By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Marietta, the top-seeded team at the 2022 Division III World Series, got shutout pitching, aggressive baserunning and some timely extra base hits as the Pioneers defeated eighth-seeded Catholic 7-0 in the opener of the Division III baseball championship.

• D3baseball.com World Series scoreboard
• World Series: Day one
• D-III World Series Record Book
• The D3baseball.com World Series Program

Left-hander Trent Valentine, Marietta’s ace, came out and threw eight shutout innings, allowing just four hits as the Pioneers advanced into the winner’s bracket. They will face the winner of Salisbury and UW-Stevens Point in Saturday’s first winner’s bracket game, scheduled for 1:15 p.m. CT.

“We managed to manufacture-slash-speed up there a little bit there in the early to mid innings,” said Marietta coach Brian Brewer. “I think that relaxed us a little bit and we got better offensively. But you’re only as good as the guy on the bump, and Trent’s the story of the day for sure.”

Marietta's aggressive baserunning and a pair of Catholic miscues helped the Pioneers jump out to a 3-0 lead in the third, and Trent Valentine made it stand up with eight innings of shutout ball. Photo by David Malamut, d3photography.com | More photos from this game

Catholic (34-15) had just six baserunners all day, half of them reaching base with two outs. Nobody advanced past second base, and only once did the Cardinals have two runners on in the same inning – the eighth, when Tighe Watson singled with one out and Zach Burton added a base hit with two outs.

Zaffiro got the call on the mound for the Cardinals with ace Tucker Alch unavailable because of injury. The lefty got through the first two innings unscathed before the Pioneers (44-5) got things going in the third. With two outs and the bases empty, right fielder Turner Hill, the leadoff batter, worked Zaffiro for a walk. He got a big jump and stole second even as Zaffiro was throwing over to first. Damian Yenzi followed with a second two-out walk, on a wild pitch which moved Hill over to third.

With runners on the corners, Yenzi stole second and a catcher’s throwing error brought Hill in for the first run. Drew Holderbach and Logan Vietmeier followed with back-to-back doubles, leaving Marietta with a 3-0 lead when the dust settled.

“There’s been a few times this year where we’ve done that,” said Brewer. Sometimes it’s just showing bunt, sometimes it’s obviously executing the bunt. Having a guy on first base changes a lot of things. You get a guy a little more comfortable out of the windup vs. the stretch, whether it’s one mile per hour, two miles per hour, it’s a big deal.

“If you show bunt, we obviously get the corners up a little bit, opens up the holes. There’s a lot of value in the bunting game and we’ve lived on it.”

“Other than that one inning, and then the inning where (Trent Castle) tripled down the right field line, I think we played pretty clean baseball,” said 37-year veteran Catholic U. coach Ross Natoli, whose team is in the Division III World Series for the first time. “But credit to Marietta, they’re a heck of a team and I think just played a little bit better than we did today.”

Meanwhile, Valentine came back out and kept getting ahead of hitters and keeping the Cardinal bats off balance.

“It’s a lot of fun (to play behind Trent),” said Holderbach. “Ball’s popping out of his hand great today. He’s working fast, throwing a lot of strikes. That’s what keeps the defense in it. It was huge to have him throwing strikes and commanding the zone the way he did.”

“I think he had a lot of sink to his ball<” said Catholic junior right fielder Ben Nardi. “He has a heavy fastball, but I think his sinker had a lot of run and came back a lot. He wasn’t missing spots very often. … He was a great pitcher; tip of the hat to him. I think throughout the year we haven’t really seen any lefties with that much sink.”

Valentine got the win to improve to 14-1, while Zaffiro fell to 3-3, allowing three runs in three innings pitched. Holderbach and Castle each went 2-for-4 with extra base hits, with Castle driving in two with his triple and Holderbach providing an RBI as well. Sam Mathews came on to retire all three batters he faced in a scoreless ninth, while Nick Marini pitched three scoreless to close things out for Catholic after having thrown just nine innings all season.

Catholic will face the loser of Salisbury and UW-Stevens Point in an elimination game at 10 a.m. CT on Saturday.