MARIETTA, OH – 4th-ranked Marietta College rallied back after a quick start from the University of Rochester for a 9-6 victory in the opening game of the NCAA Division III Marietta Regional on Thursday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
The loss drops Rochester to 24-9 on the season, forcing the Yellowjackets to battle back from the losers bracket within the double-elimination regional tournament. Marietta, the regionals second seeded team, improves to 36-4 on the season.
UR got off to a lightning quick start, plating five runs in the top of the first inning against starter Pioneer starter Gino Sabatine.
The first four hitters of the game recorded base hits, including leadoff hitter Aaron Whitley who notched his 19th double of the season, breaking the UR single-season school record. Following Whitley, Joseph Rende, John Moses and Steve Pickering all singled, with Moses' base hit driving in a run.
Harper Sy provided the second run with a sacrifice fly and Josh Leadem's single made it 4-0, driving in Moses. Pickering also scampered home on the play thanks to a Marietta error in left field.
The ninth hitter of the frame, Jackson Reed singled in Leadem, and it was 5-0 Rochester, as Sabatine was removed from the hill in favor of Dalton Wiggins.
Unfortunately for Rochester, the big lead was nearly completely erased by the strong Pioneer offense in the bottom of the first, with Marietta scoring four times.
Turner Hill led off with a double and back-to-back hit batters loaded the bases. A fielders choice groundout and error allowed two runs to score, while RBI base hits from Zach Boyd and Brady Cottom completed Marietta's scoring in the first.
After Rochester was set down in order in the second, Marietta's first four batters reached again in the second, scoring the tying run on a Drew Holderbach single, chasing Jon Turk from the mound.
Relief pitcher Thomas Karpishin was called upon to escape the jam, and he did just that, getting three straight groundouts to keep the score 5-5 after two.
In the third, two more Pioneer batters reached, but were stranded after Karpishin snagged a hard line drive off the bat of Holderbach to end the inning.
The Yellowjackets regained the lead in the fourth. Whitley and Rende led off with infield singles, Rende's being a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line, which put runners at the corners. After a strikeout, Pickering lifted a sacrifice fly to left field for a 6-5 Yellowjackets lead.
Karpishin held the Marietta offense off the board through the fifth, with the right hander finishing with four innings pitched. He allowed no runs, just three hits and two walks while striking out two.
Jason Cobert relieved for Rochester and got through the sixth scoreless. In the seventh though, Marietta had two hitters reach with one out, forcing the Yellowjackets to return to the bullpen.
Right-hander Spencer Rojahn came into the game and battled some control issues, hitting a batter and walking in a run with the bases loaded to tie the score. The next batter, Logan Vietmeier, was hit by a pitch to put Marietta on top, and Trent Valentine delivered a big 2-run single to left, making the score 9-6.
The Pioneer pitching of Wiggins and closer Sam Mathews, shut down the Rochester offense down the stretch, retiring the final 18 batters in a row, dating back to the fourth inning to close out the victory.
Wiggins (5-0) picked up the win, tossing 6.1 innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits while striking out four. Mathews snagged his seventh save of the 2021 season with two scoreless innings with one strikeout.
Cobert (3-2) was tagged with the loss, giving up two runs in 1.1 innings of work.
Whitley was the leading hitter for Rochester, going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Rende finished 2-for-5 with a run and Leadem also finished with two hits, adding a double, RBI and run scored.
For Marietta, Hill was 3-for-5 with a double and three runs scored at the top of the lineup. Vietmeier had two hits, two RBI and a run, while Dylan Albright was 2-for-2 in a substitute role for the Pioneers.
Rochester will now face Penn State Behrend in an 11 am elimination game on Friday morning. The Lions were defeated in the opening game of the regional on Thursday, 8-1, by top-seed Rowan. The third game of Thursday's slate has #3 seed North Carolina Wesleyan playing against #4 seed St. John Fisher. The winner of that game plays Marietta in a winner's bracket contest on Friday evening.
NOTES: This is Rochester's fifth ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament, and second NCAA game against Marietta…That prior game came in the 1999 Mideast Regional at Canton, Ohio, with Marietta winning 3-2…Whitley's 19th double of the season breaks the tie he had with Aiden Finch from 2018 for the Rochester single-season record…UR's two doubles on the day also tied the single-season team record, boosting the Yellowjacket total to 96 on the season, tying the 2008 squad…Thursday was Rochester's first game against a ranked opponent since the 2019 NCAA tournament against #20 Wooster…Rochester entered play Thursday 6th in Division III in slugging, 9th in batting average and 12th in scoring, with Marietta sitting 2nd in hits, 6th in average and 9th in scoring.