March 10, 2008
ABILENE, Texas — Junior TJ Knowlton (Greenwich/Mapleton) led the ninth-ranked Marietta College baseball team to its second win of the season Monday (March 10) night on day one of the Abilene Classic. The hard-throwing right-hander pitched the complete game in an 8-2 victory over Hardin-Simmons University. The Pioneers improved to 2-3, while the Cowboys fell to 9-6.

The game was moved from HSU’s home field to Walt Driggers Field on the campus of McMurry University because the Cowboys’ field was not playable after the storm that moved through Abilene late last night. It was also pushed back a couple of hours so that there could be a game played before it.

Once things got under way, the Cowboys jumped on Knowlton for two runs in the third inning to take the first lead of the game. Andrew Rehling, the nine-hitter, drew a one-out walk. Then, Kevin Ellison reached after being hit by a pitch. Brian Weeks followed with a double down the right field line to drive in Rehling, and Ryan Stepp added a sacrifice fly to plate Ellison.

Senior Nathan Copeland held the Etta Express scoreless through six innings, allowing just one hit. That changed in the top of the seventh. Senior center fielder Tony Piconke (Clinton Township, Mich./Clintondale) led off with a sliding double to right center, his first hit of the early season. Two batters later, sophomore designated hitter Matt DeSico (Euclid) reached on an error by the first baseman; Piconke moved up to third on the play. A wild pitch helped DeSico get to second and another allowed Piconke to scoot home with Marietta’s first run of the night; DeSico also advanced to third.

Copeland followed with a strikeout and a pair of walks to load the bases with two outs. Sophomore left fielder Britt Meador (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) then delivered a big two-run single through the right side to score DeSico and senior third baseman Dom Winters (Washington, Pa.) and give Marietta its first lead of the evening, 3-2. Freshman right fielder Sean Mahley (Cambridge) drew a walk to reload the bases and keep the inning alive. Junior first baseman Justin Merryman (New Philadelphia) added to the damage with a bases-clearing double to right center, which extended the Pioneers’ lead to 6-2 and knocked Copeland out of the game.

Freshman Eric Roten replaced Copeland on the hill and walked Piconke before giving up a RBI single to sophomore catcher Chris Beatty (Seven Fields, Pa./Hampton), who got his first start of the spring. The hit also produced Marietta’s seventh run of the frame and gave it a 7-2 lead at the seventh-inning stretch.

Knowlton returned from his extended time on the bench to retire three straight and keep the momentum on Marietta’s side. Merryman extended the Pioneers’ lead to 8-2 with a RBI single to right, which plated Winters, who walked earlier in the frame. Knowlton then held the Cowboys off the board the rest of the way, and freshman second baseman Chris Dowdell (North Ridgeville/Walsh Jesuit) closed the game with a diving, over-the-shoulder catch to secure the 8-2 victory.

Knowlton improved to 2-0 after scattering two runs on six hits. He walked three and fanned a pair. Copeland, who fell to 0-1, was charged with seven unearned runs on four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked six.

Merryman (2-for-4 with four RBI), Beatty (2-for-5 with one RBI) and Meador (2-for-4 with two RBI) paced Marietta’s offense, which finished with seven hits. Reagan Dixon was the only player to get two hits off Knowlton for Hardin-Simmons, who finished with six hits and had two errors in the loss.

Marietta is back in action Tuesday (March 11) when it plays two more games at the three-day Abilene Classic. The Pioneers will take on No. 18 Texas-Tyler at 3 p.m. and then battle Texas-Dallas at 7 p.m. The UT-Tyler game will be played at Hardin-Simmons, while the UT-Dallas game is slated for McMurry. The action can be heard live in Marietta on WMOA-AM 1490 and over the Internet at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/onlinebroadcasts.html.