PORT CHARLOTTE, Florida — What started out as a slugfest quickly turned into a pitcher's duel as Marietta College upset No. 4 ranked North Central College, 4-2, Friday (Mar. 16) afternoon. The Etta Express improves to 8-2 on the season, while the Cardinals fall to 2-2 overall.
North Central came out swinging and plated two runs in the top of the first inning. The Cardinals had several well-hit balls off of Pioneer starter
Ian Luttrell (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) in the inning.
NCC loaded the bases with no outs with a single, a hit by pitch and a walk. Clean-up hitter Mike Wisz laced a line drive right at MC third baseman
Damian Yenzi (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills). Yenzi made the catch and fired to second base doubling off the Cardinal runner.
Luttrell was one out away from getting out of the inning unscathed when John Carmody stepped into the box. Carmody singled into the right-center gap scoring both Cardinal base runners.
Marietta answered with three runs in the bottom of the first. Yenzi and
Chris Petrucci (Farmington, W.Va./Notre Dame) led off with back-to-back singles. Fetsko hit a grounder to third and Yenzi was put out on the fielder's choice. A wild pitch moved Petrucci to third and Fetsko to second.
Following a strikeout, a second wild pitch allowed Petrucci to score and moved Fetsko over to third.
Brady Cottom (Matthews, N.C./Butler) delivered a two-out single scoring Fetsko. Cottom stole second and then
Jonathan Pingree (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) was issued a base on balls.
Geoff Snyder (Norton, Ohio/Norton) put the Pioneers in front with a single through the right side of the infield scoring Cottom.
After the first inning fireworks, both team's settled down and pitching and defense took over. Only one more run was scored in the game as Marietta plated an insurance run in the fourth.
Pioneer right fielder
Michael Barnabei (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) made back-to-back diving catches to keep North Central from starting a rally. Center fielder
Seamus Kenneally (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) made a great catch at the wall in straight away center field to rob the Cardinals of an extra base hit.
Luttrell (1-0) allowed just one hit after the first inning to get the win. He worked 6.0 innings and gave up two runs on three hits. Luttrell walked three and struck out five.
Kordell Antill (Woodsfield, Ohio/Monroe Central) pitched 1.0 inning of perfect relief and Barnabei recorded his second save with 2.0 innings of shutout relief.
Michael Mallon (0-1) started and took the loss. He allowed four runs on nine hits in 4.0 innings of work. Mallon walked two and struck out two. Four other Cardinals combined for 4.0 innings of three-hit shutout relief.
Petrucci finished 3-for-4 to lead the Pioneer offense. Yenzi, Fetsko and Snyder each had two hits in the game.
Marietta wraps up its Florida schedule with an 11 a.m. game against Amherst College On Saturday (Mar. 17).
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.
