WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Marietta College knocked off No. 23 Otterbein University 4-3 in 10 innings in the first game of an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader Wednesday (April 12) afternoon at Don Schaly Stadium. The Cardinals salvaged a spilt with an 8-5 win in the second game.
The Pioneers are 10-11 overall and are in a three-way tie for second place in the OAC with a 5-3 league record. Otterbein is 19-7 on the season and 5-3 in the OAC. Heidelberg is the third school with a 5-3 conference mark.
Otterbein's Stephan Hernon launched a solo home run in the ninth inning of game one to even the score at 2-2 and send the game into extra innings. The Cardinals then grabbed the lead in the tenth when Ben Beachy executed the squeeze bunt scoring Brock Frentzel with the go ahead run.
Connor Golden (South Charleston, W.Va./Charleston Catholic) led off the bottom of the tenth with a double to center field.
Zack Ward (Mt. Orab, Ohio/Williamsburg) sacrificed him to third.
Bobby Newbury (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) hit a chopper to the second baseman who threw the ball home after Golden started down the line and returned to third allowing Newbury to reach safely on the fielder's choice.
Pioneer head coach
Brian Brewer inserted
Geoff Snyder (Norton, Ohio/Norton) to run for Newbury at first. With Snyder running on the pitch,
Michael Barnabei (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) grounded to third. Golden slid under the tag at the plate tying the game, 3-3. On the play Snyder moved around to third base giving the Pioneer runner at the corners with one out.
Otterbein skipper George Powell went to the bullpen pulling his starter, Johnny Putnam, for Caleb Norton. Barnabei stole second causing the Cardinals to intentionally walk
Seamus Kenneally (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) to load the bases.
Chris Petrucci (Farmington, W.Va./Notre Dame) followed with a line drive single to left scoring Snyder with the winning run.
Putnam (4-1) took the loss after throwing 9.1 strong innings. He allowed four runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Norton faced two batters issuing a walk and the single to Petrucci.
Ian Lutrrell started for the Pioneers and tossed 7.0 shutout innings before turning the ball over to
David Stover (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson). Luttrell gave up five hits, walked one and struck out three. Stover (4-0) picked up his third straight extra-inning relief win. Stover worked 3.0 innings and gave up three runs, two earned, on four hits.
Petrucci went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while Barnabei was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in.
In the nitecap, Otterbein sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning scoring five runs to turn a 5-3 deficit into an 8-5 lead.
Marietta scored one in the first, one in the second and two more in the third for an early 4-0 lead. The Cardinals answered with two in the fourth and another in the third making it 4-3. The Pioneers plated one in the seventh before Otterbein exploded in the top of the eighth.
Tommy Crowl (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) started on the mound for the Pioneers and threw 5.0 innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Mitch McNabb (Grove City, Ohio/Bishop Ready) (0-1) took over t start the sixth and gave up three runs on five hits in 2.0 innings of work for the loss.
Five different Pioneers toed the rubber in the eighth inning before Marietta could end the Cardinal rally.
Jaryd Murphy started on the mound for Otterbein and gave up four runs on six hits in 3.2 innings of work. He walked three and struck out three. Collin Hoffman (3-1) got the win tossing 3.1 innings and allowing one run on just two hits. Caleb Norton notched his seventh save of the season with 2.0 innings of shutout relief.
Golden went 3-for-4 with two RBI to lead the Marietta offense.
Mike Hale (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) had a double and two RBI, while
Greg Peffley (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) scored three runs.
Marietta hosts Heidelberg University on Friday (April 24) at 1:00 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.
