MAY 17, 2006
KING’S FALLS TO
MARIETTA IN NCAA OPENER, 11-2
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/baseball/06regional/
Editorial Note: On May 30, Marietta College won the 2006
NCAA Division III National Championship, going unbeaten at the
College World Series in Wisconsin.
TERRE HAUTE, IN --
Third-seeded Marietta College pushed across five runs in the third
inning, then added three more in the fourth as the Pioneers posted a
11-2 victory over sixth-seeded King’s College in the opening round
of the NCAA Division III National Tournament Mid-East Regional
Wednesday at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Ind.
With the win,
Marietta improved to 36-10 on the year while the Monarchs fell to
25-15. The game began with a 20-minute delay as a sudden hail storm
dropped marble-size ice pellets on the field for nearly 10 minutes.
Terre Haute has endured extremely wet conditions with 10 straight
days of rain.
Marietta would
push across the game’s first run in the bottom half of the first
inning when Tony Piconke and Jarrod Klausman would draw back-to-back
walks. Justin Steranka would then deliver a one-out RBI single to
left field to get the Pioneers on the board.
In the third inning, Marietta would break through with five runs.
Piconke would reach base on a leadoff error by the Monarchs.
Klausman would then follow with a single up the middle before
Steranka’s added an infield single to load the bases with no outs.
Joe Litke then came through with an RBI single to right field to
give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead. Ryan Belanger would deliver a
three-run triple, and then scored on a single up the middle by Lee
Guerrera to push the score to 6-0. Hendricks.
Piconke would lead
off the bottom of the fourth with an infield single and two batters
later Steranka delivered a two-run home run to right center to give
the Pioneers a 8-0 lead. Litke would then draw a walk and Beebe
followed with a single to left. Belanger would reach base on a
King’s error, allowing Litke to score, upping the lead to 9-0.
King’s would finally reach the scoreboard in the seventh when Mike
Venarchick belted a solo home run over the right centerfield fence
to cut the lead to 9-1. Venarchick’s round-tripper holds the
distinction of being the Monarchs’ first-ever home run in NCAA
tournament history.
After Marietta
added a run in the bottom half of the seventh, King’s would score
again in the eighth when Budzyn singled and later touched home on a
single by Caleb Calarco to cut the lead to 10-2.
The Pioneers would
close out the scoring with another run in the eighth to bring the
final margin of victory to 11-2.
The Monarchs had
early scoring chances in the contest but were unable to capitalize
on their opportunities.
In the first
inning, Jon Venarchick led off the game with a single to right
field. Caleb Calarco, however, would hit into a double play to clear
the bases and Jeremy Faust would then ground out to end the inning.
King’s would then
threaten in the second when Nick Sorino drilled a one-out double to
right centerfield, but Marietta pitcher Mike Eisenberg would strike
out Matt Livoy and Josh Faust to thwart the Monarch scoring chance.
The Monarchs would
miss out on another scoring opportunity in the fourth when Calarco
was hit by a pitch and Jeremy Faust drew a walk to lead off the
inning. But Mike Venarchick grounded into a double play, allowing
Calarco advanced to third. Sorino then lined out to shortstop to end
the inning.
King’s starting
pitcher Paul Giovannoli took the loss for the Monarchs, allowing
nine runs, six that were earned, on 11 base hits in four innings.
Tim Granquist pitched three innings of relief allowing one run on
one hit, while John McNichol threw one inning, yielding one run on
three hits.
Budzyn led King’s six-hit outing with a pair of singles as the
Monarchs managed six base hits. Eisenberg, a 6-foot-7 junior,
improved his pitching mark to 11-1 on the year for Marietta,
throwing five innings and allowing three base hits while striking
out three batters, upping his season total to 109 strikeouts in 91
innings. Eisenberg
entered the game with an impressive 1.29 ERA.
Marietta totaled 15 base hits, led by Steranka who was a 4-for-5
with three RBI while Klausman, Litke, and Beebe added two hits each.
King’s will play
second-seeded Otterbein College Thursday at 9:30 p.m. in the second
game of the double-elimination event. Otterbein dropped a 7-3
verdict to seventh-seeded Elizabethtown in its opening contest.
