MARIETTA, Ohio - The top seeded Marietta College Pioneers reached the OAC Tournament Championship by way of a 15-1 win over the Heidelberg University Student Princes Friday (May 11) at Don Schaly Stadium. This will be the fifth straight year the Pioneers will appear in the Championship Game.

The win takes the Pioneers to 36-6 on the year. The loss drops the Student Princes' mark to 26-16 on the year.

Brian Gasser (9-2) picked up the win, on the hill, for Marietta. Gasser threw six innings of one run, seven hit baseball. Gasser walked one batter and fanned five Student Princes.

"Brian (Gasser) has been doing it for over three years," Marietta College head coach Brian Brewer said. "We're proud of him. He had great command of his fastball and other pitches."

In relief of Gasser, the bullpen trio of Logan Lewis, Evan Brockmeier and Kyle Lindquitst pitched three combined innings of no-hit baseball.

For Heidelberg, Ryan Minteer (4-3) was tagged with the loss. Minteer went four innings allowing two runs on for hits walking five and striking out two.

Marietta was the visiting team for the tournament game and struck first in the top of the third inning. Tim Saunders drew a one out walk, stole second and seconds later also swiped third base. Josh Ungerbuehler hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Saunders.

Heidelberg answered in the bottom of the inning with a run of their own. Joe Chiarappa reached on an infield single, moved to second on a fly ball and scored on a Ricardo Lizcano single to knot the game at 1-1.

Marietta added a run to snatch the lead in the fifth inning. Saunders again led off the inning, this time with a single, and was brought plate ward on an Aaron Hopper double to left-center field.  The Pioneers tacked on three more runs in the sixth frame. Jordan Grilliot reached on an error, advanced to second on a balk and was sacrificed to third by Kirby Becker. Then back-to-back extra base hits by Saunders and Hopper yielded two more Marietta College runs. The third run crossed the plate on a throwing error by the Heidelberg shortstop, which scored Brockmeier.

The Pioneers added five runs in the seventh inning and five more in the eighth inning to make the final margin. Saunders drove in three of the runs in the seventh with his fifth home run of the season.

Saunders tied a pair of OAC Tournament records with five hits and five runs scored. Saunders also drove in six runs for the Pioneers.

"Tim was Tim today," Brewer said. "He has been a great player all year."

Hopper drove in two runs and scored three times on the afternoon. Evan Brockmeier also plated two runs and scored three times on a 2-for-3 line.

Marietta College will play in the Championship Game at noon Saturday (May 12) at Don Schaly Stadium. Heidelberg will play the winner of the elimination game, between John Carroll and Mount Union, in the nightcap Friday evening.