BEREA, Ohio — No. 22 ranked Marietta College split a key Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader at No. 15 Baldwin Wallace University Sunday (March 29) afternoon on cold and windy day at Heritage Field. The Pioneers took game one, 11-1, before dropping the second game, 9-5.
Marietta (11-7 overall, 2-2 OAC) gave All-American pitcher
Christian Herstine (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area) all the run support he needed scoring six runs in the first two innings. Herstine lost a 1-0 decision in his previous outing against Otterbein.
Ryan Hanahan (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) delivered a two-run double and
Chris Petrucci (Farmington, W.Va./Notre Dame) smacked a two-run single as the Pioneers jumped on BW starter Cory Waite in the first innings. Marietta added two more in the second inning on a run-scoring double from
Mitch Geers (West Chester/Lakota East), while
Tyler Packanik (Plant City, Fla./Newsome) plated a run on an infield ground ball.
Staked to a 6-0 lead, Herstine (2-2) dominated the Yellow jacket hitters. He scattered five base hits and allowed just one unearned run. Herstine did walk three, but struck out five.
Mike Fulton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) tossed the ninth inning.
Geers made it 7-0 with a solo home run in the fourth. Packanik and
Chris Winpigler (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) drove in runs in the sixth inning, while
Tim McCoy (Willoughby/St. Ignatius) put an exclamation mark on the victory with a solo home run in the ninth accounting for the final 11-1 margin.
Waite (2-2) took the loss. He worked 5.2 innings and gave up 10 runs on seven base hits. Waite walked three and struck out five. Three other Yellow jackets toed the rubber in relief.
McCoy and Geers each had a double and a home run and scored four times in the game. Geers, Packanik, Hanahan and Petrucci had two RBI apiece.
Baldwin Wallace (11-4 overall, 1-3 OAC) used the long ball to take the early lead in game two. Kyle Chontos hit a solo shot in the first and Spencer Badia nailed a three-run homer in the second.
The Pioneers cut the deficit in half with two runs in the third inning.
Michael Barnabei (Pickerington/Pickerington Central) drove in
Jake Newton (Lancaster/Bloom Carroll) with an RBI single and then came around to score later in the inning on a wild pitch.
Trying to avoid an 0-4 start in conference play, the Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to 9-2 with three more runs in fifth and two more seventh.
Pioneers starter
Tommy Crowl (Cincinnati/Summit Country Day) (3-1) threw 5.0 innings in the losing effort. He allowed seven runs on eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Freshmen
Derek Varner (Cincinnati/Turpin) and
Ian Luttrell (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) and sophomore
Mitch McNabb (Grove City/Bishop Ready) threw in relief.
Marietta attempted a comeback scoring three times in the top of the eighth inning. McCoy, Packanik and Winpigler each drove in a run and the Pioneers had the bases loaded when the inning ended.
Mark Zimmerman (2-1) started on the bump for BW and got the win. He tossed 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Zimmerman helped himself going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Newton finished 3-for-5 with a double, while
Eric White (North Royalton/North Royalton) had a pair of doubles to lead the Pioneer offensive attack.
The Etta Express travels to Wooster for a single nine-inning game on Tuesday (March 31) at 3:00 p.m.
Fans can follow the Etta Express all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
