BEREA, Ohio — No. 12 ranked Marietta College fell one game short of claiming the 2023 Ohio Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament Championship Saturday (May 13) afternoon. The Pioneers defeated John Carroll 6-3 in game one forcing a winner-take-all seventh game. The Blue Streaks bounced back to beat Marietta 8-4 to win the championship.
 
Marietta is 34-11 overall and will have to wait until Monday to find out if the Pioneers received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. Ranked No. 1 in the region, odds are in the Pioneers' favor. The selections will be announced at noon on Monday. John Carroll improved to 28-14 overall and earned the OAC's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament.
 
Junior transfer Gabe Torres was the story of the first game today. Trailing 2-1 in just the second inning, Marietta head coach Brian Brewer went to the bullpen and brough in Torres who had pitched less than 11 innings all season.
 
Torres (1-0) retired the first five hitters he faced and went on to finish the game securing his first career win. Torres threw 7.1 innings and gave up one run on six hits. He walked two and struck out four. The righthander held JCU scoreless over the last five innings.
 
Nick Bonnizzio led off the bottom of the first with a double down the right field line. He would score three batters later when Ty Davis lined a single up the middle.
 
John Carroll plated two runs in the top of the second taking a 2-1 lead. Michael Persichetti and Joe Olsavsky each had RBi singles in the inning. The Blue Streaks tied the game, 3-3, in the fourth when Logan LaMere doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and score on a sac fly.
 
The Etta Express answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame for a 6-3 lead. Matthew Busby reached on a one-out walk. Following a fly out, Alex Richter singled and Brett Carson walked to load the bases for Davis.
 
John Carroll went to the bullpen brining in Sylvan Wiley to replace starter Jon Ambro. Davis greeted Wiley with a bases-clearing double to the wall in left center.
 
Ambro (4-4) was tagged with the loss after giving up six runs on four hits in 3.2 innings. He walked three and struck out three. Wiley allowed no runs on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 3.2 innings, while Samuel Basso worked the final two outs for the Blue Streaks.
 
Davis finished 2-for-4 with a double and four of Marietta's six runs batted in. Bonnizzio had two hits, including a double, and one RBI.
 
John Carroll scored six runs in the top of the second inning of game two while the Blue Streak pitchers held the Pioneer bats in check all game. Four of those six runs were unearned due to a misplayed ground ball by the Pioneers. JCU added insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
 
Marietta plated two runs in the seventh and two in the ninth. Davis had an RBI single and Cole Rieman drove in a run with a ground ball in the seventh. Richter led off the ninth with a solo home run to right field, while Matthew Green knocked in the final run with a single.
 
Cole Yeager (0-1) started on the mound and gave up six runs, two earned, on six hits in 1.2 innings. Jacob Rocky, Jared Bees, Braden Shepherd and Forrest Havanis each threw in relief.
 
Maxwell Schumaker started for the Blue Streaks and worked 4.2 innings allowing no runs on three hits. Henry Darrow (4-3) got the win with 1.2 innings of relief. He gave up two runs on two hits. Garrett Siegel pitched 2.1 innings allowing two runs on three hits. Olsavsky picked up his first save of the season striking out the last batter of the game.
 
Carson and Davis each had two hits for Marietta.