PORT CHARLOTTE, Florida — For the second day in a row No. 24 Marietta College and No. 13 Misericordia University played to a 2-1 final score. However, on Thursday (Mar. 7) the Etta Express came out on top improving to 4-5 on the season. The Cougars move to 6-5 on the season.
Just like in Wednesday's game, Misericordia grabbed the early lead scoring its lone run in the bottom of the first inning. Garrett McIlhenney singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Two wild pitches allowed McIlhenney to come around and score.
Misericordia starting pitcher Joe Valenti cruised through the first four innings facing one batter over the minimum. The Pioneers finally got on the board in the top of the fifth.
Ben Kaplin (Louisville, Ky./Ballard) led off with a double down the left field line and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from
Shane Rothlisberger (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston). Following a walk to
Cole Yeager (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills),
Cooper Fiehrer (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) singled to left-center scoring Kaplin.
Marietta took the lead in the sixth when
Cael Magill (Atco, N.J./King's Christian) led off with a single and moved to second on a sac bunt from
Cole Rieman (West Chester, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller).
Alex Richter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) grounded out but Magill was able to take third base on the play. Kaplin singled to the shortstop driving in Magill with the go ahead run.
Pioneer starter
Trent Valentine (Byesville, Ohio/Cambridge) (1-0) threw 6.0 strong innings for the win. He allowed the one run on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
Kail Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) notched his first save of the season with 3.0 innings of shutout relief. Hill allowed two hits and struck out four.
The Cougars tried to rally in the ninth. Hill struck out the first two batters of the inning before surrendering a single up the middle to Joe Comins and a single to left from Brooks Kanwisher. But Hill recovered and struck out the next batter to preserve the win.
Kaplin and Fiehrer each had two hits for the Pioneers. Kaplin had a double, scored one run and drive in Marietta's other run.
Valenti (2-1) took the loss for Misericordia. He worked 8.0 solid inning and allowed two runs on just six hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Aidan Paduck pitched the ninth and walked one and struck out one.
Marietta plays No. 23 ranked Webster University Friday (Mar. 8) at 3:00 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 X and Instagram.
