After waiting through three lightning delays totaling 48 minutes in the eighth and ninth innings, the Pioneers finally held off the University of St. Thomas 8-6 to advance to Tuesday’s championship round.

Marietta (47-8-1) will take on Montclair State University (38-10) at 1 p.m. Tuesday with the winner to face St. Thomas (38-10) for the national title at 4:30 p.m.

Marietta scored three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and took an 8-1 lead into the eighth inning before the Tommies began a consistently interrupted rally with one run in the eighth and four in the ninth.

The Tommies took a 1-0 lead on Brad Bonine’s two-out, run-scoring single in the third, but Marietta rallied with three runs in the fifth off St. Thomas starter Mike Ramthum. Brent Curtin lined a run-scoring single to right field to tie the game. Andy Coble’s groundout put the Pioneers up 2-1 and Dusty Childress hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead.

Marietta added three more runs in the sixth off Tommies’ reliever Bryan Edstrom. Todd Timmer gave the Pioneers a 4-1 lead and Coble and Childress followed with run-scoring singles for a 6-1 advantage. Timmer hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Matt McLuckey drove in a run on a single in the eighth for an 8-1 lead.

"We’ve got three phases of our game going today," Childress said.

The Tommies’ rally started in the bottom of the eighth when Mark Fenstad hit a pinch-hit, run-scoring single off Pioneers’ starter Matt DeSalvo. The junior hurler finished with six strikeouts to give him 204 for the season, making him the first NCAA Division III pitcher ever to reach 200 strikeouts in a season. DeSalvo was pulled with two outs in the eighth during the first lightning delay, but Jim Sharp stranded the bases loaded to end the inning.

"I felt fine going into the game and I felt even better coming out," DeSalvo said. "I felt like I got more loose with the game going on."

St. Thomas scored four runs in the ninth as Jake Mauer singled to load the bases following the second delay and Tom Carroll drilled a two-run double. Mauer scored on a wild pitch and Fenstad hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 8-6 before the third delay of the game with two outs in the inning. Luke Sather then grounded out on the first pitch following the longest delay of 28 minutes to end the game.

"Rhythm is so important," said St. Thomas coach Dennis Denning. "I would have certainly liked to have kept the momentum going, by playing a key hit. … Now, we’ve got to get that rhythm back. You can say losing is good for you because kids can learn from their mistakes, and it’s easier to see them when you lose, but I would have sure liked to keep that momentum. I don’t see any advantage for us losing."

Carroll finished four-for-five to lead the Tommies and Jay Coakley was three-for-five to lead Marietta.

"We’re hitting the ball pretty well, hitting the ball sharply, as long as we can avoid hiting it right at people, I think we’ll be able to do the same thing tomorrow," said Coakley. "The defense is real great, holding them down. Honestly, I think three or four runs might win the game tomorrow."

"We played good baseball today, for the most part," St. Thomas’ Carroll said. "I think we can give it a good effort tomorrow. We’ll be all right."