AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The 13th ranked Marietta College baseball team picked up another win on its spring trip Tuesday (March 8) defeating Moravian College 7-1 this afternoon. This game was a case of one team cashing in on its opportunities with timely hits and the other team missing theirs.
The Greyhounds opened the scoring in the top of the first against starter
Austin Eaton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) when Anthony Gaetaniello led off the game with a double down the left field line. He advanced to third on an Eaton wild pitch and came home on a Nicolas Ampietro groundout.
Eaton then settled into the game and matched the Greyhound starter Rhett Jacoby, who was cruising thru the Pioneer line up. The Greyhounds threatened in the top of the fourth loading the bases with a one out walk and two hits, but missed the opportunity as Eaton regrouped and struck out Andrew Koenig swinging and got Matt Nesto to fly out to end the threat.
Head coach
Brian Brewer went to the bullpen to start the fifth inning bringing in
Tyler Paranzino (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood) who shut down the Greyhounds in the fifth, but ran into trouble in the sixth as the first two Moravian hitters reached. Brewer once again made a pitching change bringing in
Scott Oberhelman (Washington Twp., N.J./Old Tappan) who, after an intentional walk, halted the Greyhound rally retiring the side. For the second time in the game the Greyhounds failed to cash in a bases loaded opportunity.
Jacoby was still going strong for the Greyhounds in the bottom of the seventh getting the first two Pioneer hitters, but his defense let him down allowing David Hale to reach second on a throwing error by shortstop Matt Nesto. The Moravian defense compounded that error by throwing a
Michael Barnabei (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) grounder to third away allowing Hale to score.
Doug Bennett (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) took advantage of the bonus outs by smacking a tie breaking double to left center. The inning finished with the Etta Express on top 2-1.
Brewer brought in
David Stover (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) at the top of the eighth to hold the lead and Stover quickly got two outs before catcher Mike Roethke hit a single back up the middle. Stover extinguished any thoughts of a rally by striking out Logan Welles on a called third strike.
Marietta blew the game open in the bottom of the eighth by plating five runners in a four hit inning highlighted by Bennett's second double of the game, this time a three run shot to left field. Leading 7-1 it was left to Stover to close it out in the ninth which he did by working around a one out error.
Both teams recorded seven hits but the difference in the game was that the Etta Express wasted very little in leaving just four runners on base where the Greyhounds stranded 11 on base including two bases loaded opportunities. Oberhelman picked up the win running his record to 2-0. Stover recorded his first save of the year. Jacoby was the tough luck loser and his record dropped to 1-1.
Marietta with its third win on the Florida trip raises its record to 6-2. Moravian falls to 3-3 on the season. The Pioneers are back in action Wednesday (March 9) in their finale of the Florida portion of the season facing Rhodes College in Winter Haven. First pitch is set for 10:30 am.
Fans can follow the Etta Express year around at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
