CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The seventh-ranked and fourth-seeded Salisbury University baseball team climbed out of an early four-run hole and moved within one game of the finals at the 2022 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, edging the second-ranked and top-seeded Marietta Pioneers, 7-5, in 11 innings on Saturday afternoon at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

BOX SCORE
PRESS CONFERENCE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Sea Gulls once again faced an early deficit as Marietta struck the first blow in the bottom of the first inning. Turner Hill led off with a double, then Damian Yenzi singled to put men on the corners. Two batters later Brett Carson lifted a sac fly into center, scoring Hill to put MC up 1-0.
• The Pioneers struck again in the third. Drew Wilkinson doubled to lead off, then Hill bunted his way aboard to put men on the corners. Yenzi blasted a double to left to score Wilkinson, and Zach Boyd hit into an RBI groundout to plate Hill. Yenzi then came home on another sac fly by Carson, pushing the Marietta advantage to 4-0.
• Undaunted, Salisbury erupted at the plate and erased the whole deficit in the fourth. Kavi Caster led off with a walk, then Stephen Rice legged out an infield hit. Sky Rahill advanced the runners on a sac bunt, then Caster scampered home on a wild pitch to get SU on the board at 4-1.
• Jacob Ference was hit by a pitch, then after a strikeout and a steal of second by Ference, Zach Adams poked one through the left side for a two-run single. Luke Weddell followed by cracking a double to right center, and Adams raced all the way around from first to slide in with the run to tie it at 4-4.
• The teams traded a run apiece in the fifth. In the top of the frame, Patrick Campbell walked and scored on two groundouts and a Rahill RBI single to make it 5-4 SU. The Pioneers drew even in the home fifth on a Hill single, passed ball, sac bunt and Boyd sac fly to knot it up at 5-5.
• Each side dug in for a battle of the bullpens over the next five innings. Sam Matthews kept the Sea Gulls off the board through the end of the 10th, while Brandon Epstein and Brock Hilligoss combined to keep the team with the top batting average in Division III at bay.
• Salisbury left runners on base in the sixth through ninth innings, including a pair in the ninth. In the 10th, Cameron banged a two-out single off the right field wall, but Hill unleashed a perfect throw to retire him trying to stretch it into a double.
• In the bottom of the 10th, Carson worked a one-out walk to get the winning run on base, but Drew Holderbach hit a soft liner to first and Rahill doubled off Carson for an inning-ending unassisted double play.
• The Sea Gulls finally forced Matthews to blink in the top of the 11th. Weddell sliced a one-out double into the left field corner, then Cameron Hyder lifted a soft liner over second and into shallow right for a base hit. Weddell raced around to score the go-ahead run to make it 6-5, and Hyder ended up at second on the throw.
• Hyder advanced to third on a groundout, then Caster was intentionally walked to bring Rice to the plate. Caster broke for second and drew a throw from the plate, but Logan Vietmeier's throw was short and ricocheted between a safe Caster and the second baseman, allowing Hyder to score the insurance run that made it 7-5 SU.
• Spotted a two-run lead, Hilligoss locked in and retired the final three Pioneers in a row, including back-to-back strikeouts of Trent Castle and Alex Richter to put the game on ice.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Cameron Hyder finished 1-for-5 with the game-winning RBI single in the top of the 11th and the insurance run later in the inning.
• Luke Weddell finished 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and the game-winning run off Hyder's single.
• Kavi Caster went 2-for-3 with a run and three walks, including two intentional free passes, while Stephen Rice batted 2-for-5 and scored a run.
• Zach Adams continued to produce from the DH position, going 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.
• Brock Hilligoss (4-1) picked up the win in relief by pitching the final 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out two. Over his last two outings Hilligoss has tossed 5.2 scoreless frames against two of the top offenses in the nation in Wooster and Marietta.
• Benji Thalheimer settled down after a rocky start and gave the Sea Gulls four-plus solid innings of work, giving up five runs on seven hits with no walks and one strikeout.
• Brandon Epstein provided the bridge from Thalheimer to Hilligoss with 3.1 scoreless innings of three-hit ball. He walked just one and punched out one.
• This was the first extra-inning win for the Sea Gulls this season. SU had gone 0-3 in extra-inning games until Saturday.
• Salisbury has now won seven straight games at the Division III Baseball Championship dating back to last season, tying the record for consecutive College World Series wins set by Montclair State in 2000-01.
• With their 38th win the Sea Gulls tie for the second-most single-season victories in program history. Only the SU teams from 2008 (41-4) and 2009 (38-8) have as many wins as the 2022 squad.

MARIETTA GAME NOTES

• Turner Hill set the tone for the Pioneer offense all day, finishing 4-for-5 with a double and three runs scored.
• Damian Yenzi went 2-for-4 with a double, run and RBI.
• Brett Carson finished 2-for-2 with a pair of sac flies, while Zach Boyd drove in two runs on a sac fly and a groundout.
• Sam Matthews (5-1) suffered his first defeat of the year despite a valiant relief effort. The consensus First-Team All-American allowed three runs (two earned) on nine hits over 7.1 innings, walking three and striking out three on 105 pitches.
• Isaac Danford lasted 3.2 innings in a no-decision, surrendering four runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts, including five whiffs in the first two frames.

UP NEXT

• The Sea Gulls are now one win away from a return trip to the final round of the NCAA Championship.
• Salisbury will play on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. EDT (4:30 p.m. CDT) against the winner of Sunday's elimination game between Marietta and Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which will be played at 11 a.m. EDT (10 a.m. CDT).
• If the Sea Gulls win their Sunday game they will advance to the championship series. A loss would force an elimination game to be played on Monday.

Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Conference for men's and women's swimming. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, and dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on-and-off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 22 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 189 conference championships and 41 Academic All-Americans.

To learn more about the tradition of excellence with Sea Gull Athletics, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or on social media @SUSeaGulls.