SALISBURY SHOCKER: Marietta College falls in Saturday afternoon World Series contest

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --There may not be a more difficult team in the country to hold scoreless over a stretch of six innings than Marietta College, but that's exactly what defending national champion Salisbury did Saturday.

Tied at 5-all after five innings in Division III College World Series action, Sea Gulls relievers Brandon Epstein and Brock Hilligoss held the Pioneers in check long enough for their offense to come through with two runs in the top of the 11th for a 7-5 victory.

Marietta (44-6) is now one loss from elimination and will play Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 10 a.m. CDT/11 a.m. EDT Sunday. The winner of that will have to beat Salisbury (38-10) twice in order to advance to the best-of-three championship series.

"It stinks to lose, but that was fun to be a part of," said Marietta head coach Brian Brewer, whose club suffered its first loss of the 2022 postseason. "You've got to give all the credit in the world to Salisbury. They've got the heart of a champion. As long as they remain in this tournament, they're the team to beat. We felt that way coming in and I think that was reflective in their performance. They were really good."

Epstein and Hilligoss (4-1) combined for seven innings of scoreless relief. Epstein took over for starter Benji Thalheimer in the fifth with the game tied at 5-all.

He allowed just three hits in 3 1-3 scoreless innings of relief before Hilligoss took over with one out in the eight. Hilligoss added 3 2-3 scoreless innings with just one hit allowed.

"I can't say enough about what Brandon Epstein and Brock Hilligoss did out of the bullpen," said Salisbury head coach Troy Brohawn.

"Putting up zeroes and allowing us to chip away to get back in it, number one, and then holding them there for us to scratch a couple across in the 11th. Those guys did a phenomenal job."

Speaking of strong bullpen performances, Marietta College All-American reliever Sam Mathews (5-1)threw a career-high 7 1-3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts. It was an admirable effort, but he was tagged with the loss as Salisbury plated a pair of runs in the 11th.

Luke Weddell's one-out double, followed by Cameron Hyder's single brought in the go-ahead run. Later, with runners on first and third and two outs, Kavi Caster stole second base, and an error on the throw to second allowed Hyder to score and make it 7-5.

Hilligoss worked a perfect 11th, including two punchouts, to secure the win.

"I knew if I could come in and fill it up and try to shut those guys down for a few innings, eventually our offense would come around," the Sea Gulls' lefty said.

Before the extra-inning theatrics ever took place, Salisbury had to rally from a 4-0 deficit.

Marietta plated a run in the first on Brett Carson's sacrifice fly and added three in the third thanks to runs-batted-in by Damian Yenzi, Zach Boyd and another from Carson.

Marietta starter Isaac Danford held Salisbury scoreless through three innings and even fanned the side in the third, but started to lose command in the fourth.

"He was just up a little bit (in the fourth)," Brewer said. "He wasn't commanding the fastball down. He wasn't throwing downhill. He's had those moments -- I think a lot of people tend to forget that just over the course of the last three weeks, Isaac's turned into a starter. He's been a reliever for three-and-a-half years. So it's just a sign for us when he starts elevating a little bit."

The result was a four-run inning for the Sea Gulls, who got a two-run single from Zach Adams and a game-tying RBI double from Weddell, who was 3 for 5 in the game with a pair of two-baggers.

"I think the first time around the lineup we were taking some fastballs and getting into pitcher's counts and then allowing (Danford) to throw his best pitch which looked like his breaking ball, instead of attacking the fastball early," Brohawn said. "We were allowing him to spin it when he wanted to spin it instead of taking it away early. I told the guys, 'Let's attack him, not let him attack us.'"

Mathews entered the game with two outs in the fourth and ended the Sea Gulls' rally, but they did scratch across another run in the fifth thanks to Sky Rahill's RBI single.

The Pioneers got that one right back when Boyd's sac fly plated Turner Hill, who led off the inning with a single. Hill was 4 for 5 in the game and scored three runs.

"I was just trying to see the ball deeper and hit hard line drives backside," Hill said. "I was able to stick to that approach and I was just fighting as hard as I could to get on base any way that I could."

Hill also had the two defensive plays of the game -- his diving catch robbed Jacob Ference of extra bases in the eighth, and he threw out Scott Cameron at second after a line drive to the right field wall.

"I knew I was going to play it off the wall and it kicked hard right to me," Hill said. "I was able to pick it up and make a throw quickly. It felt like that was pretty big, and (I was) hoping we could score in the bottom and win the ballgame."

However, Marietta went down in order in the 10th and 11th as it could never figure out Hilligoss.

"Their kids did a really good job," Brewer said. "You're not going to have a lot of big innings this time of year. It's the World Series and it's a winner's bracket game.

"I expected this to be a one- or two-run game. I really did. We knew it was going to come down to 90 feet here, 90 feet there. They executed some things, and there were just a couple things where, man, if the ball's just a little bit this way, a little bit that way, it changes the whole outcome of the game."

Mathews threw 105 pitches, his most of the season. The 7 1-3 innings also were a career-high. He had thrown five innings on four other occasions this season.

"All year, it's been a race to Sam," Brewer said. "I know how much it's eating him inside right now because of the competitor he is.

"Super proud of our effort, super proud of our guys and the way we competed."

Though their backs are against the wall, Brewer isn't worried about his guys coming ready to play Sunday.

"They're an experienced enough group, an old enough group, (and) they understand what's at stake," he said. "I think that'll be a good motivator for them.

"First thing I'm going to tell them on the bus is we've got to do everything we can to make sure we keep this group together as long as we can. I'm confident our guys will respond well (Sunday)."

Salisbury now awaits the winner of Sunday's Marietta-Stevens Point matchup. The winner of that game will play the Sea Gulls at 5:30 p.m. CDT/6:30 p.m. EDT Sunday.

"What an evenly-matched game," Brohawn said. "From the fifth on, it was very stressful at the plate. Every pitch mattered, every base-running play, good or bad, mattered. The resiliency these guys continue to show -- when we went down 4-0, there are a lot of teams that would've folded right there, and it could've got a hell of a lot worse. These guys dug in."

Jordan Holland can be reached at jholland@mariettatimes.com.