MOUNT BERRY, Ga. — Shenandoah University strung together three straight hits, all with two outs, in the bottom of the ninth to come from behind and beat Marietta College, 3-2, in the first round of the NCAA Division III South Regional Wednesday (May 18) evening at Bowdoin Field on the Campus of Berry College.
Marietta (28-16 overall) will now face No. 1 seed Emory University, a 6-5 winner over Thomas More College in the opening round, on Thursday (May 19) at 2:30 p.m. Shenandoah (33-10 overall) plays No. 2 seed Birmingham-Southern College, who beat Huntingdon College 7-0 on Wednesday, at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Leading 2-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Pioneer ace
Christian Herstine (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area) struck out the first two batters in the final frame. Lew Johnson stroked a double to left-center keeping the Hornets alive. Luke Nussman followed with a chopper through the right side of the infield that plated Johnson with the tying run.
Nussman moved into scoring position on the throw to the plate. Zach Herbaugh provided the final heroics for Shenandoah with a single to right-center driving in Nussman with the winning run.
Herstine (9-4) threw 8 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter. Michael Scimanico (8-1) went toe-to toe with Herstine and gave up just two runs on seven hits with no walks and two strikeouts for the win.
Shenandoah grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Tristan Baker led off with a single up the middle, moved to second on a balk and third on a ground out off the bat of Abel Arocho. Jake Loew picked up the RBI with a groundout to short.
Chris Petrucci (Farmington, W.Va./Notre Dame) smacked an RBI single to right-center in the sixth inning tying the game, 1-1.
Michael Barnabei (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) reached on a one-out double into the leftfield corner and moved to third when the throw to second base ended up in right field. Petrucci followed with the run-scoring hit.
Marietta jumped on top with another run in the seventh.
Tyler Packanik (Plant City, Fla./Newsome) led off with a double off the fence in left.
Eric White (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) bunted and all hands were safe when Packanik beat the throw to third base.
Tanner Wood (Athens, Ohio/Athens) followed with a sac fly to right scoring Packanik with the go ahead run.
White was 2-for-3 with a double, while Barnabei went 2-for-2. Packanik also had a double for the Pioneers.
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