Buirley struck out 12 and walked just two in a complete-game effort as Marietta College beat Montclair State 3-2 at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.

The Pioneers (48-8-1), who avenged a 10-inning 2-1 loss to the Red Hawks earlier in the tournament, advanced to their first title game since 1986.

Marietta College will face St. Thomas (38-10) for the championship. The Pioneers beat the Tommies 8-6 on Monday.

The Tommies finished runner-up the past two seasons.

Despite leading 2-0 after five innings, the defending champion Red Hawks (38-11) couldn't hang on and were ousted from the double-elimination tournament.

"Marietta is an excellent team, without a doubt," Montclair State coach Norm Schoenig said. "We were fortunate to have a 2-0 lead, and they kept the pressure on us."

Montclair State went ahead 1-0 in the first when Dave Wurst drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on Frank Longo's sacrifice bunt and scored two batters later on Scott Allan's single up the middle.

The Red Hawks stretched their lead to 2-0 in the fourth. Scott Clark hit a one-out single and advanced to second on a passed ball. Following George Becker's single that pushed him to third, Clark scored when catcher Jay Coakley threw out Becker trying to steal second.

That was all Montclair State could muster, however, as Marietta mounted a rally, cutting the deficit to 2-1 in the sixth.

Dusty Childress got things going by reaching on a one-out error, and Todd Timmer and Matt McLuckey loaded the bases with back-to-back singles.

Coakley, who entered the tournament with 19 home runs and 76 RBI, blasted a shot off the center-field wall, driving in Childress.

Montclair State turned a double play on the next batter to end the inning.

"The ball Coakley hit off the center-field wall, in retrospect you're supposed to score more than one run off that, to be very honest with you," Schoenig said. "They got one and bases remained loaded ... so we were fortunate to get out of that."

Marietta coach Don Schaly was unavailable for comment as he prepared for the title game.

The Pioneers tied it and took the lead in the seventh.

Designated hitter Brent Curtin drew a leadoff walk from starter Ryan Costello, and went to second on Derek Pauley's bunt single.

Both runners advanced on Mike Menke's bunt. With No. 9 hitter Andy Coble at bat, Curtin scored on a passed ball, tying it 2-2.

Later in the inning, Timmer singled off Jason Arre to drive in Pauley with the eventual game-winning run.

Montclair State got a two-out single in the ninth, but he was stranded when Buirley struck out Sean Morrison looking to seal the victory.

Clark finished three-for-four, and Conway went two-for-four to lead Montclair State, which outhit Marietta 8-7.