietta Head Coach Brian Brewer said.  “We swung the bats well, but we didn't get some bunts down and we didn't get some hit and runs on the ground. Twenty-two hits kind of makes those things go away.”

Senior second baseman #Kirby Becker (South Euclid/St. Ignatius)# hit safely in his first five at bats tying the World Series record for hits in a game. Becker ended the night 5-for-7 as the Pioneers battered the Pirate pitchers for 22 base hits.

After the first two innings it looked like it might be a frustrating evening for Marietta. The Pioneers loaded the bases in the first inning without scoring a run and left two more runners on base in the second.

Senior, All-American, shortstop #Tim Saunders (Alliance/Alliance)# led off the third with an infield single. Junior center fielder #Aaron Hopper (Wheelersburg/Wheelersburg)#, celebrating his birthday, launched a rocket over the leftfield wall to give Marietta a 2-0 lead.

The Pioneers scored in each of the next four innings as well building a 9-0 lead after seven innings. Every Marietta starter had at least one hit in the game as the Pioneers had 21 singles to go along with Hopper's long ball.

Junior catcher #Alex Toth (Painesville/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin)# collected four hits in six at bats, while fellow classmate #Evan Brockmeier# went 3-for-5. Both drove in three runs.

Senior All-American #Austin Blaski (Pandora/Gilboa)# (13-1) tossed six shutout innings to get the win. He allowed Whitworth to load the bases in the bottom of the first but got out of trouble with a pair of strikeouts. Blaski allowed two hits and three walks, while striking out eight.

Whitworth got on the scoreboard in the eighth inning. With two outs the Pirates got back-to-back doubles from Gerhard Mulheims and Tyler Pfeffer to break up the shutout. Landon Scott followed with an RBI-single up the middle cutting the Marietta lead to 9-2.

The Pioneers responded with four runs in the ninth.

Junior #Luke Langdon (Troy/Troy)# gave up two runs on three hits in two innings of work. Senior #Mike Mahaffey (Worthington/Bishop Watterson)# threw a perfect ninth inning.

Freshman Dan Scheibe (7-3) started and took the loss for the Pirates. Scheibe was touched up for 11 hits that produced four runs, three earned. He walked two and had four strikeouts.

Mulheims and Scott each collected two hits for Whitworth.

Marietta advances into the winner's bracket and will face the University of St. Thomas on Saturday (May 26) at 8:45 p.m. (Eastern time).