No. 1 Marietta Sweeps Heidelberg

MARIETTA, Ohio—No. 1 Marietta College swept the Heidelberg University baseball team today in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader at Don Schaly Stadium in Marietta, Ohio. The Pioneers won the first game, 5-3, and took the nightcap by a 13-9 count.

A ground out by senior left fielder Ross Pruitt (Elletsville, Ind./Edgewood) in the top of the first inning scored sophomore second baseman Joe Chiarappa (Clinton/St. Vincent-St. Mary's), who led the game off with a triple, giving the Student Princes (16-13, 5-5 OAC) an early lead.

Marietta (22-4, 9-1 OAC) plated single runs in the first and second innings to move to a 2-1 lead.

Chiarappa scored his second run of the game in the third to tie the score, 2-2, on a sacrifice fly by freshman first baseman Eric Monroe (Chagrin Falls/Kenston).

In the fourth, junior right hander Tyler Fruhwirth (Beavercreek) retired two of the first three Pioneer hitters, but Marietta rallied for three runs and extended its lead to 5-2.

Senior shortstop Ricardo Lizcano (Toledo/Start) lined a run batted-in double in the fifth to cut the deficit to two, and freshman righty Ryan Minteer (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) relieved Fruhwirth with one out in the fifth and worked out of a jam to prevent the Pioneers from extending their lead, but Heidelberg could not muster a rally in the late innings to take game one.

Fruhwirth allowed all five runs (two earned) on nine hits and struck out a pair over 4.1 innings, but was tagged with the loss to fall to 4-3. Minteer surrendered two hits in 1.2 innings of relief.

Jordan Grilliot paced the Pioneer attack with a 3-for-3 performance, including a double, and scored two runs.

Brian Gasser allowed all three Student Prince runs on just three hits and earned the win to improve to 6-1. Kyle Lindquist pitched the final 2.0 innings, earning his fourth save.

In the second game, Marietta batted around in the first inning and jumped out to a 7-0 lead before junior righty Teddy Lowe (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) relieved sophomore starter Chris Thomas (Canton/Perry). Lowe retired two hitters without allowing any more runs to cross the plate and freshman righty Travis Gray (Markle, Ind./Norwell) took over mound duties to start the second.

Heidelberg scored in the fourth on a RBI double by Lizcano and again in the seventh as Pruitt grounded out, scoring junior catcher Jordan Martin (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) from third.

Marietta plated two runs in the fourth and rallied for four more in the fifth off sophomore righty Zach O'Driscoll (Hudson/Walsh Jesuit), who was making his season debut.

Chiarappa and Martin each had two hits in the nightcap, including a double by Chiarappa, his team-high 10th of the season.

Thomas lasted just 0.1 innings and suffered the loss to fall to 2-4. Gray and senior right hander Sly Nino (Willard) each pitched 3.0 innings of relief.

Four Pioneers had multi-hit outings in game two, led by Kirby Becker, who was 2-for-4 with three runs. Bryan Gregorich drove in three runs and scored another in a 1-for-4 performance.

Mike Mulvey allowed both Heidelberg runs, allowed seven hits and struck out three over 7.0 innings and earned the win to improve to 3-0. Luke Langdon worked the eighth and ninth for Marietta.

Heidelberg will return to Tiffin to host its first home contest in nearly two weeks Tuesday when it takes on OAC foe Baldwin-Wallace College in a doubleheader at Peaceful Valley.