Written by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
The Etta Express hosted Berry College in their home opener this February. What was scheduled to be two games turned into one as game two was suspended and rescheduled halfway through to March. Yesterday, the Marietta College Pioneers wrapped up their series versus the Berry College Vikings and lost 1-2 overall. This put the Pioneers at a 1-4 start to the season.
Berry game into the series 6-1 overall after opening the season with a six-game winning streak. They swept the Pioneers in 2025 winning at home 10-2 and 11-8. Marietta entered the contest 0-2 after
Austin Ziance got his second start of the season in game one on February 21st. He pithced a total of eight innings and only allowed one run and four hits. The Pioneers came out of the gate early. After clearly the sides, Marietta’s leadoff man Bradley Jones homered. three straight singles later in the first increased the Pioneer lead to 5-0. The Pios continued to extend their lead for the remainder of the game an ultimately took game one 13-1.
Game two kicked off in Marietta with Luke Czarnomski getting the start. Shane Rothlisberger got the Pios out to an early lead with a double for an RBI in the first. However, the Vikings responded with a series of hits in the second to claim the lead 2-1, which a sac-fly in the third extended the game to 3-1.
In the fourth inning the Pios hit for three doubles which helped them to reclaim the lead 7-3. In the fifth a Viking sac-fly and an error by Marietta’s Diego Decello led to Berry closing the gap to 7-5.
The game was suspended after this and was picked back up on March 7th in Berry, Georgia. Now at home the tides shifted as Berry scored three straight unearned runs in the sixth to take back the lead 8-7. After a few scoreless innings, the Vikings put the nail in the coffin with a solo shot home run in the ninth to end the game with a 9-7 loss for the Marietta College Pioneers.
Czarnowski started once again in game three and proved effective in his time leading the Pios to a 5-1 lead. In the first, two straight hit by pitches by Berry pitcher Jackson Collet led to a scoring opportunity for Marietta’s Michael Ciavolella. Ciavolella doubled, and later advanced to third by a wild pitch. He was driven in by Drew McKenna who was later driven in by Decello who was brought in by Jameson Embrescia.
Two singles in the second led to Berry scoring their first run, however Marietta kept their lead until the 7th. The Pioneers held a 6-5 lead as the Vikings have been chipping away. Three straight hits led to the Vikings coming back to take a 7-6 lead, which was extended to 8-6 in the bottom of the 8th. In the top of the ninth Marietta managed to put get a runner in scoring position, but a fly out and a strike out later, the game ended with another Pioneer loss.
Next up for the Pioneers they travel to Lexington, South Carolina to face four different teams across five games over spring break. Then they’ll head back to Berry to face Bellhaven University and have a rematch vs SUNY Cortland.
Marietta’s lone home game of the month comes versus Washington & Jefferson on Thursday March 19th. The game at Don and Sue Schaly Field at Pioneer Park is set to start at 5:00 p.m. To keep up with the Etta Express visit their webpage at pioneers.marietta.edu/sports/baseball.
