Weather forced a brutal schedule upon the John Carroll baseball team, putting back-to-back doubleheaders on consecutive days against the #4 and #11 ranked teams in the country.

After getting swept by #4 ranked Heidelberg on the road Tuesday, JCU needed a ray of hope early on in its home match up with #11 ranked Marietta.

The ray of hope came in the form of a scintillating seven-run second inning in the opening game, igniting a spark that helped the Blue Streaks earn a split with the Pioneers.

Box Scores:  Game One  /  Game Two

After the two starting pitchers began the game with five strikeouts combined, its appeared matters would be resolved through a pitcher's duel. 

That notion would be eradicated one inning later. With the score tied at 0-0, Tom Hickey (Orland Park, IL, Brother Rice) commenced the frame with an innocuous single to left field. John Hastings (Pittsburgh, PA, Fox Chapel) followed with a base on balls, One out later, Mike Carbo (Coral Springs, FL, J.P. Taravella) singled to load the bases off Pioneers ace Austin Blaski.

The first run came across when John Skomra (Buffalo, NY, Canisius) drew a bases loaded walk, and then two more baserunners came home when Tim O'Brien (Chicago, IL, Loyola Academy) singled to center field.

Four runs were still to come -- one on a bases loaded walk to Ryan Pacyga (Forest Park, IL, Nazareth Academy), two on a fielder's choice by Bryan Robinett (Loveland, OH, Cincinnati Moeller) that was aided by a fielding error, and the final run was tallied after a balk.

When the dust settled, JCU held a 7-0 lead.

John Moonan (Rochester, NY, McQuaid Jesuit) and Robbie Bellusci (Chicago, Hinsdale Central) made it stand up. Moonan worked five innings and allowed one run on five hits. Bellusci worked the final two, allowing no runs on three hits.

The second game saw Marietta jump out with three runs in the first inning, only to have John Carroll tie up the contest at 3-3 in the fifth.  But the Pioneers scored once in the sixth and twice more in the eighth to pull away.

O'Brien, Skomra, Hickey and Brian Benander (Richmond Heights, OH, Cleveland St. Ignatius) each had three hits over the course of the doubleheader.

John Carroll and Marietta began the day tied for second and as a result of their split, remain tied for second two games behind Heidelberg. JCU is now 21-12 overall and 9-5 in the OAC, while Marietta moves to 25-9 and 9-5 in league play.