Mar. 22 , 2007

Baseball returns victorious
Ellen Doolittle
doolitte@marietta.edu

Coming off of a winning weekend in Georgia, the Etta Express headed to Abilene, Texas for Spring break with a 3-0 record. Their winning streak continued with an 8-1 victory over Texas-Dallas on March 12th and again that day against host McMurry. McMurry, the only team to defeat the Pioneers in last year’s Spring Break Abilene Classic, fell to the Etta Express this time around in a 7-5 battle that included an ejection of coach Brian Brewer and a hitting rally that prompted a comeback victory late in the game.

The Pioneers were handed their first loss of the season by the College of the Southwest, an NAIA school hailing from Hobbs, New Mexico. The Southwest Mustangs led most of the day, when in the eighth inning sophomore Don Pugliese was advanced by hitters Tony Piconke and Joe Litke to put the Etta Express in the lead for the first time. Despite this temporary lead, the Pioneer victory hopes were squashed by a pair of Mustang runs in the ninth, with two outs already on the board. The Express struggled at the plate with only four hits to the Mustang thirteen in the 5-4 loss. 

The Pioneers closed the Abilene Classic with a split as they defeated Southwestern (TX) 13-6, only to be beaten by Hardin-Simmons (TX) 10-4 in their second and final match-up on Wednesday March 14th.  Before piling back on the bus the Junior Varsity team got a shot at McMurry on Thursday, but couldn’t come up with a win.

On March 16th the Etta Express traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for one more day of baseball, only to fall short in their first game to the NAIA Texas Wesleyan Rams by a score of 3-1. The Pioneers took the lead in the top of the fifth, but by the bottom of the inning the Rams had scored again to secure their victory. The hard fought battle was waged mostly from the pitcher’s mound, but in the end sophomore Jason Baumler was handed his first loss of the season.

Before heading home the Pioneers were given a second chance against the Rams. It looked bleak as once again runs were scarce and the Pioneers were out hit 9-5. Three Pioneer errors in the fifth lead to a 1-1 tie game, but this time the Etta Express forced extra innings and came out on top.

The rookies stole the show as freshman Nate Eschbaugh earned the win on the mound allowing just three hits in the final three innings. Offensively, sophomore pinch hitter Cameron Cimino earned a base on a hit to left center and was advanced to second by a sacrifice bunt from freshman Jeremy Reese. A ground out by sophomore Dom Winters allowed Cimino to reach third while freshman Chris Beatty’s single to left field brought Cimino home for the Pioneer victory.

An exciting week of baseball will be followed up with another in the form of a Tuesday doubleheader against LaRoche (Pa.) to kick-off regular season play at home. Wednesday the JV and Varsity will be in action again, but this time against Waynesburg, another Pennsylvania foe. Don’t miss Saturday’s 5:00 pm showdown with the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles and Tuesday’s battle with the Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan again at 5:00 pm at Don Schaly Stadium.