Casey Levens' first homer of the season was a mammoth two-run shot to give Marietta a 5-0 lead and keep the express train to Walnut and Bronze rolling. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

By Jim Dixon
D3sports.com

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- Marietta got yet another strong pitching performance and fired on all cylinders on offense as the No. 1-ranked Pioneers defeated Keystone 11-2, setting up a date with Chapman in the 2011 Division III Baseball Championship title game.

Marietta and Chapman will square off at 11 a.m. CT Tuesday. This will be Marietta's 11th title game appearance, while Chapman will be making its second.

"Another great pitching performance," said Marietta head coach Brian Brewer. "we swung the bats a little little cleaner today offensively."

Two errors by shortstop Lance Ratchford opened the door for the Pioneers as they scored three in the third. With two outs in the inning, Alex Toth reach on an error by Ratchford. Toth moved to second when tournament walks leader, Brian Grilliot was given his sixth walk. Kirby Becker's ground ball handcuffed Lance Ratchford and his second error allowed Becker to reach first and Toth to score. Snyder scored Grilliot with his first safety of the day. Becker scored the final run of the inning as Synder, attempting to steal second, was caught in a rundown.

Marietta added two more in the fourth when Casey Levens hit his first home run of the year with Aaron Hopper, a hit-by-pitch victim standing on first.

Marietta starter Mike Mahaffey continued to baffle the Giants. Midway through the game, Mahaffey had allowed one hit with one walk, striking out three through five innings.

"The key was getting ahead which allowed me to work with all four pitches," said Mahaffey. "When I got behind, I gave up a few hits."

The Pioneers added five more runs in the seventh as they brought nine men to the plate. Becker walked, stole second and moved to third on an error by Jeremy Beeching. Snyder's second hit of the game scored Becker. Tim Saunders' double put runners on second and third. Matt Moormeier pinch ran for Snyder. Both Moormeier and Saunders scored on Ratchford's third error of the game on Aaron Hopper smash to the left side. Hopper and Evan Brockmeier, on by a hit-by-pitch, would score on a Toth single.

Keystone would spoil the shutout in the eighth. Brian Del Rosso and Esteban Meletiche would both walk and score as Roberto Santana tattooed the left-field line with a two-out double.

Mahaffey earned the win, pitching seven innings allowing no runs.  He walked two and struck out four. Luke Langdon and Michael Radvansky each pitched an inning in relief. Brian O'Brian look the loss.  O'Brien gave up five runs, two earned on five hits. He has four walks and three strikes. Beeching, Conner Smith , Mike Rossi, and Derek Alex also pitched for Keystone.

Five Pioneers, Becker, Snyder, Saunders, Levens and Toth, had two hits in the game. Andrew Siano, Santana, Andy Vega, and Ratchford had the only hits for Keystone.

Keystone finished its season 38-12.