PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — The Marietta College baseball team started the 2015 season by splitting a pair of games Sunday (March 8) in the Snowbird Classic. Moravian College (Pa.) downed the Etta Express 8-5, while the Pioneers bounced back to beat St. John Fisher College (N.Y.) by the score of 11-1.
Moravian (2-0 overall) took advantage of some uncharacteristic defensive mistakes by the Pioneers to build an 8-0 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Junior
Christian Herstine (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area) (0-1) was tagged with the loss throwing 5.1 innings and giving up seven runs, three earned, on seven hits. Herstine walked two and struck out three.
The Pioneers got back in the game with five runs in the bottom of the seventh. Marietta benefitted from three walks and two hit batsmen in the inning.
Chris Winpigler (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora),
Ryan Hanahan (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland),
Christian Demko (Xenia/Bellbrook),
Joey Begany (Sheffield Village/Elyria Catholic) and
Brandon Papp (Uniontown/Green) each picked up an RBI in the rally.
Mitch Geers (West Chester/Lakota East) and
Tyler Packanik (Plant City, Fla./Newsome) each collected two hits in the game for the Etta Express.
Dan Morrin (1-0) started and got the win for Moravian. Morrin threw 6.0 shutout innings allowing five hits, all singles, and striking out eight. Brett Wagner tossed the final 2.1 innings for his first save of the season.
Marietta's offense got untracked in the second game. The Pioneers scored in all but one inning as St. John Fisher (3-5 overall) was outmatched from the start. Center fielder
Tim McCoy (Willoughby/St. Ignatius) had two doubles and finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI.
Sophomore
Tommy Crowl (Cincinnati/Summit Country Day) (1-0) worked 8.0 innings for the win. Crowl scattered six hits and gave up one unearned run. He struck out two and didn't walk a batter.
David Stover (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) threw 1.0 inning and allowed one hit.
Marc Iseneker (0-1) took the loss allowing eight runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings of work.
Marietta plays No. 18 Webster University (Mo.) Monday (March 9) at 1:00 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.
