Box Score The John Carroll University baseball team needed a knockout punch with Marietta breathing down the necks of the Blue Streaks. Enter Tyler Gentile.
 
The Blue Streaks' third baseman drilled a 3-run homer to left center in the ninth inning to put John Carroll by four.

"The homer was huge," said Chet Lauer. "Marietta had the homer in the ninth so it would've been a tied game there."
 
With its 11-8 win over No. 23/25 Marietta, John Carroll advances to championship Saturday. John Carroll will play at noon in its first appearance in the championship game since 1998, Marc Thibeault's senior year. The win also marked the first time since 1998 in which JCU won multiple games at the OAC Tournament.
 
"It is exciting," said Thibeault. "This is why we do what we do in fall ball and how we structure things in our winter practices. It's about how we structure our schedule. I told our players before the game, 'No matter what the situation we are prepared for it with how we go about our business.' In these first two games we've jumped out in the first inning and gained the momentum. We did a good job of trying to keep it."
 
John Carroll improved to 23-14 with the win while Marietta fell to 29-13.
 
Using a simple approach to jump out early John Carroll blasted Marietta lefty Jason Byers in the first inning just like the Blue Streaks did to Heidelberg starter Chris Thomas on Thursday.
 
The middle of the lineup came through blasting Byers all over the park. Spagna starting the hit parade with a 1-out, 2-run double to the right field corner. The senior would score on Tyler Gentile's double. JCU kept the pressure up with David Crowley hammered the Blue and Gold's third straight double to the right field fence.
 
Said Thibeault, "We put together some good at bats. Two days in a row we had a good approach. We knew what their game plan was. We faced Byers before and fed off of a little bit of energy. Byers was struggling in the first inning and then settled down. That kid is elite and is a great player. To be able to get six runs and chase him by the sixth inning was a big emotional lift."
 
It was Marietta's turn to jump on junior right Andrew Doring in the bottom of the third inning. The Pioneers sent 10 hitters to the plate tying the score up at four. With the bases loaded Doring was able to get Tyler Packanik to pop out to Bobby Sabatino to end the inning.
 
The Etta Express took the lead in the fourth inning with Tim McCoy coming in to score on a Doring balk.
 
"We got down by a run," said Thibeault. "Marietta earns everything they get. We had a couple of wild pitches and a balk. That's part of the game, all of those different things that sometimes happen to us or not. We were able to compete when we were down by one."
 
John Carroll answered right back scoring two runs in the top of the fifth. Playing small ball Mitchell Herringshaw and Robby Cifelli reached on back-to-back bunts. Lauer drove the pair in to put the Blue Streaks up 6-5 with a single.
 
"That's where you just manufacture," said Thibeualt on the back-to-back bunts. "We were down a run and want to put people in scoring position. If you get people moving around a little bit and capitalize on some mistakes; that gives us a little bit of life. The pitcher then squeezes it a little bit and attacks the middle of the zone instead of throwing his pitch."
 
Lauer came through again one inning later with a 2-out seeing-eye single up the middle to stake JCU to a 3-run lead in the sixth.
 
"It was going back-and-forth," said Lauer. "Mitch and Robby both got on with bunts which was huge. We then loaded the bases and I got to two strikes. I was trying to keep it up the middle and luckily it got over the pitcher's head and we got two runs in."
 
Marietta struck back with two runs in the seventh inning to close the game to 8-7. In danger of surrendering the lead reliever Kevin Rosinski came on to finish the seventh and responded with a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
 
Down to its final ups, the Pioneers looked for its second straight walkoff. Third baseman Ryan Hanahan hit a solo homer in the ninth inning to make it an 11-8 game. Rosinski recovered getting the next Pioneer hitter to tap a weak grounder to Spagna to finish the game.
 
"If you recall with what happened last year with Rosinski down here we told him, 'Its round two and you'll be better,'" said Thibeault. "I think that helped him. He knew it. He pitched with a little chip on his shoulder and it showed. Normally, he's a 1-inning guy and we just rode him. It's a feel thing and our pitching coach (Andy Weeks) made a good call. It was a shutdown effort by Kevin."
 
Doring improved to 3-2 with the win. The junior fired six innings only allowing five hits. Rosinski picked up the save with 2 1/3 innings of 1-hit relief while striking out two.  Gentile and Lauer led the charge at the plate. The duo finished with four hits and seven RBIs.
 
Updates on who John Carroll will play will be posted to www.jcusports.com later tonight after the elimination games are concluded.