Marietta defeats Malone 8-1 in battle of the Pioneers

Apr. 12, 2005
CANTON, Ohio - The Marietta College baseball team took the field Tuesday (Apr. 12) for a non conference match-up with Malone at Thurman Munson Stadium, the occasional home of the Mideast Regional. The Etta Express, ranked 11th in the nation, took advantage of seven Pioneers' errors and got a solid pitching performance, resulting in an 8-1 victory for Marietta.

Both teams were in search of their 19th win of the year today. Marietta picked it up to improve to 19-4-1 on the year, while Malone fell to 18-18 in 2005.

The Etta Express jumped on the board in the first inning, when senior Chris Sidick (Cecil, PA/Canon McMillan) reached on a two-base error to lead off the game and scored on a Tony Piconke (Clinton Twp, MI/Clintondale) sacrifice fly.

Marietta added its second run of the day in the third. Sidick and Piconke were once again involved, as Sidick singled, stole second and then scored on an RBI single by Piconke.

Marietta broke the game open in the seventh frame, when it strung together five base hits with one out in the inning. Overall, the Pioneers sent 11 men to the plate and scored five runs.

Malone scored its lone run in its half of the seventh but sophomore Mike Eisenberg (Coral Gables, FL/Bullis) settled down and was able to end any chance of the home team climbing back into the game.

Eisenberg scattered five hits over 7.0 innings to improve to 3-0 on the year. The hard throwing righthander struck out nine and walked three, before giving way to senior Bo Cooksey (Atwater/Waterloo), who fanned five over the final 2.0 innings to secure the victory.

The Etta Express out hit Malone 14-6 on the day and did not commit an error, while Malone made seven.

Five Marietta hitters finished with two hits in the win. Piconke went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Zack Welch (Vincent/Warren) went 2-for-3, while Justin Steranka (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon), Joe Zimmerman (Gambrills, MD/Arundel), and Lee Guerrera (Wolcott, CT) each finished 2-for-5.

Marietta will return to action Thursday (Apr. 14) when it takes on Ashland at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Park. This game was not on the original schedule and will be the second half of a JV/Varsity twinbill. The reserve game is slated to begin at 4 p.m.