Johnny Appleseed Baseball Club: JABC Alumni 'At The Next Level'

Thursday, March 27
JABC Alumni Reports From Around The Area

The Mansfield News Journal Reports that:

Ohio State baseball coach Bob Todd can't keep Galion product J.B. Shuck out of the lineup.

Shuck ran his record to 3-1 Sunday as the Buckeyes stopped Dartmouth 14-9 in Bradenton, Fla. The left-hander gave up four hits and four earned runs in five innings of work, striking out seven.

Shuck has worked 22 innings this spring, striking out 21 with a 4.09 earned run average. Opponents are hitting .192 against him.

When he's not on the hill, Shuck moonlights as a designated hitter and center fielder. He's hitting .432 with two doubles, a triple and six runs batted in.

Junior right-hander Matt Schlarb (Lexington) has a save in five appearances for the Ohio University baseball team. Schlarb has five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings pitched for the Bobcats.

From the Marietta Web Site: TJ Knowlton is an alumni of JABC.

 Marietta splits OAC twinbill with visiting John Carroll
Pioneers win game one 1-0 but fall in game two 10-1

April 5, 2008
MARIETTA, Ohio — Junior right-hander T.J. Knowlton (Greenwich/Mapleton) pitched his third straight complete game, a three-hit gem, to lead the Marietta College baseball team to a 1-0 victory over visiting John Carroll University in game one Saturday (April 5) afternoon at Don Schaly Stadium. The Blue Streaks, however, bounced back with a 10-1 win in game two to salvage the split. Marietta moved to 8-13 overall and 5-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). John Carroll improved to 13-6, 4-2 in league play.

Knowlton, who improved to 5-1, retired the first six hitters before allowing harmless singles in the third, fourth and fifth frames. Only one Blue Streak reached second base in the game, which lasted just 92 minutes. Knowlton walked one and fanned four.

Paul O’Donnell (3-1) was the tough-luck loser. He allowed one run on four hits in five-plus innings. O’Donnell walked three and struck out three. Brandon Kurtz came into get the final three outs for John Carroll.

Marietta scored its only run in the fourth. Junior Justin Merryman (New Philadelphia) led off with a walk and then stole second. Junior Cameron Cimino (Boardman) followed with another walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Senior Dom Winters (Washington, Pa.) then came through with a run-scoring single up the middle, plating Merryman.

John Carroll jumped out to an early lead in the second game against Merryman, scoring eight runs on eight hits in three-plus innings. The Blue Streaks plated two in the first and one in the second before exploding for five in the fourth to knock the left-hander out of the game. Sophomore Joe Pitrone (Highland Heights/Mayfield) relieved Merryman and added to the damage with a throwing error that allowed two of the runs to score. Sophomore catcher Danny Jones (Lima/Shawnee) finally put an end to the inning by picking off a runner and throwing out another trying to steal, both at second base.

A solo home run by Adam Sockel extended John Carroll’s lead to 9-0 after five innings. It was Sockel’s team-leading fourth of the year.

Marietta finally got on the board in the sixth. Senior Tony Piconke (Clinton Township, Mich./Clintondale) led off with a walk. Cimino then doubled to right field with one out, moving Piconke to third. Freshman Casey Levens (Dayton/Centerville) came through with a two-out single to drive in Piconke and make the score 9-1 after six innings.

The Blue Streaks added their tenth and final run in the eighth off sophomore Mark Jackson (Warren/Champion).

Tony Evanko (4-0) earned the win after allowing one run on five hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out one. Merryman (1-3) took the loss. Marietta freshman Craig McGee (Goffstown, N.H.) saw his first varsity action and threw a scoreless ninth.

Cimino finished with two of Marietta’s seven hits in the loss. John Carroll collected 14 hits in the win. Blue Streaks Ryan Lewis and Christopher Cairo both went 3-for-5 in the game.

Marietta is back in action on Sunday when it takes on Wittenberg in a junior varsity/varsity doubleheader. First pitch of the JV game will be at 1 p.m., while the varsity game will began at 4 p.m. The action can be heard live locally in Marietta on WMOA-AM 1490 and over the Internet at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/onlinebroadcasts.html.

 

Knowlton's complete game leads Marietta past Hardin-Simmons 8-2
Etta Express uses seven-run seventh to open Abilene Classic with a win

March 10, 2008
ABILENE, Texas — Junior TJ Knowlton (Greenwich/Mapleton) led the ninth-ranked Marietta College baseball team to its second win of the season Monday (March 10) night on day one of the Abilene Classic. The hard-throwing right-hander pitched the complete game in an 8-2 victory over Hardin-Simmons University. The Pioneers improved to 2-3, while the Cowboys fell to 9-6.

The game was moved from HSU’s home field to Walt Driggers Field on the campus of McMurry University because the Cowboys’ field was not playable after the storm that moved through Abilene late last night. It was also pushed back a couple of hours so that there could be a game played before it.

Once things got under way, the Cowboys jumped on Knowlton for two runs in the third inning to take the first lead of the game. Andrew Rehling, the nine-hitter, drew a one-out walk. Then, Kevin Ellison reached after being hit by a pitch. Brian Weeks followed with a double down the right field line to drive in Rehling, and Ryan Stepp added a sacrifice fly to plate Ellison.

Senior Nathan Copeland held the Etta Express scoreless through six innings, allowing just one hit. That changed in the top of the seventh. Senior center fielder Tony Piconke (Clinton Township, Mich./Clintondale) led off with a sliding double to right center, his first hit of the early season. Two batters later, sophomore designated hitter Matt DeSico (Euclid) reached on an error by the first baseman; Piconke moved up to third on the play. A wild pitch helped DeSico get to second and another allowed Piconke to scoot home with Marietta’s first run of the night; DeSico also advanced to third.

Copeland followed with a strikeout and a pair of walks to load the bases with two outs. Sophomore left fielder Britt Meador (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) then delivered a big two-run single through the right side to score DeSico and senior third baseman Dom Winters (Washington, Pa.) and give Marietta its first lead of the evening, 3-2. Freshman right fielder Sean Mahley (Cambridge) drew a walk to reload the bases and keep the inning alive. Junior first baseman Justin Merryman (New Philadelphia) added to the damage with a bases-clearing double to right center, which extended the Pioneers’ lead to 6-2 and knocked Copeland out of the game.

Freshman Eric Roten replaced Copeland on the hill and walked Piconke before giving up a RBI single to sophomore catcher Chris Beatty (Seven Fields, Pa./Hampton), who got his first start of the spring. The hit also produced Marietta’s seventh run of the frame and gave it a 7-2 lead at the seventh-inning stretch.

Knowlton returned from his extended time on the bench to retire three straight and keep the momentum on Marietta’s side. Merryman extended the Pioneers’ lead to 8-2 with a RBI single to right, which plated Winters, who walked earlier in the frame. Knowlton then held the Cowboys off the board the rest of the way, and freshman second baseman Chris Dowdell (North Ridgeville/Walsh Jesuit) closed the game with a diving, over-the-shoulder catch to secure the 8-2 victory.

Knowlton improved to 2-0 after scattering two runs on six hits. He walked three and fanned a pair. Copeland, who fell to 0-1, was charged with seven unearned runs on four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked six.

Merryman (2-for-4 with four RBI), Beatty (2-for-5 with one RBI) and Meador (2-for-4 with two RBI) paced Marietta’s offense, which finished with seven hits. Reagan Dixon was the only player to get two hits off Knowlton for Hardin-Simmons, who finished with six hits and had two errors in the loss.

Marietta is back in action Tuesday (March 11) when it plays two more games at the three-day Abilene Classic. The Pioneers will take on No. 18 Texas-Tyler at 3 p.m. and then battle Texas-Dallas at 7 p.m. The UT-Tyler game will be played at Hardin-Simmons, while the UT-Dallas game is slated for McMurry. The action can be heard live in Marietta on WMOA-AM 1490 and over the Internet at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/onlinebroadcasts.html.