So it should come as no surprise that they teamed up Saturday to help the defending champion Red Hawks advance within one game of the national final.

Wurst led off the 10th with a single and, two batters later, scored on Conway's single to right field as Montclair State edged Marietta College 2-1 in a second-round winners' bracket game at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.

The Red Hawks improved to 37-9, having won 23 of their last 24 games.

Marietta, which was riding a 27-game winning streak, fell to 45-8-1.

Montclair State starter Corey Hamman went 10 innings, scattering five hits, walking three and tying his season high for strikeouts with 11.

Marietta starter Kris Buirley went 9 1/3 innings, striking out four, walking three and giving up nine hits.

"It was probably one of the best games I've ever been in," Hamman said.

Said Buirley: "That's the kind of game you always want to pitch in."

In the end, Schoenig was just happy to see his one-two punch of Conway and Wurst finish the job.

"Without them, not a lot of things happen," Schoenig said. "We've got some other players who certainly joined in, but those two guys - for Dave to be at second and Craig to get the hit and win the game - it's just tremendous.

"They turned the whole thing around and got it going in the right direction when we really needed it. I'm really pleased it happened to work out that way."

Conway's game-winning hit also set a school record for hits in a season (87). The old record was set by Pepe Herrero in 1987.

"(The record) isn't the biggest thing," Conway said. "It's an honor, but the biggest thing is winning the game. I went up there (in the final at-bat) just thinking, 'If it's there, hit it,' and he left one over the plate for me."

Conway, Wurst and Scott Clark each had two hits to lead the Red Hawks.

Marietta took a 1-0 lead in the second when Mike Menke's sacrifice fly scored Mike Deegan, who led off the inning with a single.

Clark tied it in the fifth, blasting a lead-off homer.

"That really gave us some momentum and put us back in the game," Clark said.

What kept them in the game was Hamman's pitching.

Although he walked three and gave up two hits over the first three innings, Hamman settled down after that.

In the final seven innings, he didn't walk any and gave up just two hits. His ERA (3.61) fell below 4.00 for the first time since the season opener.

"With the adrenaline, I probably could have thrown 10 more innings," said Hamman (11-5), who retired 17 of the last 19 batters. "Once you get to that point, I didn't even feel anything, I was just throwing. I felt that if I kept throwing strikes, my infield was going to make plays."

The Red Hawks defense came through on several occasions, two in particular.

On one play, Conway, who had moved to third base, made a barehanded grab on a slow roller and fired to first to nail the runner.

"Nothing (Conway) does surprises me," Schoenig said. "In fact, I remarked to some scouts that he's like a young Brooks Robinson."

The other big play came in the 10th, when first baseman George Becker ran into a cement wall in the right-field bullpen while catching a pop fly. He promptly turned and doubled the runner off first base to end the inning, setting the stage for Montclair State to win it in the bottom half.

"I felt like I was hitting my spots pretty well," said Buirley (9-2). "But I made some pitches I shouldn't have thrown at the end of the game."

Marietta coach Don Schaly was disappointed in his team's inability to drive in runs.

"Our lack of offensive production is not easy to explain," he said. "There is no explanantion."