Marietta College baseball opens Texas trip with two strong wins
Etta Express tops Southern Nazarene 8-1 and the Friends 3-0

Mar. 13, 2006
ABILENE, Texas — The eighth-ranked Marietta College baseball team returned to its winning ways Monday (Mar. 13) with two victories in day one of its Spring Break Trip to Texas. The Pioneers, who were coming off three losses last weekend in Salisbury, Maryland, got a pair of solid pitching performances from its two upperclassmen. As a result, Marietta was able to defeat Southern Nazarene (Okla.), 8-1, and Friends (Kan.), 3-0, to improve to 2-3 on the season.

Senior ace Mike DeMark took the hill for his first start of the season in the opener. DeMark, who has been battling back spasms during the preseason, was impressive for 7 1/3 innings, before leaving the game with more spasms. He did not get a decision, as Marietta plated seven runs in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie. DeMark opened the game with six straight strikeouts and finished with 11 total. He allowed just one run on two hits and did not walk a batter.

Freshman Jason Baumler (1-0) pitched the final 1 1/3 inning in relief of DeMark, allowing three hits and fanning one, to pick up the victory over the Crimson Storm, who fell to 21-10 on the year.

Marietta got on the board in the first inning, when junior Ryan Belanger led off with a single and immediately stole second base. Senior Chris Hendricks moved him to third with a single to left field and sophomore Tony Piconke delivered him home for the first run of the game with a one-out single up the middle.

The score remained the same until the eighth, when Southern Nazarene tied the game at 1-1. DeMark hit the first two batters, before leaving the game. He did pick the first guy off first base. Baumler entered and allowed back-to-back singles to load the bases. Baumler then got the next hitter to ground out to second base, but the runner at third was able to score on the play. He kept Crimson Storm from scoring any more runs by striking out the next batter.

The Pioneers came back to the plate in the bottom of the eight and broke the game open with a seven-run inning. Marietta was able to send 11 hitters to the plate in the frame. Senior Jarrod Klausman, who opened the inning with a double, score the go-ahead run when the Southern Nazarene pitcher overthrew the first baseman on a Piconke sacrifice bunt.

Klausman and sophomore Dom Winters each finished with three hits, while Belanger and Hendricks added two apiece in the win. Overall, Marietta had 12 hits and played an errorless game.

It was junior Mike Eisenberg's time to shine in game two, as he led Marietta past Friends (Kan.) 3-0. Eisenberg scattered four hits in eight innings, walking two and striking out nine to earn his first win of the year. Freshman Scott Dunn picked up the save with a scoreless ninth inning.

Neither team could get much going early in the game. Marietta broke a scoreless tie in the fourth. Piconke and Winters singled with one out. Pickone was then able to score on an error when the Falcons(10-7-1) mishandled a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Tad Thomas. Thomas later scored on a RBI double by sophomore Zach Welch.

Marietta added an insurance run in the sixth when Klausman and Piconke opened the inning with singles. Winters sacrificed them over with a bunt and then Thomas followed with a suicide squeeze bunt that allowed Klausman to score the final run of the game.

The Pioneers collected eight hits in the game — three by Klausman and two by Piconke. Again, they did not commit an error in the win.

Marietta returns to action Tuesday (Mar. 14), when it takes on host McMurry (TX) at 12 p.m. and the follows it up with another game against Southern Nazarene at 4:30 p.m. Both games can be heard on WMOA-AM 1490 and on the Internet at mariettaonline.com