Marietta defeats Otterbein 12-5 to force a deciding game seven in OAC Baseball Tournament
Automatic bid to NCAA Mideast Regional on the line

May. 14, 2006
WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The Marietta College baseball team awoke Sunday (May 14) with the almost unimaginable task of having to win three games in order to win the 2006 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Baseball Tournament. The Pioneers (35-9) are now two-thirds of the way to accomplishing that task and bringing the trophy back to Marietta after defeating Mount Union (23-17) 12-5 in the morning and knocking off previously undefeated Otterbein (28-14) 12-5 in the afternoon.

The deciding game seven is scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. first pitch. The winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Mideast Regional, which will start Wednesday (May 18) in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Marietta sent freshman Jason Baumler (Crownsville, Md./Old Mill) to the mound in an attempt to slow down the high-powered Otterbein offense. Baumler did just that, holding the Cardinals to five runs (four earned) on six hits in the complete game victory. Baumler, who improved to 8-2, walked five and struck out four in the win.

The Pioneers' offense scored early and often and finished with 12 runs for the second straight game. Marietta collected 16 hits and had six players with multiple-hits in the win.

The Etta Express opened the game with two three-run innings. In the first, senior Jarrod Klausman (Altoona, Pa.) and freshmen Justin Merryman (New Philadelphia) and Josh Beebe (Fleming/Warren Local) each had RBI singles. An inning later, back-to-back-to-back doubles helped account for three runs. Sophomore Tony Piconke (Clinton Twp., Mich./Clintondale) drove in two runs with his double, while senior Justin Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) delivered the third RBI with his double.

Otterbein plated single runs in the first and third innings. The score remained 6-2 until the fifth, when Piconke hit a three-run home run, his second of the year.

The Cardinals pulled within five runs, 9-4, with a two-run seventh, but the Pioneers responded with two runs of its own in the top of the eighth to make the score 11-4. Beebe and junior Ryan Belanger (Coldwater, Mich.) each had RBI singles in the inning.

Marietta's final run came in the ninth, when Steranka delivered a RBI single to center field. Otterbein got a run in the bottom of the ninth, but Baumler retired the next three hitters to end any threat of another Cardinal comeback.

Piconke finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI. Belanger went 3-for-4, while Klausman, Steranka, junior Joe Litke (Windsor, Conn.) and Beebe added a pair of hits in the win.