TIFFIN, Ohio – The fifth-nationally ranked and third-seeded Baldwin Wallace University baseball team was defeated by second-seeded Marietta College, 7-5, in the opening game of the OAC Tournament on Peacefully Valley Field.
BW (31-9) will face fourth-seeded and cross-town rival John Carroll University (24-15) in an elimination game on Friday, May 8 at 12:30 p.m. Marietta (25-15) advances to winner's bracket to face No. 9 and top-seeded Heidelberg University (30-10) on Friday, May 8 at 9:30 a.m. The loser of Heidelberg and Marietta will play the winner of John Carroll and BW in another elimination game on Friday at 4:00 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the first and one each in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings. BW tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh. The Pioneers scored their first run on a solo homerun in the second and took a 3-2 when it scored two in the third. Marietta put the game away with four runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the 7-4 lead.
The Yellow Jackets scored five runs on nine hits and were led by sophomore second baseman Cole Nieto (Brunswick/St. Ignatius), who is this week's OAC Hitter of the Week, and junior pitcher/designated hitter Mark Zimmerman (Akron/Green) with two hits each. Nieto went 2-for-5 with a run scored while Zimmerman went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and one run batted-in (RBI).
On the mound, five BW pitchers allowed seven runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and nine walks.
The OAC Tournament Championship is slated for Saturday, May 9 at 12 p.m. If a seventh and deciding game is necessary, that game will also be played on Saturday at 3 p.m.
The winner of the OAC Tournament receives an automatic berth in the 2015 NCAA Division III National Tournament.
