MARIETTA, Ohio — Brett Carson is one of the most feared hitters in Division III. On Sunday, the senior showed off some impressive pitching skills.
 
Throwing his curveball for strikes whenever he wanted, Carson scattered three hits and struck out seven over seven innings as Marietta edged Adrian 2-0 to win the NCAA Division III Regional at Don and Sue Schaly Field under sunny skies.
 
"He was outstanding. Having the ability to throw a breaking ball for a strike when you need to just makes your fastball look that much better," said Marietta's veteran coach Brian Brewer. "He was down (with his pitches). When Brett struggles, he can't control the curveball and he's up with the fastball. … (Today was the) best I've seen him for sure."
 
Carson, the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year, improved to 5-2 on the season and lowered his ERA from 2.27 to 1.95. He also leads the Pioneers with a .424 average, 12 home runs and 57 RBI.
 
Brewer said Adrian (27-21) had been hitting left-handed pitchers extremely well this season.
 
"Our thought was Brett's not just any normal left-hander with the breaking ball that's a plus pitch and a fast ball that is well above average," Brewer said.
 
Carson was on cruise control through five innings. With a slim 2-0 lead, the Bulldogs were one break away from tying — or taking the lead.
 
In the sixth, Adrian mounted its biggest threat.
 
The inning started with Jack Boike almost getting on by a bunt single, but Carson made an athletic play after misplaying the ball off his glove and flipping it to Austin Amburgey at first.
 
"At that point I felt like my body was running down a little bit. At the same time, I knew I still had to go out there and pitch well for the guys behind me," Carson said. "That play actually gave me a little extra juice. Coach (Mike) Mulvey came out and gave me a breather, but I still felt the adrenaline rush from the play. That just brought me alive again, and after that inning they asked me if I was all right, and I said let's go one more."
 
But lead-off hitter Jakob Charles singled and moved to second after Travis Liford walked. Designated hitter Edward Wagner appeared to hit a game-tying double down the left-field line, but it sailed just foul. Instead, Wagner lined out to Marietta shortstop Matthew Busby, who doubled off Charles at second to end the threat.
 
"Our guys played their tails off all weekend. Obviously, we understand it's hard to come through the loser's bracket when you are playing at Marietta against outstanding team like Marietta," said Adrian coach Craig Rainey. "Unfortunately, we couldn't figure it out offensively. We had some guys on base, but they made the big pitches and the big plays."
After a lead-off single by AJ Miranda, Carson dug down deep and struck out the side in the seventh.
 
Marietta's offense has seen better days, but the Pioneers (37-11) did just enough. In the first two innings, Marietta had a base runner with two outs, but couldn't muster a rally.
 
The Etta Express broke through in the third inning and took a 1-0 lead. After loading the bases with one out, sophomore Ty Davis grounded out to second to score junior Nick Bonnizzio. Bonnizzio, who returned to the lead-off spot in the Marietta line-up as he entered the game hitting .444 in the regional, got the rally started with a one-out single.
 
"I really like it a lot (leading off). I always try to get on base early," Bonnizzio said. "One of our goals offensively is to score in the first inning and get on them early, and whenever I can do my job, it trickles down to the middle guys in the order. I do pride myself on trying to get on."
 
Bonnizzio remained hot at the plate as he ripped a single to left driving in sophomore Zach Marzetz to give Marietta a 2-0 lead in fourth inning. Bonnizzio went 2 for 3 and one walk.
 
The Pioneers actually loaded the bases, but couldn't tally any additional runs after Carson hit a sharp groundball to Adrian's second baseman David Kedrow, who flipped to shortstop Jakob Charles to force out sophomore Alex Richter at second to end the rally.
 
Brewer turned to junior Gabe Torres to pitch the final two innings, and he impressed his coach while earning his first save of the season.
 
"He's thrown really well. I can't overstate how important that is in the situations he has come in. More than that is his ability to just come out and play. He just goes and chucks it," Brewer said. "We have a lot of guys who have not been the GUY or the GUYS, and they haven't been on this stage. They've been here, but they've been in the dugout watching Turner Hill, Damian Yenzi … but they haven't been those guys. For Gabe to do that last weekend I think a lot of our guys learned from that. I know I did. The fact that he's been very patient, very loyal and he's worked very hard because it hasn't been smooth sailing for him."
 
Adrian starting pitcher Don Goodes gave up four hits and walked four over 5 1/3 innings, while taking the loss. His record dropped to 2-3 on the season.
 
Carson, Torres and Amburgey had Marietta's other hits — all singles.
 
"I thought we played really well. We've been talking the last few weeks about trying to play our best baseball and I think we may have done it this weekend," Brewer said. "We didn't swing it great today, but that's a credit to Adrian. I told the guys that I didn't think we could win a 2-0 game. I thought we'd win today maybe 6-3, 7-4. But the way our defense has come and gone and our pitching, it's really impressive and shows the growth we've had over the course of the season, and we picked a good time to play really well."
 
Marietta will likely host Misericordia (36-13) in a Super Regional that begins Friday.
 
"It's amazing. We're regional champs. … I really can't tell you how proud of these guys that I am," Brewer said. "I knew it was going to take a lot of progress and a lot of really hard work and we're not here if these guys don't get a lot better and work really hard at it."
 
Carson added, "It's awesome, especially coming into this year losing the guys we did last year. Everything was up in the air. It's very awesome to see all of our young guys step up that weren't in the lineup last year. Especially for them to play so well on this stage. Hopefully, it is a good stepping stone and we can keep it going and keep this energy going until next week."