BEREA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team opened conference play on the road and fell 22-8 to Baldwin Wallace on Saturday (Mar. 23) afternoon   The loss drops the Pioneers to 3-5, 0-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference.  The Yellow Jackets improved to 2-5, 1-0 in the OAC. 

The Yellow Jackets got on the board first with a pair of goals in the first six minutes but Marietta broke through at the 8:46 mark as Thomas Zerman (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) scored of an assist by Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake), cutting the led to 2-1.  Baldwin Wallace took control for the next several minutes with three scores, two from Ian Shealy, to extend the lead to four.  Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) found the net with less than five minutes, but another BW goal  in the closing minutes gave the Jackets a 6-2 lead after one period.
 
The Yellow Jackets exploded for five scores in the first eight minutes of the second period, two by Jake Nanosky, and extended the lead to 11-2.   Logan Podgorski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) briefly stopped the momentum with a goal off of an assist by Josh Walters (Cleves, Ohio/Taylor).  Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) dumped in a goal with less than three minutes with another assist by Leininger, but Baldwin Wallace stayed firmly in control, taking a 14-4 lead into intermission.
 
Baldwin Wallace widened the lead with four unanswered goals during the third period, but the Pioneers were able to get a pair of goals midway through the period.  Zerman and Leininger teams up on another score and Podgorski scored, with an assist from Tyler Reich (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin) to cut the lead to 12 with five minutes remaining.  BW tacked on another score and took a 19-6 lead into the final period.  Leininger and Neal tacked on scored in the fourth period but the damage had been done and Baldwin Wallace won, 22-8.
 
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) played the first half in goal, he faced 40 shots,  17 of which were on goal, and made three saves.  James Cipollone (Forest Hill, Md./Calvert Hall) played the second half, he faced 23 shots, 18 of which were on goal, and made five saves.

The Pioneers will return to action Friday (March 29) when they host Wilmington College, with the game scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Fans can follow all of the Pioneer teams all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X and Instagram.