MARIETTA, Ohio — No. 20 ranked Marietta College won its fifth straight game with a 5-3 victory over New Jersey City University Thursday (March 16) evening in the BSN SPORTS Invitational. The Pioneers improve to 9-4 on the season, while New Jersey City falls to 4-4 overall.
Brett Carson (Ashville, Ohio/Teays Valley) and
Ty Davis (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) hit back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the first inning staking the Etta Express to an early 2-0 lead. A two-run double from Davis in the third doubled the Pioneer lead to 4-0.
Matthew Busby (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) led off the third with a single down the left field line. Following a sac bunt from
Nick Bonnizzio (Hudson, Ohio/Twinsburg),
Alex Richter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) Walked and Carson singled to load the bases for Davis. Davis lined a double into the right field corner scoring Busby and Richter.
New Jersey City got on the board in the top of the fourth inning. Marietta starting pitcher
Trent Valentine (Byesville, Ohio/Cambridge) walked the bases full of Gothic Knights. Josh Hernandez delivered a two-run single to right cutting the deficit in half, 4-2.
In the home half of the frame
Zach Marzetz (Blacklick, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) led off with a single and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Busby. Bonnizzio plated Marzetz with a single to left for a 5-2 Pioneer lead.
Neither team scored over the next four innings. New Jersey City pushed one run across in the ninth before Marietta sealed the victory. Hernandez's RBI double scored Arian Lunar who reached on a fielder's choice.
Josh Pedersen (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) (2-1) took over on the mound for Valentine and got credit for the win. Valentine allowed two runs on two hits with five walks and four strikeouts in 4.0 innings. Pedersen gave up no runs on one hit with a pair of strikeouts in 2.0 innings.
Jared Bees (Pittsburgh, Pa./Eden Christian) worked 2.2 innings and allowed one run on one hit. He walked two and struck out three.
Kail Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) struck out the only batter he faced to record his third save of the season.
Jeff Osborne (0-1) started on the mound for the Goth Knights and was tagged with the loss. He worked 1.0 innings and allowed two runs on two hits. Frank Shipman pitched 1.0 shutout inning before turning the ball over to Dom Yarson who pitched 4.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits. Hernandez and Paul Tannucilli pitched the final 1.2 innings.
Carson finished the game 3-for-4 with the first inning home run. Davis was 2-for-2 with a double, home run and three runs batted in.
Marietta will play Kalamazoo College on Friday (March 17) at 7:30 p.m.
Fans can follow all 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.
