KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina — The No. 3 ranked Marietta College baseball team swept a pair of games on Saturday (Feb. 26) at the D3 Showcase beating Keystone College 7-0 and Washington and Lee University 17-0.
The Pioneers improve to 2-1 on the season. Marietta is off until next weekend when the Etta Express makes its annual trip to Florida. Marietta opens play in the Snowbird Classic on Sunday (March 6) with an 11 a.m. game against Lebanon Valley College.
Against Keystone, the Pioneers broke open a scoreless tie with four runs in the fourth inning and three more in the sixth.
Zach Boyd got hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth inning. A single from Brett Carson and another hit by pitch for Alex Page loaded the bases. A strikeout and a force out at the plate had Keystone one out from getting through the frame unscathed. But Turner Hill delivered a two-run single and then Damian Yenzi smacked a two-run double for a 4-0 Pioneer lead.
With the offense finally putting runs on the board, Marietta starting pitcher Trent Valentine kept the Keystone bats quiet. Valentine (1-0) worked 6.0 shutout innings giving up five hits, one walk and striking out four.
Sam Mathews picked up his first save of the season with 3.0 innings of relief. Mathews allowed one hit and one walk and struck out three.
Hill drove in two more runs in the sixth with a single up the middle. Page was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a single from Matthew Busby. Busby stole second and then both runners scored on Hill's base hit. Hill eventually stole second and came around to score on a Keystone error accounting for the final score, 7-0.
Hill finished 3-for-5 with four runs batted in. Yenzi had a double and drove in two runs.
The Pioneers struck for three runs in the top of the first inning against Washington and Lee and never looked back as the Etta Express rolled to a 17-0 victory. Marietta added seven runs in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
Hill, Drew Holderbach and Trent Castle each had three hits to lead the Pioneer attack. Logan Vietmeier hit a three-run home run in Marietta's fourth inning rally. Yenzi and Cole Francis had two hits apiece.
Carson (1-0) started on the mound and worked 5.0 shutout innings. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out three. Isaac Danford and Jacob Rocky each three 1.0 inning of relief and Ty Davis pitched the final 2.0 innings.