Despite out-hitting McCracken County 12-6, the Marshals lost 6-4 to the Mustangs on Monday at Preston Cope Field. A much better outcome than the 10-0 loss to the Mustangs in six innings in their first meeting of the season.
McCracken County scored their first run in the top of the first when Weston Miller hit a sacrifice fly that sent Scout Moffatt to home plate, with the call going his way after a nice throw from right-fielder Chase Hayden into catcher Nolan Hurst.
The Mustangs went up 4-0 in the top of the second inning. Nyberg singled, then proceeded to steal second and advance to third on an error before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Griffin Cantrell. Errors came into play once again with Eli James hitting into a fielder’s choice with two runs coming in, the second of the two scoring on an error.
The Marshals cut the lead in half with two runs in the bottom of the second. Wilson Shadowen led off with a single, and two more hits came from Hayden and Jace Driver to load up the bases. Maddox Cope drove in Shadowen and Staples hit a 2-out single that brought in pinch runner Hunter Reavis.
In the bottom of the fourth, Carter McKinney reached on a single and advanced to second on an error which also gave Chase Shelton an opportunity to score and cut the Mustangs lead to one.
The Mustangs loaded the bases with the first three up in the top of the fifth, getting one run across on a bases loaded walk by Daniel Higdon to extend their lead to 5-3. Kash Chiles, who started the game for the Marshals was replaced by Jace Driver on the mound. With the bases still loaded, Driver induced a fly ball for out number two then struck out Cantrell to get out of the inning.
The Marshals once again cut the Mustangs lead to one when Hayden scored in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Driver, but the Mustangs extended the lead back to two with a run in the top of the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Marshals put two on base on a single by Hayden and walk by Driver but both were left stranded with the final two outs of the game.
Calhoun earned the win for McCracken County, allowing 11 hits, four runs and striking out three over five innings.
McCracken 1 3 0 0 1 1 0 6 6 1
Marshall 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 4 12 4
Marshall (14-9): Staples 2/3 (RBI), McKinney 1/4 (RBI), Clark 1/3, Shadowen 1/4, Hayden 3/3 (2B), Reavis 1/1, Driver 2/2 (RBI), Cope 1/4 (RBI)
McCracken (17-8): Lang 2/4, Moffatt 1/3 (RBI), James (RBI), Miller 1/3 (RBI), Higdon 1/3 (RBI), Nyberg 1/4, Cantrell (RBI)
Marshall: Chiles 4.1 (4 hits, 5 runs), Driver 2.2 (2 hits, 1 run)
McCracken: Calhoun 5.0 (11 hits, 4 runs), Smith 1.1 (1 hit, 0 runs), Beale 0.2 (0 hits, 0 runs)
