CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Marietta College baseball team got its offense on track in the second game of a doubleheader at Case Western Reserve University Sunday (April 24) afternoon. The Pioneers bounced back from a 2-0 loss in game one to defeat the Spartans 8-1 in the nitecap. Marietta is now 22-13 on the season, while Case Western moves to 25-13 overall.
Tyler Nieberding (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) and Case's Mark Gross went toe to toe in a classic pitcher's duel in the first game. Nieberding (0-3) allowed two runs on five hits in seven strong innings of work. He walked one and struck out four. Gross (3-4) threw six innings of three-hit shutout ball for the win. He did have some control issues walking six Pioneers.
Liam Killingstad tossed three innings of relief for his second save of the season.
Scott Oberhelman (Washington Twp., N.J./Old Tappan) worked one inning of relief for the Pioneers.
Case pushed the only two runs of the game across in the third inning. Josh Neal hit a two-out double down the right field line. Rocco Maue followed with an RBI single and went to second on the throw.Daniel Watson then delivered the third straight hot for the Spartans scoring Maue.
Marietta had several opportunities in the game but stranded 12 runners on base. The Pioneers loaded the bases in the fourth and left multiple runners on the base paths in the third, sixth and eighth innings as well.
Mike Hale (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) finished 2-for-4 with a double, while
Tyler Packanik (Plant City, Fla./Newsome) also doubled in the game for MC.
The Etta Express got rolling early in game two scoring three runs in the second inning. Three Case Western errors in the frame led to a pair of unearned runs.
Marietta extended its lead with three more in the fifth.
Chandler Palyas (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) led off with a single and stole second.
Chris Petrucci (Farmington, W.Va./Notre Dame) dropped down a base hit bunt moving Palyas to third.
Greg Peffley (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) followed with an RBI single to left scoring Palyas and moving Petrucci to second.
A sac bunt from
Tim McCoy (Willoughby, Ohio/St. Ignatius) moved both runners up 90 feet. Hale lined a single to right scoring Petrucci and then
Eric White (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) plated Peffley with a sac fly to right field.
Freshman
Jacob Baker (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) started on the mound for Marietta and worked three innings. He allowed no runs on one hit with three walks and two strikeouts.
Kordell Antill (Woodsfield, Ohio/Monroe Central) (3-1) took over to start the fourth inning and tossed five innings for the win. Antill allowed one run on three hits and struck out four.
David Stover (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) worked the ninth.
Case got on the board in the bottom of the eighth inning. Aaron Cain and Neal hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning. Antill settled down and retired the next three batters to get out of the inning with a 6-1 lead.
A pair of insurance runs in the ninth extended the Marietta lead to 8-1. Petrucci reached on a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Hale drove in the other run with a double down the right field line.
Marietta had 11 hits in the game. Petrucci, Peffley, Hale, Palyas and
Brandon Papp (Uniontown, Ohio/Green) each finished with two hits. Hale's double was Marietta's lone extrabase hit.
Marietta wraps up the home portion of its schedule next Saturday (April 30) when John Carroll University visists Don Schaly Stadium for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
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.
