MARIETTA, Ohio — No. 16 ranked Marietta College defeated Washington and Jefferson College by the score of 12-4 in an eight-inning, rain-shortened game Wednesday (April 5) evening at Pioneer Park. The Pioneers have won five in a row and are 17-6 on the season. The Presidents fall to 14-9 overall.
Ty Davis (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) staked Marietta to a 2-0 lead with a two-run home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the first inning, Washington and Jefferson retired the first two Pioneers in the inning.
Brett Carson (Ashville, Ohio/Teays Valley) lined a ball to the shortstop, but reached safely when the ball was dropped. Davis followed with the two-run shot.
The Presidents cut the lead in half with a run in the top of the fourth. Joe Lehner led off with a single and Luke Virag walked chasing Pioneer starter
Gino Sabatine (Alliance, Ohio/West Branch) from the game.
Zach Marzetz (Blacklick, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) took over on the mound and walked Dan Beistel loading the bases. Logan Scheider grounded into a double play allowing Lehner to score.
Marietta's offense exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the fourth to take control of the game. The first eight hitters all reached base safely. Davis led off with a double,
Trent Valentine (Byesville, Ohio/Cambridge) singled and
Austin Amburgey (Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) was hit by a pitch loading the bases.
Ben Kaplin (Louisville, Ky./Ballard) singled scoring Davis.
Cole Rieman (West Chester, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller) was hit by a pitch plating Valentine.
Matthew Busby (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) singled up the middle driving in Amburgey.
Nick Bonnizzio (Hudson, Ohio/Twinsburg) singled through the right-side scoring Kaplin.
Alex Richter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) followed with a two-run scoring Rieman and Busby. Davis plated Bonnizzio with a sac fly and Valentine drove in Richter with a double making it 10-1.
Carson smacked a ground rule double in the seventh inning driving in two more Pioneer runs for a 12-1 lead.
Washington and Jefferson got a three-run home run from Lehner in the top of the eighth cutting the margin to 12-4.
Marietta got a pair of singles to start the home half of the eighth inning before the rains came and ended the game.
Busby had three hits for the Pioneers. Richter, Carson, Davis and Valentine had two hits apiece.
Sabatine (1-2) got the win. He threw 3.0 innings and allowed one run on two hits with three walks and one strikeout. Marzetz,
Forrest Havanis (Washington, Pa./Trinity),
Braden Shepherd (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington),
Nick Kumor (Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands) and
Jacob Rocky (Strongsville, Ohio/St. Ignatius) all threw in relief for the Pioneers.
Ben Pierce (0-1) started and took the loss for the Presidents. He pitched 3.0 innings and gave up two unearned runs on one hit with one walk and two strikeouts. Four other pitchers toed the rubber for Washington and Jefferson.
Marietta travels to Berea on Friday (April 7) for a big Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader at No. 6 Baldwin Wallace University. Game one is set to start at 1:00 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.
