Marietta College climbs to No. 18 in ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Poll
Etta Express also second in Mideast Region

May 8, 2007
MARIETTA, Ohio — The National Champion Marietta College baseball team climbed from No. 30 to No. 18 in the most recent American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Poll, which was released Tuesday (May 8). The poll lists the top 30 NCAA Division III programs in the nation, as voted by a group of coaches, and has no bearing on the NCAA selection process.

The Pioneers enter this week's Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with an overall record of 28-12 and finished 13-5 in league play. Marietta tied with Heidelberg for the OAC Regular Season Championship but lost a tiebreaker and will be the second seed in the four-team tournament. The Etta Express will open play against third-seeded Otterbein at 1 p.m. on Thursday (May 10). Top-seeded and host Heidelberg will take on fourth-seeded Capital in the second game of the day at 4 p.m. in Tiffin.

Mideast Regional foe Wooster (39-3), who had seven first place votes, was voted No. 1 in the poll for the fourth straight time. Chapman (Calif.) (35-5) remained at No. 2 and garnered one first place vote. Cortland State (N.Y.) (35-4), Emory (Ga.) (35-7) and Kean (N.J.) (34-8) stayed in placed three through fifth. No. 6 Wheaton (Mass.) (31-11), No. 7 New Jersey (32-9), No. 8 Wis.-Oshkosh (30-8), No. 9 Texas Lutheran (35-8-1), and No. 10 Salisbury (Md.) (30-7) rounded out the top 10.

Wooster is also the top team in the Mideast Region, while Marietta was second. No. 22 Transylvania (Ky.) (29-10) was third, No. 26 Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) (28-8) was fourth, Otterbein (27-10) was fifth, Mount St. Joseph (30-9) was sixth, Heidelberg (26-12) was seventh and Hope (Mich.) (28-11) was eighth.

WMOA-AM 1490, the Voice of the Etta Express, will cover all of the action as Marietta attempts to win their 28th OAC Tournament title in the 40-year history of the event. The games can also be heard over the Internet at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/onlinebroadcasts.html.