Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
MARIETTA, Ohio. (Mar. 11, 2025) – In a game that saw the lead change three times in the final two innings, the North Central College baseball team dropped another heartbreaking game due to a late-inning rally by Marietta College in an 11-10 loss Tuesday evening at Pioneer Park.
John Michael Scumaci led off the game by getting hit by a pitch before Caleb Coberley brought him around with an RBI double. Extending his on-base streak to 39 games, Jackson Bland was also hit by a pitch with one out in the inning. Coberley scored on a passed ball, giving the Cardinals a 2-0 advantage. North Central starter Andrew Bollman retired the side in order in the bottom of the first inning.
Justin Lang singled up the middle to open the second inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Scumaci. After Lang moved to third base on a Coberley single, Austin Wienke plated Lang with a sacrifice fly, adding to the North Central lead.
Henry Saul continued his hot start to the season by launching a home run to left field in the third inning. In the fifth, Austin Wienke, Peyton Burgh, and Saul all reached base to load the bases for left fielder AJ Kutcher, who drew an RBI walk. The Pioneers scored their first run of the game on an RBI groundout, making the score 5-1 after four innings.
Marietta chipped away at the Cardinal lead, adding a run in the fifth and another in the second. Camden Loomis relieved Bollman in the seventh, working out of a jam to strand two Pioneers on the basepaths and hold the score at 6-3.
The Pioneers worked out of a leadoff double from Wienke before taking the lead in the eighth, scoring four runs on three hits and three walks to go ahead by one, 7-6.
North Central answered in the top of the ninth as Vincent Merlo doubled to begin the half inning. Yuhki Yamada pinch ran for Merlo and moved to third on a bunt single from Lang. Scumaci was intentionally walked before Coberley hit a bases-clearing triple to put the Cardinals on top, 9-7. Bland used an RBI double to plate Coberley, extending the lead to four.
The Pioneers loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth as an RBI walk sparked the Marietta comeback. Following a sacrifice fly which brought the Pioneers within one, a two-run triple from Cadem Hall scored Diego DeCello and Cooper Fiehrer who barely beat the relay throw home to take an 11-10 win over North Central.
Cobereley led all batters with four RBI on the day on his three hits. Kutcher drove in two while Scumaci scored twice. Bollma tossed six innings, allowing just three runs, two earned and striking out three. Nolan King suffered the loss with Forest Havanis picking up the win for Marietta.
The Cardinals and Pioneers conclude their two-game series tomorrow for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch inside Pioneer Park.
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