Mooney mystifies Battling Bishops once again
Righthander almost no-hits Ohio Wesleyan in Marietta's 15-0 win

Mar. 22, 2005
MARIETTA, Ohio - When Ohio Wesleyan head coach Roger Ingles goes to bed tonight, he is going to have nightmares about Marietta's senior pitchers, especially Mike Mooney (Pittsburgh, PA/Shady Side Academy). For the second straight season, Mooney stymied Battling Bishops hitters and Marietta's offense came out swinging, which resulted in a 15-0 lopsided win for the Etta Express. Marietta improves to 10-3-1 with the win, while Ohio Wesleyan falls to 10-2 on the spring.

Mooney, who no-hit Ohio Wesleyan a year ago, did not allow a hit for the first eight innings. It took a lead off pinch-hit dribbler through the right side, past a diving Ryan Eschbaugh (Marietta), by Jerell Johnson to break up what would have been Mooney's third career no-hitter. Following the hit, the righthander left to a standing ovation, replaced by freshman Jeff Feigel (Severn, MD/Arundel). Feigel allowed one hit before closing the door on a potential Bishops' rally.

Mooney finished the evening with three walks and three strikeouts in his eight-plus innings of work to improve to 4-0 on the spring.

Marietta has now defeated Ohio Wesleyan six straight times. Five of those victories were a direct result of either Mooney or senior Justin Papania (Butler, PA).

The Etta Express' offense banged out 18 hits in the win. Junior Justin Steranka (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon) singled home freshman Tony Piconke (Clinton Twp, MI/Clintondale) in the first to give MC a 1-0 lead.

Marietta kept that slim advantage until the fifth, when a three-run bomb off the bat of senior Chris Sidick (Cecil, PA/Canon McMillan) sparked a five-run inning. The Pioneers added two more in the sixth and then exploded for seven runs in the seventh frame.

Junior Chris Hendricks (Little Hocking/Warren) was one of six Marietta hitters with multiple-hits tonight; he finished 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.

Sidick added a triple, his fifth of the year, to his home run and freshman Zach Welch (Vincent/Warren) finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI.

The Etta Express will look to extend its win streak to six, when it travels to Springfield to battle Wittenberg at 6 p.m. A JV game precedes the varsity action at 3 p.m.