LEXINGTON, S.C. — What started out as a pitcher's duel turned into a slugfest as No. 20 Marietta College knocked off No. 17 SUNY Cortland, 12-6, Thursday (March 9) afternoon at the Lexington County Baseball Stadium. The Pioneers improve to 6-4 on the season, while the Red Dragons fall to 5-4 overall.
Cortland scored single runs in the first and third innings to take the early lead. Chris Bonacci led off the first with a single through the left side of the infield. Following a strikeout, Dylan Mackenzie doubled the wall in rightfield scoring Bonacci. In the third, Matthew Krafft singles, stole second and came around to score on an RBI single from Matt Bruno.
The Etta Express evened the score with a two-run blast over the leftfield wall by Ty Davis. Brett Carson led off with a single and scored when Davis deposited Will McCarthy's 1-1 pitch over the fence for his second home run of the season.
The score remained tied, 2-2, heading into the sixth inning as both starting pitchers turned in strong performances.
Marietta rallied for six runs in the top of the sixth. Alex Richter worked a leadoff walk and then Carson single to center. Ben Kaplin moved both runners up with a sac bunt. Cortland elected to intentionally walk Davis loading the bases.
The Red Dragons went to the bullpen and Nick Partsch took over on the mound. Cole Yeager greeted Partsch with an RBI single to right scoring Richter. Braden Shepherd walked driving in Carson.
Following another Cortland pitching change, CJ Elias walked plating Davis and Kail Hill drove in Yeager with a sac fly. The final two runs scored on a two-run single off the bat of Nick Bonnizzio.
Cortland answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame. The Red Dragons loaded the bases with two outs for Krafft who delivered a two-run double down the left field line. Dylan Mackenzie smacked a two-run single to right cutting the Pioneer lead to 8-6.
Marietta scored four insurance runs in the eighth. Hill reached on a two-out single and Bonnizzio followed with a single through the left side of the infield. Richter stepped to the plate and crushed the first pitch he saw way over the wall in right field for a three-run homer. Carson delivered his fourth base hit of the game and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 12-6.
Trent Valentine (1-0) started and threw 5.1 innings for the win. He allowed four runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out two. Gabe Torres worked 0.2 of an inning and was charged with two runs on two hits with a walk. Hill earned his second save of the season with 3.0 shutout innings of relief. He walked two and struck out four.
Will McCarthy started for Cortland lasted 4.1 innings allowing two runs on five hits. Zack Zarrilli (0-1) took the loss after pitching 1.0 inning and giving up three runs on one hit and two walks. Three other Red Dragons toed the rubber in the game.
Carson finished 4-for-5. Davis had three hits including the home run, while Bonnizzio and Hill had two hits each. Richter had the three-run home run.
Marietta and Cortland will play the second game of a three-game series on Friday (March 10). Game time has been moved to 3:00 p.m. due to forecasted late morning rain.