ALLIANCE, Ohio —
Mike Hale (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) pulled a single down the leftfield line driving in
Greg Peffley (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) with the winning run in the bottom of the eleventh inning propelling Marietta College to a 5-4 win over John Carroll University in an elimination game of the 2017 Ohio Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament Friday (May 12) afternoon.
Marietta improved to 22-17 on the season and advanced to meet Mount Union, a 3-1 loser to Otterbein earlier in the day, in the third game of the afternoon. John Carroll finished the season with an 18-22 record.
The Pioneers, who trailed 4-0 early, scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings. Peffley had an RBI double and
Connor Golden (South Charleston, W.Va./Charleston Catholic) scored on a wild pitch to even the game, 4-4.
Chris Petrucci (Farmington, W.Va./Notre Dame) lined a one-out double into the right center gap to start the Pioneer rally in the eleventh. Peffley followed with a single to left. The Blue Streaks managed to stay alive when left fielder Patrick Keohane nailed Petrucci at the plate with a perfect throw.
Peffley moved into scoring position at second base on Keohane's throw to the plate setting the table for Hale. Hale's base hit was down the line giving Keohane no chance to repeat his previous throw.
David Stover (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) (7-1) threw 4.1 innings of two-hit shutout relief for the win. He struck out three Blue Streaks.
Tyler Nieberding (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) started and worked 5.0 innings. He was charged with four runs, three earned, on nine hits. Nieberding notched three strikeouts. Fellow senior
Tommy Crowl (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) took over for Nieberding to start the sixth inning. Crowl threw 1.2 innings and gave up one hit and walked two.
John Carroll starter Drew Vargo pitched 8.0 strong innings. He allowed four runs on 11 hit. Vargo walked three and struck out two. Mark Materise (3-2) took the loss. Materise gave up one run on four hits in 2.2 innings of work. He walked two and struck out one.
Peffley went 4-for-6 with a double and RBI and a run scored.
Eric White (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and intentionally walked twice. Petrucci and
Grant Helber (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) each had two hits in the game including a double for Petrucci.
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.
