WILMINGTON, Ohio — Marietta College maintained its one game lead in the Ohio Athletic Conference baseball standings with a doubleheader sweep at Wilmington College on Saturday (April 23). The Pioneers dominated the Quakers posting wins of 15-1 and 13-0.
The Etta Express improves to 11-3 in the OAC; one game ahead of Otterbein and Baldwin Wallace. The Pioneers are now 21-12 overall. Wilmington falls to 4-31 overall and 1-13 in conference play.
Game one was closer than the final score indicates as the Pioneers scored nine runs in the final inning.
Senior
Christian Herstine (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area) (7-2) allowed two hits and one unearned run in seven innings of work to get the win in game one. He walked three and struck out eight.
David Stover (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) and
Mitch McNabb (Grove City, Ohio/Bishop Ready) each threw one inning of shutout relief.
Back to back doubles by
Eric White (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) and
Michael Barnabei (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) gave Marietta a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Mike Hale (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) smacked an RBI double and
Tyler Packanik (Plant City, Fla./Newsome) plated hale with a single through the right side of the infield extending the lead to 3-0 in the third inning. A run scoring single from
Brandon Papp (Uniontown, Ohio/Green) in the fourth pushed the margin to 4-0.
Wilmington got on the board in the home half of the fifth inning. After surrendering a lead off walk to Jake Robinson, Herstine appeared to get out of the inning unscathed when Corey Walker, batting with two outs, swung and missed at strike three but reached base on a Pioneer error that allowed Robinson to score.
The Pioneers tacked on two runs in the eighth and then exploded for nine runs in the ninth. The Express sent 13 batters to the plate in the final inning and collected eight base hits in the rally.
Hale, McCoy and Papp each had three hits for the Pioneers.
Jared Ferenchak (1-4) started and took the loss for the Quakers. Ferenchak threw 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on six hits. Three other Quakers toed the rubber in the first game.
In the nitecap,
Tommy Crowl (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) and
Ian Luttrell (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) combined on a six hit shutout. Crowl (3-3) worked eight innings and scattered five singles. He walked two and struck out six. Luttrell made his 2016 debut and allowed one hit while striking out a pair of Quakers.
The Pioneer offense scored in all but two innings as Marietta gradually built its lead. White was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the first inning to get the Express on the board.
Austin Harvey (Richmond, Mich./Richmond) drove in another with a ground ball to short.
Harvey picked up his second RBI of the game with a single in third that drove in Hale. Papp added an RBI single later in the frame scoring Harvey for a 4-0 MC lead.
Marietta scored twice more in the fourth.
Chris Petrucci (Farmington, W.Va./Notre Dame) led off with a double and scored when
Greg Peffley (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) followed with a single. Peffley moved to second when Wilmington tried to get Petrucci at the plate. McCoy followed with a single knocking in Peffley.
Peffley drove in another run in the sixth and then hit his first career home run in the ninth; a three-run shot. Peffley finished 2-for-5 with the homer and five runs batted in.
Hale collected three hits in the game including a double and was 6-for-11 on the day.
Connor Golden (South Charleston, W.Va./Charleston Catholic) also had three hits, while Petrucci and
Chandler Palyas (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) each had two doubles.
Corey Walker (0-8) started and was tagged with the loss for Wilmington. He worked three innings and allowed four runs on six hits. Tyler McDaniel, Billy Foster and Samuel Cranor all threw in relief for the Quakers.
Marietta plays a key regional doubleheader at Case Western Reserve University on Sunday (April 24). First pitch for game one is set for 1 p.m. 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.
