It’s been two decades since Marietta College’s “Etta Express” has deposited a baseball national championship title in the institution’s trophy case.

But the wait for the program’s fourth national Division III baseball crown is over after Marietta completed an undefeated run through the double-elimination bracket on May 30.

Led by the pitching of Mike Eisenberg and the slugging of Justin Steranka, who hit two home runs in the championship game, the Pioneers downed Wheaton (Massachusetts), 7-2, at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Marietta, which also won national titles in 1981, 1983 and 1986, joined Eastern Connecticut State for the most Division III baseball crowns.

Living up to the high standards set by previous teams has been a constant battle for the Pioneers. Coach Brian Brewer, a 1993 graduate of Marietta, knew firsthand about the expectations that come with playing in the program. In his first two seasons, Brewer guided the Pioneers to a 63-21-1 record and two regular-season Ohio Athletic Conference championships.

This spring, Marietta, 43-11, needed an at-large invitation to play in the Division III championship, and it made the most of the opportunity.

“This is an unbelievable day for Marietta College baseball,” said the third-year head coach said after making his first trip to postseason play. “Honestly, we are not only excited but relieved. It has been 20 years since we last won a national title and people outside the MC baseball fraternity were beginning to doubt us. This thing’s been a long time coming, and a lot of people have expected it for a lot of years.”

With the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth, sophomore right fielder Tony Piconke put the Pioneers in front with a two-run homer.

Steranka, a senior third baseman, added a three-run shot to give the Pioneers a 5-0 advantage in the bottom of the fifth. The Pioneers’ clean-up hitter added another two-run homer, his ninth of the season, in the sixth to give his club a 7-0 lead.

While the offense was putting up runs, Eisenberg limited Wheaton to one hit through the first six innings.

The Lyons, 42-10, finally scratched across two runs against Eisenberg on run-scoring singles by Pat O’Conner and Brandon Leonard in the seventh.

Eisenberg went eight innings and recorded 12 strikeouts en route to his 13th win of the season.

Senior Mike DeMark pitched the ninth inning to wrap up the championship-game victory.

Eisenberg and Steranka were named co-most outstanding players of the tournament.

“Normally, when (Eisenberg) is on the mound — this has been the case all year — we don’t need to put up a lot of runs,” Steranka said. “When we can put up seven, we feel pretty good as a team that we can win most of the time. What better way to come out than in a national championship game, to put up an offensive display like that?”

Regionals

At St. Louis — Mount St. Joseph’s 7, Carthage 6; Webster 15, Millsaps 1; Aurora 9, Washington-St. Louis 3; Millsaps 13, Mount St. Joseph’s 5; Aurora 5, Carthage 4;  Aurora 11, Mount St. Joseph’s 10; Aurora 8, Millsaps 6, Aurora 12, Millsaps 11.

At Terre Haute, Indiana — Manchester 10, Adrian 5; Elizabethtown 7, Otterbein 3; Marietta 11, King’s (Pa.) 2; Adrian 3, Elizabethtown 2; Marietta 10, Manchester 9; Otterbein 4, Adrian 3; Otterbein 13, Manchester 7; Otterbein 4, Marietta 1; Marietta 8, Otterbein 7.

At Boyertown, Pennsylvania — Frank. & Marsh. 14, Gwynedd-Mercy 1; Frostburg St. 6, Montclair St. 2; Kean 6, Alvernia 5; TCNJ 3, Frank. & Marsh. 0; Frostburg St. 3, Gwynedd-Mercy 2; TCNJ 3, Kean 1; Monclair St. 7, Frostburg St. 2; Montclair St. 7, Kean 0; Montclair St. 2, TCNJ 1; Montclair St. 5, TCNJ 1.

At Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin — St. Scholastica 4, Wis.-Stevens Point 3; St. Olaf 17, Dominican 8; Coe 5, St. Thomas (Minn.) 4; Ripon 14, St. Scholastica 8; Ripon 7, St. Olaf 4; Wis.-Stevens Point 6, St. Thomas (Minn.) 2; Wis.-Stevens Point 11; St. Olaf 4; Wis.-Stevens Point 7, Ripon 4; Wis.-Stevens Point 6, Ripon 4.

At Rocky Mount, North Carolina — Va. Wesleyan 8, Salisbury 3; N.C. Wesleyan 7, Emory 3; Bridgewater St. 4, Rowan 2; N.C. Wesleyan 7, Bridgewater St. 5; Rowan 9, Salisbury 5; Va. Wesleyan 5, Bridgewater St. 2; N.C. Wesleyan 9, Va. Wesleyan 5; Rowan 2, N.C. Wesleyan 0; N.C. Wesleyan 4, Rowan 2.

At Orange, California — George Fox 10, Redlands 3, Trinity (Tex.) 11, Texas Lutheran 4; Chapman 7, Cal St. East Bay 2; Texas Lutheran 7, Cal St. East Bay 4; George Fox 11, Trinity (Tex.) 5; Texas Lutheran 3, Chapman 1; Chapman 4, Texas Lutheran 3.

At Harwich, Massachusetts — Salem St. 8, Southern Me. 5; St. Joseph’s (Me.) 9, Bowdoin 7; Western N.E. 14, Middlebury 2; Wheaton (Mass.) 5, Salem St. 2; Wheaton (Mass.) 6, Western N.E. 0; Southern Me. 12, Middlebury 10; Southern Me. 6, Western N.E. 3; Wheaton (Mass.) 16, Southern Me. 5.

At Auburn, New York — Eastern Conn. St. 4, St. Lawrence 3; Ithaca 7, Endicott 3; Rensselaer 14, Centenary (N.J.) 2; Cortland St. 9, Eastern Conn. St. 0; St. Lawrence 12, Rensselaer 4, Cortland St. 8, Ithaca 3; Eastern Conn. 4, St. Lawrence 1; Eastern Conn. St. 14, Ithaca 3; Eastern Conn. St. 0, Cortland St. 5; Eastern Conn. St. 10, Cortland St. 7.

Finals

Game No. 1

Eastern Conn. St.      000     001     002 — 3         6          0

Chapman       000     101     04x — 6          8          2

Justin Davis, Joe Esposito (8), Jason LaVorgna (8), Sam Iverson (8) and Matt Cooney; Buddy Klovstad and John Alexander. W — Klovstad. L — Davis. A — 511.

Game No. 2

Wheaton (Mass.)       100     010     000 — 2         9          0

 N.C. Wesleyan          000     000     000 — 0         7          1

Chris McDonough, Jamie Baker (9) and Adam Laplante; Blake Rice and Ted Williams. W — McDonough. L — Rice. S — Baker. A — 589.

Game No. 3

Aurora            100     000     001 — 2         5          0

Montclair St.   112     020     10x — 7          14        1

 Alex Chapple, Jonathan Turek (8) and Chris Forbes; Michael Vicaro and Andrew Vicaro. W — M. Vicaro. L — Chapple. A — 1,305.

Game No. 4

Marietta          000     200     000 — 2         4          2

Wis.-Stevens Point   000     100     000 — 1         5          1

Mike Eisenberg, Mike DeMark (9) and Lee Guerrera; Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Coe. W — Eisenberg. L — Zimmermann. S — DeMark. A — 2,467.

Game No. 5

N.C. Wesleyan          100     000     322 — 8         12        1

Eastern Conn. St.      000     130     203 — 9         14        2

Kyle Robertson, Ben Moore (6), Cale Strickland (9) and Ted Williams; Shawn Gilblair, Sam Iverson (7), Alex Narus (7), Matt Cremins (8) and Matt Cooney. W — Cremins. L — Strickland. A — 1,005.

Game No. 6

Wis.-Stevens Point   000     561     000 — 12       14        2

Aurora            000     100     002 — 3         7          2

Josh Perkins, Tyler Lorenz (7) and Doug Coe; Brady Salter, Matt Miller (4), Dennis Vietoris (4), Casey Friend (5) and Ryan Fair (9) and Chris Forbes. W — Perkins. L — Salter. S — Lorenz. A —1,162.

Game No. 7

Chapman       300     000     000 — 3         10        2

Wheaton (Mass.)       000     000     000 — 0         6          2

Devin Drag and John Alexander; Chris Martin, Josh Moore (3), Josh Simmons (7), Keith Pescosolido (8), Jared Barnes (8) and Adam Laplante. W — Drag. L — Martin. A — 1,278.

Game No. 8

Monclair St.    000     012     100 — 4         8          1 

Marietta          320     011     00x — 7          9          0

Tim Stringer, William Traverso (3), Chris Schindler (6) and Andrew Vicaro; Mike DeMark, Jason Baumlet (7) and Lee Guerrera. W — DeMark. L — Stringer. S — Baumlet. A — 1,692.

Game No. 9

Wheaton (Mass.)       001     013     000 — 5         11        0

Wis.-Stevens Point   000     010     003 — 4         6          0

Louie Bernardini, Jamie Baker (9) and Adam Laplante; Travis Kempf, Jeff Zielke (6) and Doug Coe. W — Bernadini. L — Kempf. A — 1,827.

Game No. 10

Eastern Conn. St.      002     000     101     00 — 4           11        0

Montclair St.   020     000     011     01 — 5           9          2

Jimmy Jagodzinski, Matt Cremins (4), Justin Davis (8), Mike Tingley (8), Brian Wendell (10), Alex Narus (11) and Matt Cooney; Enrique Gomez, Kevin Dalton (7), 7 Matt Cabalar (9) and Andrew Vicaro. W — Cabalar. L — Iverson. A — 1,916.\

Game No. 11

Marietta          100     310     302 — 10       15        1

Chapman       200     000     200 — 4         7          2

Ryan Dennick, Scott Dunn (8) and Lee Guerrera; Billy Sulentor, Gabe Bonfanti (7), Eddie Cook (9) and Matt Pearson. W — Dennick. L — Sulentor. A — 2,016.

Game No. 12

Montclair St.   010     000     003 — 4         8          2

Wheaton (Mass.)       120     001     54x — 13       11        0

Jay Cook, Michael Vicaro (7), Ray Anderson (8), Brian Rocco (8) and Andrew Vicaro; Josh Moore, Jared Barnes (9) and Adam Laplante. W — Moore. L — Cook. A — 1,287.

Game No. 13

Chapman       100     020     000 — 3         7          1

Wheaton (Mass.)       000     000     04x — 4          7          1

Wayde Kitchens, Devin Drag (8) and Matt Pearson; Joe White, Jamie Baker (8) and Adam Laplante. W — Baker. L — Drag. A — 1,309.

Championship game

Wheaton (Mass.)       AB       R         H         RBI      BB       SO      PO      A

Travis Anthoine, lf      4          0          1          0          0          1          0          0

 Jake Yagjian, 2b       3          0          0          0          1          2          6          4

 Andy Koocher, 1b     3          1          1          0          1          0          9          1

 Scott Guillerault, 3b   3          1          1          0          1          2          0          1

 Adam Laplante, c      4          0          1          0          0          2          3          0

 Pat O’Connor, rf        4          0          1          1          0          1          1          0

 Jeff Martin, dh            1          0          0          0          0          1          0          0

 Karl Olson, ph/dh       2          0          0          0          0          1          0          0

 Mark Brown, ph         1          0          0          0          0         1          0          0

 Brandon Leonard, cf 4          0          2          1          0          0          0          0

 Rafael Castillo, ss     4          0          0          0          0          2          4          3

 Chris McDonough, p 0          0          0          0          0         0          0          2

 Josh Simmons, p      0          0          0          0          0          0          1          1

 Keith Pescosolido, p            0          0          0          0          0          0          0          0

 Totals  33        2          7          2          3          13        24        12

Marietta          AB       R         H         RBI      BB       SO      PO      A

 Ryan Belanger, 2b    5          1          1          0          0          0          1          3

 Josh Bebee, lf           4          1          3          0          0         1          1          0 

Jarrod Klausman, 1b            5          1          2          0          0          0          12        1

 Justin Steranka, 3b   5          2          3          5          0          0          0          1

 Tom Doty, dh 2          1          1          0          1          0          0          0

 Devan Ward, pr         0          0          0          0          0          0          0          0

 Joe Litke, ph  1          0          0          0          0          0          0          0

 Tony Piconke, rf        4          1          2          2          0          0          3          0

 Lee Guerrera, c         3          0          1          0          0          0          7          6

 Ryan Eschbaugh, ss 4          0          2          0          0          0          1          4

 Chris Hendricks, cf   2          0          0          0          1          1          1          0

 Mike Eisenberg, p    0          0          0          0          0          0          1          0

 Mike DeMark, p        0          0          0          0          0          0          0          0

 Totals  35        7          15        7          2          2          27        15

Wheaton (Mass.)       000     000     200 — 2         7          1

 Marietta          000     232     00x — 7          15        1

E — Laplante; Klausman. DP — Wheaton 2; Marietta 2. LOB — Wheaton 7; Marietta 9. 2B — Koocher. HR — Steranka 2; Piconke. SH — Beebe; Hendricks. SB — Hendricks. Reached on CI — Guerrera.

Wheaton (Mass.)       IP         H         R         ER       BB       SO      AB       BF

 Chris McDonough (L)           4.1       10        5          5          0          1          20        22

 Josh Simmons          2.2       4          2          2          2          1          11        14

 Keith Pescosolido    1.0       1          0          0          0          0                      4          4

 Marietta          IP         H         R         ER       BB       SO      AB       BF

 Mike Eisenberg (W) 8.0       6          2          2          3          12         29       32 

Mike DeMark 1.0       1          0          0          0          1          4          4

A — 1,200.