CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Sam Mathews has been Marietta's go-to pitcher for the past three seasons.
 
However, coach Brian Brewer had never asked his All-American reliever to do what he did Saturday against Salisbury in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships at Perfect Game Field in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
 
Unfortunately for the Pioneers (44-6), Mathews' heroic effort wasn't enough and the Etta Express lost 7-5 in 11 innings. Now Marietta plays No. 12 Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 10 a.m. Sunday in a loser's bracket game.
 
Mathews, who took his first loss of the season and is now 5-1, entered the game with two outs in the fourth and the game tied at 4 and he induced Cameron Hyder to ground out to end the Seagulls' four-run rally.
 
After the two teams traded runs in the fifth inning, Mathews tossed five scoreless innings giving the Pioneers an opportunity in the ninth and 10th innings for a walk-off victory. But the Etta Express couldn't put together the late-inning heroics.
 
"I thought he was spectacular," Brewer said. "When he came off the field I told him I loved him to death and gave him a big hug. He did everything he could do and I'm super proud of everything he has done for me and this program."
 
Mathews had never thrown more than five innings in a game before Saturday. His 105 pitches is also a career-high.
 
Tiring and entering his seventh inning of work, Mathews got the first out of the inning and then Salisbury's bats came alive.
 
No. 9 hitter Luke Weddell ripped his second double of the game down the left-field line and it fired up the Seagulls (38-10). Lead-off hitter Cameron Hyder, who had been held hitless, looped a single to right. Marietta's Turner Hill, who the inning before gunned down a runner trying to stretch a single into a double, sailed his throw over catcher Logan Vietmeier. This allowed Weddell to score easily and Hyder advanced  to second.
 
Hyder later scored when Vietmeier tried to get Kavi Caster stealing second and his throw was low.
 
"We try to play this game 90 feet at a time. It's 90 feet here and 90 feet there, and it's just a couple little things that we didn't execute and they did," Brewer said. "I don't like losing at all, but that was fun to a part of. I'm proud of our effort and proud of our guys and the way we competed."
 
Marietta was able to get to Salisbury starter Benji Thalheimer, who lasted four innings.
 
Hill, who went 4 for 5 with three runs, led off the game with a double and scored on Brett Carson's sacrifice fly to center.
 
The Pioneers added three more runs in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead.
 
Damian Yenzi drove home Drew Wilkinson, who led off the inning with a double, with a double of his own down the left-field line. Hill, who had a bunt single, advanced to third. Hill scored on Zach Boyd's ground out and Yenzi scored on another Carson sacrifice fly.
 
The lead looked solid as Marietta starter Isaac Danford pitched three scoreless innings. But Salisbury took a more aggressive approach in the fourth inning and evened things up.
 
"He was getting ahead and then throwing his curveball. He had a really good curveball," Hyder said. "Usually it takes our lineup one time through until we feel comfortable with a pitcher. We started being more aggressive and good things started to happen."
 
Caster led off the fourth with a walk and Stephen Rice belted a shot that ate up Wilkinson, Marietta's shortstop. Caster and Rice advanced on a sacrifice and Salisbury got its first run on a Danford wild pitch.
 
Danford was close to getting out of the inning after giving up only one run when he struck out Scott Cameron for the second out. But Zach Adams followed with a two-run single and Weddell drove in the fourth run, which forced Brewer to make the change on the mound.
 
"(Danford) was just up a bit. He wasn't commanding his fastball down. He wasn't throwing downhill. He's had those moments," Brewer said. "I think a lot of people tend to forget over the course of the last few weeks he's turned into a starter. He's been a reliever for 3 ½ years. It's a sign for us when he begins elevating."
 
Brewer expected the game to be a dogfight, and he was most impressed with Salisbury's relievers — Brandon Epstein and Brock Hilligoss — who combined to allow four hits and no runs over the final seven innings.
 
"Their kids did a really good job," Brewer said. "You're not going to have a lot of big innings this time of year. I expected this to be a one- or two-run game. You have to give all the credit to Salisbury. They have the heart of a champion. As long as they remain in the tournament they are the team to beat. I felt that way coming in and I think it was reflected in their performance today."
 
Hilligoss tossed the final 3 2/3 innings to improve to 4-1.
 
"I think he was mixing his pitches well — mixing in and out. It was pretty effective," Hill said.
 
Salisbury coach Troy Brohawn is confident in his deep pitching staff, so what Epstein and Hilligoss did Saturday wasn't a surprise.
 
"I can't say enough about what Brandon Epstein and Brock Hilligoss did out of the bullpen, putting up zeros and allowing us to chip away and get back into it. Those guys did a phenomenal job," Brohawn said. "They pound the strike zone. They execute the pitches. We talk about pitching with our staff that you have to own two and have a third one that complements. Today they owned both of their pitches and both of them had a third one that complemented. They were all around the zone."
 
Salisbury, the defending national champs, have now won seven consecutive games in Cedar Rapids dating back to last year.
 
"What a game. What an evenly matched game," he said. "From the fifth on it was very stressful. Every pitch mattered. Every great baserunning and every bad baserunning mattered. The resiliency of these guys is what we showed. When we went down 4-0 there are a lot of teams that things would have gotten a lot worse."