|
Box Score 2 MARIETTA, Ohio — With each passing inning, the Marietta fans were starting to wonder when — or if — the Etta Express were going to score again in the NCAA Division III Baseball Regional at Don & Sue Schaly Field.
The Pioneers (38-5) finally broke through in the sixth inning against Penn State-Behrend on Sunday and sparked a come-from-behind 7-3 victory over the Lions to advance to the championship game.
Marietta scored three in the sixth and two each in the seventh and eighth innings, and rode strong relief pitching from senior
Isaac Danford (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) and junior
Sam Mathews (Fairfield, Ohio/Badin). The biggest hit of the game came from sophomore
Trent Valentine (Byesville, Ohio/Cambridge), who blasted a two-run home run down the right-field line off reliever Zack Bowen (0-1) to give the Etta Express its first lead of the day at 5-3. The homer came with two outs and
Brady Cottom (Matthews, N.C./Butler) on second, who was pinch running for
Logan Vietmeier (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) who doubled earlier in the inning.
Coach
Brian Brewer's squad tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth off another relief pitcher, Ben Bowen. The big hit came from third baseman
Damian Yenzi (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) who doubled to left-center to knock in Kail and
Turner Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta).
Marietta finally broke through against Behrend starter Caleb Caldwell in the sixth inning.
"I felt good and was going inning to inning and do everything I could do," Caldwell said. "I just ran out of gas a little bit. I'm proud of my team and proud of the coaches."
With runners on first and third and no outs,
Trent Castle (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) got Marietta on the board in the sixth with a single to right that scored pinch runner
Rodreco Rachel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Northwest).
Caldwell was lifted for Zack Bowen, who fielded a bunt from
Jared Weiss (Uniontown, Ohio/Green) and threw him out at first, but Valentine scored from third. Wilkinson, who has been swinging a hot bat for Marietta, drove in the tying run when he doubled down the left-field line to score Castle, who reached on a single.
Danford, who came on for relief of starter
Nicklaus Brown (Kenton, Ohio/Benjamin Logan) with two outs in the first, kept the Pioneers in the game by giving up four hits, no walks and one run while striking out seven in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Mathews, the Pioneers closer, followed that performance up by allowing four hits, no walks and no runs while striking out six in 3 2/3 innings.
However, it wasn't until the three-run outburst in the sixth inning did it look like the Pioneers would have a chance against the gritty Lions (27-13).
PSU-Behrend touched up Brown in the first inning for two runs on three hits and two walks in just 2/3 of an inning.
After getting Braden Paulinellie to ground out to start the game, Brown had trouble finding the strike zone.
He walked Anthony Slate and Josh Wagner crushed a ball to the left-field wall that hit Valentine's glove as he banged into the outfield wall, which resulted in a double. Colin Harger walks to load the bases.
Brown almost got out of the inning without any damage when Isaac Stouffer grounded to third for a possible double play, but Yenzi's throw to
Jared Weiss (Uniontown, Ohio/Green) was a little off and the Pioneers could only get Harger at second. That allowed Slate to score.
Juston Jones followed with a seeing-eye single between first and second to score Wagner. Jake Deitz then singled to load the bases, and Marietta made the move to Danford who struck out Donny Watters to end the early rally.
"We had an awesome run. We really needed Caleb Caldwell to get after it on the mound. He put up goose eggs for five innings and we really needed that against an incredible team," said PSU-Behrend coach Paul Benim. "We knew that two wasn't enough. If you asked our hitting guy, we felt we needed five to have a chance and obviously they scored a few more than that. I'm really happy with the way our guys competed. Caleb was big time when we really needed him."
Yenzi went 2-for-2 with two RBI, while Vietmeier and Valentine also had two hits. Stouffer and Jones each went 3-for-4 for the Lions.
Fans can follow the Etta Express all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
