Zach Bukiewicz scored the winning run when a walk to Tim Saunders forced him to the plate. d3photography.com photo by Ryan Coleman

By Blair Reitzner for D3sports.com

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- In the first extra-inning game of the series, a walk-off walk in the bottom of the tenth inning was the game-winner for Marietta. Tim Saunders drew the walk with the bases loaded, scoring Zach Bukiewicz as the Pioneers beat Wheaton (Mass.) 6-5 in the 2012 Division III World Series at Fox Cities Stadium.

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“Taking deep breaths and relaxing, just thinking, get a fastball in the zone and elevate somewhere in the outfield, deep enough where the guy can tag.” Saunders said.  “He [Ben Johnson] got behind 3-0, I swung and missed at 3-1 and I knew he had to be in the zone otherwise I wasn’t swinging.”

In the game Marietta struck first as they had the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the second. The first of four double plays turned by Wheaton on the day brought home the first run of the game for Marietta as they took the lead going to the second 1-0.

The Lyons got going in the bottom of the fourth with two outs. Apolinar De La Cruz started the rally with a single, but a three base hit by Dan Gusovsky drove in their first run of the game, tying the game at 1-1. 

The Lyons again got to Blaski as they loaded the bases then took the lead with a sacrifice fly by Eric Jensen which plated John Keating. A single by Sean Ryan followed as the Lyons took a 3-1 lead going to the bottom of the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Pioneers had a threat of their own, after Evan Brockmeier got hit by a pitch and a walk by Niko Stanislav put runners on first and second with no outs, but a strikeout and a double play eliminated the Pioneer threat.

In the bottom of the sixth inning Kirby Becker led off the inning with a walk, back to back singles by Josh Ungerbuehler and Tim Saunders loaded the bases with no outs. A fielder’s choice made the game 3-2. After the lead was cut in half, Mitch Geers got hit by a pitch reloading the bases for the Pioneers and Evan Brockmeier’s one out, two RBI single taking the lead 4-3.

The Marietta lead did not last long as in the top of the seventh; Jensen laced a one out double in the left center gap which scored Demeo, tying the game 4-4.  The Lyons were not done as they took the lead back with a two out single by Dan Haugh making it 5-4. The Pioneers answered right back as Aaron Hopper singled to left which drove in Ungerbuehler tying the game 5-5.

Kyle Lindquist came in relief for Logan Lewis and pitched two innings giving up two hits and not allowing any runs. 

“I was just trying to keep our season alive, I came in with a tie ball game. I felt our offense was scoring the whole game, scored for me yesterday. All I was trying was to put up a to do zero.” Lindquist said.

The Lyons threatened in the top of the 10th as they had back-to-back singles by Kevin Foley and Keating with one out he runners but were unable to capitalize. This opened the door for the Pioneers to work their magic.

"The kids are going to do whatever they need to do to show up tomorrow," said head coach Brian Brewer.

Linquist earned his third win of the season, while Ben Johnson took his fisrt loss of the season.

Saunders had three hits while Geers and Brockmeier had two hits. Keating led all Wheaton batters with three hits. De La Cruz and Dan Demeo had two for the Lyons.

The loss was Wheaton's first in the double-elimination tournament. They will play for the title at 2:30 p.m. Central and play the winner of the Marietta-St. Thomas game at 11:00 a.m. Central at Fox Cities Stadium. 

“Looking forward to it and I feel very confident in our guys,” said Wheaton coach Eric Podobinski. “I’m proud of all of our guys and I can’t wait to play tomorrow.”