ALLIANCE, Ohio — Senior center fielder Tim McCoy tied the Marietta College and Ohio Athletic Conference record with three doubles in the Pioneers' 18-8 win over the University of Mount Union Saturday (March 26) afternoon. The Etta Express opened OAC play with a doubleheader sweep of the Purple Raiders winning the first game 6-5.

McCoy had five hits in the nitecap, one short of the school record, and scored five times. He became the 32nd Pioneers to collect three doubles in a single game. The last was All-American Ryan Hanahan last season against Denison.

The Pioneer bats were hot all day smacking 12 hits in game one and 21 in game two. The 21 base hits was a season high for the Express and the most since recording 23 hits against Heidelberg in the OAC Tournament last year.

Sophomore shortstop Chris Petrucci had a great day at the plate as well. He was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI in the first game and followed that with a 4-for-5 with two more doubles and four RBI in the second game.

Petrucci's RBI double in the top of the ninth inning broke a 5-5 tie and gave Marietta the victory in the first game. Michael Barnabei led off with a single and was sacrificed into scoring position by McCoy. Petrucci followed with a double into the right center gap driving in Barnabei.

David Stover (4-0) got the win in relief of Christian Herstine Stover threw 2.1 innings of one-hit relief for the win. Herstine started and pitched 6.2 innings. He gave up five runs on 13 hits.

Sam Clarke started for the Purple Raider and tossed eight solid innings. He allowed five runs on 10 hits. Gino Ceriani (1-2) took the loss allowing one run on one hit in 0.1 innings.

In addition to Petrucci, Doug Bennett had three hits, including a double, in the first game and drove in one run. Eric White was 2-for-3 with an RBI as well.

In the nitecap, Marietta slowly built a 4-0 lead through the first four innings scoring twice in the first and then adding one in the third and fourth innings. The Express became a runaway train in the fifth inning scoring eight runs and sending 12 batters to the plate.

McCoy got the ball rolling with a lead off double, one of seven Pioneer hits in the inning. One Purple Raider error aided the rally as seven of the runs were unearned. Petrucci would bat twice in the inning and drive in three runs. Brandon Papp had a pair of RBIs and White, Barnabei and McCoy each knocked in one.

Mount Union answered with six runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth off of Marietta starter Tommy Crowl. Crowl (1-2) got out of the inning to record his first win of the season. He was charged with six runs on 11 hits in five innings of work. Crowl struck out six.

Kordell Antill and Mitch Mcnabb each threw in relief for the Pioneers. Antill pitched three innings and gave up two unearned runs in the eighth inning. McNabb threw the ninth inning.

Kyle Toma (2-2) started and got the loss for Mount Union. He allowed seven runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings of work. Three other Purple Raiders toed the rubber as Mount Union struggled to get the Pioneers out.

Marietta added two runs in seventh and four more in the eighth.

White banged out four hits in the second game including a double. Joey Begany finished 3-for-5 with four RBI and a double.  Connor Golden and Papp each drove in two runs.

The Pioneers host No. 16 Frostburg State University in their home opener at Schaly Stadium on Tuesday (March 29). First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.