Pioneers win OAC tourney crown | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by Jay W. Bennett
The Marietta College baseball team huddles prior to first pitch during Saturday’s Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship game against Baldwin Wallace at Don and Sue Schaly Field. Marietta won, 16-6.

MARIETTA — Marietta College used a nine-run bottom of the first to help skipper Brian Brewer’s club repeat as Ohio Athletic Conference baseball champions following a 16-6 victory Saturday afternoon against Baldwin Wallace at Pioneer Park.

The Yellow Jackets (32-11), who will hope to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Division III tournament, had the lead in the top of the first after scoring a run against Brett Carson. The MC lefty, who worked 4 1-3 innings but didn’t factor into the decision, walked leadoff man Vincent Capolupo and he scored on Drew Wilson’s sacrifice fly.

Baldwin Wallace needed three pitchers to make it through the first, which saw a dozen Pioneers bat and collect nine hits. Turner Hill got it started with an opposite-field leadoff double and OAC MVP Damian Yenzi followed with a rocketed shot off losing pitcher Aidan Bennett. Zach Boyd’s bunt single loaded the bases for cleanup hitter Logan Vietmeier and the catcher delivered a run-scoring single to right to begin the onslaught. Drew Holberbach reached on a fielder’s choice RBI and Carson followed with an RBI single to right. Scott Kirchhoff was able to retire Trent Castle following an RBI squeeze, but he was lifted after allowing consecutive RBI singles to Alex Richter and Drew Wilkinson and issuing a free pass to Hill. Yenzi, who joined Boyd and Richter with three hits, welcomed Matt Sabin to the bump with a two-run single to right. After stealing second, Yenzi crossed for the 9-1 advantage thanks to Boyd’s single back up the box.

“We’re always down for a big inning,” admitted Yenzi. “We’ve done it all year long and we’re just glad that we could do it in a game like this. That was our whole game plan. Get out to a good start, get a big lead and we’re just trying to take it from there.”

The third baseman added of being tabbed as the MVP “it’s an honor, especially from all the guys who have gotten it before me. It’s just an honor to have my name up there.

“It was all for my guys over there. This is just a stepping stone to where we want to be. I’m just glad that I could do whatever I could to help the team win.”

Holberbach doubled off the fence in left to open the second and scored on Castle’s one-hopper off the wall to make it 10-1.

MC (38-5) was able to add three more in the third to go up by a dozen. Yenzi and Boyd had back-to-back singles and Vietmeier sacrificed. That led to a Holderbach sac fly RBI, which was followed by a Carson RBI three-bagger and a Castle RBI single to left.

Carson was chased in the fifth after allowing four runs. Ryan Guggenheim led off with a single and Andrew Parker doubled. A sac fly by Sean Kolenich followed and after a walk to Cooper Harestad, Capolupo delivered a run-scoring single to center. The Pioneers turned to Kail Hill, who allowed a pair of inherited runners to score on Luke Vonderhaar’s two-run double, but the righty went the final 4 2-3 innings to earn the win. He allowed five hits, an earned run, walked none and had two punchouts.

“Kail’s been good,” said coach Brewer. “The last week and a half to two weeks he’s really been throwing well. He hasn’t had a lot of opportunities in game, but he’s thrown pretty well in game and he has thrown really well in his side work and in our scrimmages. I’m excited to see him come out and throw as well as he did.”

The hosts got a run back in the fifth when Castle walked and later scored on a double-steal of home with Richter. The Pioneers made it 16-5 after adding two more runs in the sixth. Hill and Yenzi both walked and scored thanks to RBI hits by Vietmeier and Holderbach.

“Despite the fact we gave up that run in the top of the first, I thought we really put a good mark up and answered quickly, which obviously is important all the time but especially in big games like this,” added Brewer, who watched the Jackets score once in the ninth when Capolupo tripled in Harestad. “I thought we had a great approach offensively and it was a really good answer.

“We’re obviously going to take some time to enjoy this then we’ll figure out what’s next. It’s a real credit to the kids. There’s a lot of expectations here, right, when you come to play baseball and we certainly don’t want to overlook this because we do it a lot here, but there’s a lot of places that never do it. Super excited, very talented group. Just a great group of young men and families that I’m glad they are on my side.”

Joining Yenzi on the all-OAC tournament team were Hill, who had his 29th stolen base, Boyd, Wilkinson and Carson as well as BW’s Vonderhaar, Guggenheim, Capolupo and pitcher Dawson Gabe. Mount Union was represented by Andrew Witte, Walker Marlowe and Dwayne Sumler. Luke Barber and Zach Franz were selected from Otterbein.

Marietta College will learn about its postseason future on Monday afternoon.

Contact Jay Bennett at [email protected]