GRANVILLE, Ohio — Vince Walker drove in two runs with an inside the park home run leading Denison University to a 6-4 win over Marietta College Thursday (April 26) evening at Big Red Field. The Etta Express moves to 22-10 on the season, while Denison improves to 24-7 overall.
Walker's home run capped a three-run seventh inning for the Big Red and broke a 3-3 tie. Grady Paine led off and worked a rare base on balls from Marietta reliever
David Stover (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson). Sam Frazen sacrificed Paine into scoring position.
Stover struck out the next Denison batter and was one out away from getting out of the inning unscathed. Jack Blanchard followed with a full count single to center field scoring Paine. Walker was the next DU batter and he lined the ball to the right field fence and then raced around the bases beating the throw to the plate for the home run.
Connor Golden (South Charleston, W.Va./Charleston Catholic) staked Marietta to a 2-0 lead with his first home run of the season.
Geoff Snyder (Norton, Ohio/Norton) led off with a double down the right field line. Following a flyout, Golden launched a 2-1 offering from Denison starter John Troll over the right field fence.
Denison took advantage of a Pioneer throwing error to plate an unearned in the third.
Freshman third baseman
Damian Yenzi (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) made it 3-1 in favor of Marietta with his first career home run. Yenzi led off the fourth and smacked the ball over the leftfield wall.
The Big Red scored one in the fourth and tied the game with another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth.
Austin Eaton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) started on the mound for Marietta and worked 6.0 innings. He gave up three runs, one earned, on five hits. Eaton walked three and struck out six. Stover (8-2) was tagged with the loss. He pitched 1.0 inning and allowed three runs in two hits with one walk and one strikeout.
Michael Barnabei (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) retired all three Denison batters he faced in the eighth.
Troll pitched 5.0 innings and was charged with three runs on eight hits. He struck out two Pioneers. Mikey Rivera (2-1) got the win with 3.0 innings of shutout relief. He allowed one hit and struck out four. Perley Provost earned his first save of the season. Provost pitched 1.0 inning and gave up one run on two hits.
Catcher
Brady Cottom (Matthews, N.C./Butler) went 3-for-4 to lead the Pioneer offense. Golden, Yenzi and
Mike Hale (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) each had two hits in the game.
Marietta returns home for a pair of doubleheaders this weekend. The Pioneers host John Carroll University of Saturday (April 28) at 1 p.m. and No. 12 Case Western Reserve University on Sunday (April 29) at 12 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.
