PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Pitching ruled the day as No. 17 La Roche College swept a nonconference doubleheader from No. 25 Marietta College Monday (May 7) afternoon in the final regular season games for both teams.

The Redhawks came from behind to beat Marietta, 2-1, in extra innings in game one. La Roche completed the sweep with a 3-1 victory in the nightcap improving to 31-8-1 on the season. The Etta Express heads into the postseason with a 26-14 overall record.

Scheduled as a seven-inning game, the Pioneers broke a scoreless tie with a run in the top of seventh inning. Damian Yenzi lined a 0-2 mistake off the wall in the left-center field for a lead off triple.

La Roche was forced to bring the infield in on the grass for Brady Cottom. Cottom grounded right to the first baseman for the first out. Pioneer skipper Brian Brewer called on senior Connor Golden to pinch-hit and he delivered a single through the right side of the infield scoring Yenzi.

In the bottom of the inning, Marietta turned to senior closer Michael Barnabei to save the game for starter Dalton Wiggins. Wiggins threw 6.0 shutout innings allowing just two base hits. He walked four and struck out two.

Freshman Jay Novak led off for the Redhawks and smacked a solo home run to left-center tying the game, 1-1.

Marietta got a lead off double from Geoff Snyder in the top of the eighth but couldn't manufacture a run. The Pioneers went down in order in the ninth as well.

Just like Novak in the seventh, Shane Roebuck led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off home run to leftfield.

Barnabei (4-1) took the loss. He threw 2.0 innings and allowed two runs on two hits with a pair of strikeouts.

Alex Tesla started for the Redhawks and pitched 5.0 shutout innings. He allowed three hits and struck out four. Jake Seymour allowed one run on three hits in 3.0 innings of work, while Shane Emrich (3-0) picked up the win with a perfect ninth inning striking out two.

Barnabei was 2-for-3 with a double for the Pioneers. Snyder had a double and Yenzi a triple.

In the second game, La Roche plated a run in the bottom of the first inning and almost made it stand up for the win. Marietta got its first hit of the game in the sixth inning.

Chris Petrucci reached on a one-out double and came around to score on a double down the leftfield line by Mike Hale. That made it 3-1 as La Roche added two in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Ethan Lewis (3-0) got the win after pitching 5.0 innings of hitless, shutout baseball. He walked three and struck out four. Cam Smith worked 1.0 inning and allowed one run on two hits. Emerich notched his sixth save of the season throwing the seventh inning. He walked two and struck out two.

Austin Eaton (1-4) started and got the loss for Marietta. He threw 5.1 innings and gave up three runs, two earned, on four hits. Eaton walked two and struck out two. Kordell Antill retired both batters he faced in the sixth inning.

Marietta opens play in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday (May 10) against Baldwin Wallace University. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.