Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The task was quite daunting from the start, but John Carroll proved it was ready for the challenge Sunday at Don Schaly Stadium.

The unheralded Blue Streaks faced the #1 ranked team in Division III in the midst of defending its 2011 NCAA championship and came away with a split that very nearly was a sweep.

JCU allowed two unearned runs that extended the opener to ten innings before the host Pioneers prevailed, 3-2. In the second game, John Carroll nearly posted a shutout en route to an 8-2 victory.

Box Scores:  Game One  /  Game Two

After sweeping Otterbein and Muskingum in consecutive league doubleheaders, John Carroll was hoping the momentum gained would not be lost in a weekend in Marietta against a team that began the week ranked #1 in the nation in both the D3basebll.com/NCBWA Top 25 and the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA Division III Poll.

Riding the arm of Jimmy Spagna, JCU held a lead late into the opening game. Marietta had scored first with a single run in the fourth, but the Blue Streaks answered with a pair of runs in the fifth. RBI hits by Mitchell Herringshaw and Tom Hickey put John Carroll in front, 2-1.

That lead held until the bottom of the sixth, when the tying run for Marietta came across without the benefit of a hit. Two errors proved costly, and the game went extras.

John Carroll's best chance to take the lead back was in the top of the eighth, but the Streaks stranded two runners.

Marietta won in the 10th when a lead off walk came around to score on a two-out single by Tim Saunders. Alex Toth came home from third to extend Marietta College's winning streak to 11 games.

Marietta won despite being outhit by a 9-4 margin.

The Blue Streaks proved unflappable, as they knocked out Brian Gasser, the 2011 Kent Tekulve OAC Pitcher of the Year, just two batters into the fourth inning. The big blow was a two out two run RBI single by Dan Potter that scored Mark Huddle and Tyler Gerling to make the score 5-0 in the top of the fourth.

JCU put the finishing touches on the win with consecutive RBI doubles by Hickey, Aaron Miller and Ryan Konsler.

The offense was in support of outstanding pitching once again, this time by Anthony Libertini, who worked the first five innings and allowed zero runs on four hits.

The split puts John Carroll's record at 16-14 overall and 8-6 (4th) in the OAC. Marietta's record is now 25-5 overall and 12-2 (1st) in the OAC