Marietta, OH — Marietta High wins wild one over Warren, 12-6 LOCAL SPORTS APR 9, 2022 JORDAN HOLLAND Sports Editor [email protected] Photo by Jordan Holland Marietta’s Jonah Emery delivers a pitch during a high school baseball game against Warren Friday at Don and Sue Schaly Field at Pioneer Park. Marietta won, 12-6. Warren recorded a triple play in the third inning of Friday’s baseball game against rival Marietta at Pioneer Park. That, however, was about the only defensive highlight of the night for the Warriors as they committed six errors. The Tigers took advantage and claimed a 12-6 victory. “We hit the ball, and one error for us,” said Marietta head coach Josh McKitrick. “Early in the season we’ve had a lot of errors in the field. Our pitchers have a done a great job as they did tonight. We’re getting a little better defensively. We’re starting to pick it up.” Jonah Emery started on the mound for Marietta and worked 5 1/3 innings. The senior right-hander battled some control issues, walking six batters but limited the damage enough to earn the win. He fanned six batters before giving way to Cam Goeller with one out in the sixth. Goeller entered with a 9-6 lead and recorded the final five outs to pick up the save. He walked one and struck out two. “All in all, he threw strikes and made the guys put the ball in play,” McKitrick said. “That’s what we do. Our pitchers have been taught to throw strikes, let them hit the ball, and we’ve got to field it, but we’re going to play the percentages that they’re going to hit it at us. (Emery) did a great job.” Malachi Morton went 3 for 3 at the plate and led off the bottom of the first with a double to right field. He later scored on Kevin Wallace’s single to center to make it 1-0. The Tigers added another run in the second. Ethan Clark led off with a two-bagger. He was on third with one out when Emery lined out to Warren starting pitcher Caleb Davis. Davis threw to third for a potential double play, but it bounced into left field for Warren’s first error and allowed Clark to score. Warren bounced back in the third, plating three runs to take the lead. Trent Taylor had an RBI single, Hunter Grimm followed with a run-scoring double and Taylor later scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-2. Marietta threatened in the bottom of the third, putting runners on first and second with no outs. With the Tigers attempting a double steal, Goeller hit a soft liner back to Caleb Davis, who threw to Hunter Vincent at first for a forceout. Vincent then threw to Jacob Sealey for another forceout at second. “We were doing a hit and run with one strike,” McKitrick said. “Once it got to two strikes, the two seniors on the bases should know the play’s off. Little things like that, we’ve still got to get through to them. That could’ve been a big momentum change. We could’ve dropped our heads right there but we battled back and I’m proud of them for that.” The Warriors added a run in the fourth when Hayden Pelletier’s single plated Sealey, but Marietta got one back in the bottom half when Weston Davis’ drove in Wallace on a single. Warren went back up by two in the top of the fifth when Taylor, who led off the inning with a single, scored from third on J.T. Rice’s sacrifice fly. The bottom of the fifth is where things unraveled for the Warriors. With two outs and runners on second and third, Wallace hit a slow bouncer to second but beat the throw to first. Morton scored easily from third, but Bryson Chavez was right on his tail and scored from second tie the game at 5. Peyton Cox lined a single to right that was misplayed, allowing Wallace to come all the way around and score to make it 6-5. James Wakefield then hit a routine flyball to center field that was dropped, plating Cox from third. Weston Davis bounced one back to to the mound, but the throw to first sailed into right field and plated Wakefield. Davis then scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-5. Warren cut it to 9-6 in the sixth when Vincent’s infield single plated Sealey, but Goeller came on in relief and escaped the two-out, one-on jam. Marietta plated three more runs in the bottom of the sixth — Jordan Straw’s double off the left field wall and RBI singles by Chavez and Goeller highlighted the rally — to extend the lead to 12-6. Warren got a couple base-runners in the seventh but Goeller again worked out of trouble to secure the victory. Davis took the loss for Warren, going 4 2/3 innings with two walks and three punchouts. Pelletier pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief. Morton started the game at catcher for MHS before moving to shortstop in the top of the fifth when Clark hurt his shoulder diving for a ball. Morton made a couple key defensive plays at short. “He’s a senior that’s played,” McKitrick said. “He knows what it takes to win. He moves all around for us and he does a great job.” Marietta finished with 11 hits to Warren’s eight. Both teams are now 2-4 on the season. Jordan Holland can be reached at [email protected].