MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse began the conference portion of their schedule hosting Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday (Mar. 21) afternoon.  The Pioneers fell behind early and could not overcome the difference, dropping the matchup to the Yellow Jackets, 23-6.  The loss drops the Pioneers to 4-4, 0-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference.  The Yellow Jackets improved to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in the OAC. 
 
"Hats off to Baldwin Wallace today," said Marietta head coach Nathan Grover.  "They executed at a high level and showed why they constantly compete at the top of the OAC.  We have to learn from this loss and work to play at that same standard so we can continue to push towards our goals for the season. We will lock in for our next game and push for an OAC win."
 
Marietta broke through first as Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) picked up a groundball a short distance away from the net and powered in a shot for the first score of the game.  BW answered with a score on the very next possession as Paxton Allison broke through for a goal.  Evan Vetter then followed with a faceoff win and fast break score to give the Yellow Jackets the lead.  Baldwin Wallace found the net three more times and led 5-1 lead after one period.  The Yellow Jackets exploded for ten scores, four from Bennet Trout, in the second period, and extended the lead to 15-1 heading into intermission.
 
Marietta got a pair of scores from Tommy Imhof (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) and a goal from Ryan Kenney (Edgemere, Md./Archbishop Curley) during the third period to chip away the lead to 17-4 after three periods.  Leininger and Ryan Kenney (Edgemere, Md./Archbishop Curley) added scores in the fourth but the difference was too much to overcome and Baldwin Wallace won, 23-6.
 
Cal Henthorne (Wooster, Ohio/St. Edward) played the first half in goal, he faced 35 shots, 21 of which were on goal, and made six saves.  Jack Kelly (Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop McNicholas) worked the second half and faced 12 shots on goal and made four saves.
 
Imhof and Leininger led the Pioneers with two goals apiece.  Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) was the team leader with five groundball pick ups.  Barrett Lindell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) led with three caused turnovers.

The Pioneers will return to action Wednesday (Mar. 25) when they travel to battle Capital University, 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.