Etta Express fall 14-13 to Rochester in extra innings

Mar. 7, 2005
PORT CHARLOTTE, Florida - On a beautiful day at the Port Charlotte (FL) Invitational Monday (Mar. 7), fans witnessed an ugly game of baseball, as Marietta fell 14-13 in 10 innings to Rochester (NY). With the loss, the Pioneers fell to 2-2 overall.

Marietta jumped out to a 7-0 lead after three innings, but Rochester stormed back with three in the fifth and eight in the sixth. The Pioneers were able to pull ahead again in with two runs in the eighth inning, but an inside the park home run tied the game 13-13 in the bottom of the ninth and Rochester added another run in the tenth to pull out the win.

The Pioneers finished with 15 hits, but committed seven errors on the afternoon. The Marietta pitching staff walked eight batters in the loss. Junior Lee Guerrera (Wolcott, CT) finished 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI and sophomore Ryan Belanger (Coldwater, MI) went 4-for-5, with three runs and four RBI. Belanger hits Marietta's first home run of the spring. Freshman Tony Piconke (Clinton Twp, MI/Clintondale) was the only other Pioneer to have atleast two hits; he also scored three runs.

Senior Bo Cooksey (Atwater/Waterloo), who shutout Rochester through the first four innings, left after 5.3 innings and got a no-decision. Cooksey allowed five runs (three earned) on five hits, while walking three and fanning two. Junior Brian Hanolt (East Palestine) suffered the loss. He allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits over the final 3.3 innings.

Coach Brian Brewer and the Pioneers will look to get back to their winning ways Tuesday (Mar. 8) when they take on Kings (PA) at 9:30 a.m.