TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – There is something about the month of May and Marietta College baseball. The Etta Express was firing on all cylinders Thursday (May 16) night in the winner's bracket of the 2013 NCAA Mideast Regional Tournament at Art Nehf Field on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
"Our guys did a great job tonight in all phases of the game," head coach Brian Brewer said. "We beat a good team tonight and beat them soundly."
Marietta (31-12 overall) battered Thomas More College (30-15) by the score of 16-1. The win moves the Pioneers into a matchup with No. 1 seed Manchester University (37-5-1), a 4-2 winner over Washington and Jefferson College Thursday afternoon, on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
"Tomorrow will be a battle between two great baseball teams," Brewer said. "Manchester has a very good team and we will have to be at our best to beat them."
Thursday marked the third time the Pioneers and the Saints have met in the NCAA Tournament. Marietta has won each meeting by lopsided scores. The Pioneers defeated Thomas More 13-2 in 2000 and 16-4 in 2010.
Marietta jumped all over Thomas More right from the start. Jordan Grilliot led off the top of the first with a beautiful base hit bunt and quickly stole second base. Evan Brockmeier singled through the right side of the infield moving Grilliot to third.
Chris Winpigler followed with a shot into the gap in left-center scoring Grilliot and Brockmeier. After a sac bunt from Alex Toth, Mitch Geers grounded to the second baseman who tried to get Winpigler at home. The throw bounced off of Winpigler's helmet allowing Geers to go to second. Tim McCoy doubled scoring Geers and giving the Pioneers a 4-0 lead.
"I'm seeing the ball really well right now and just trying to get my pitch and take good hacks early in the count," Winpigler said. "With guys in scoring position I'm just trying to drive the ball."
The Etta Express continued to roll adding five more runs in the second. Marietta sent nine hitters to the plate in the inning collecting five base hits. Two costly Thomas More errors led to four of the runs being unearned.
Zach Bukiewicz started the rally with a base hit bunt and then Grilliot lined a single to center. Brockmeier hit a sharp grounder to third who threw the ball away at second base on the front end of a possible double play.
Winpigler plated Buckiewicz with a sac fly and moved Grilliot to third. Knowing Brockmeier is a threat to steal, the Saints tried to pick Brockmeier off but the throw got away allowing Grilliot to scamper home.
Toth reached on a single through the right side and then Aaron Hopper cleared the bases with a triple off the wall in center field. McCoy picked up his second RBI with a single to center making it 9-0.
Winpigler picked up his fourth and fifth RBIs with a double in the third. Grilliot reached on a one-out single and then back-to-back doubles from Brockmeier and Winpigler moved the Pioneer lead to 11-0.
While the Pioneers bats were busy in the top half of each inning, senior Mike Mulvey was mowing down the Thomas More hitters in the home half of each frame. Mulvey (8-3) worked 7.0 innings and allowed just one run on four base hits. He walked one and struck out five.
"We knew coming in that Thomas More was a talented, aggressive team," Mulvey said. "With an aggressive team like that, the most important pitch is strike one and I think me and Al (Toth) did a good job of establishing that all game long."
The Saints got on the board in the sixth inning. Mulvey issued a lead off walk to Brad Popham who came around to score on a double by Jason Handley.
Senior Grant Lewis (5-3) started on the mound for the Saints and was roughed up for nine runs, five earned, on nine hits in 2.0 innings of work. He struck out two. Logan Miller threw 6.0 innings and was tagged for seven runs on 12 hits.
In a night full of bright spots for the Etta Express, one of the brightest was the appearance of senior Luke Langdon on the mound. Langdon, who has missed his entire senior season with a shoulder injury, entered the game to a standing ovation and pitched a perfect eighth innings.
Freshman Kyle Kiser made his collegiate debut as well throwing the ninth.
Marietta added a run in the fifth and four more in the eight to put the nail in Thomas More's coffin. All told, Marietta banged out 22 base hits, including seven doubles and a triple.
Grilliot went a perfect 5-for-5 and scored three runs. Brockmeier finished 4-for-6 with a double and three runs scored, while Winpigler was 3-for-5 with two doubles and six runs batted in.
McCoy added three hits in four at bats with a pair of doubles and four RBI. Toth collected two hits.
Fans can follow the Pioneers' quest for a third straight national championship at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter.