After dominating Murray with a 10-0 shutout at home on Tuesday, the Marshals came up just short of a district sweep following a narrow 3-2 loss on Thursday. The Marshals are 11-6 on the season and 2-2 in district play while Murray is 10-12 and 1-1 in the district.
Tuesday’s game at Preston Cope Field saw Kaden Merrick deliver a stellar performance on the mound, allowing just one hit over six shutout innings. Hudson Doughty and Thomas Bagby led the offense with two hits apiece—Doughty contributing an RBI double and Bagby driving in two runs.
The Marshals broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning, starting with singles by Matthew Henderson and Kash Chiles. Bagby followed with a third consecutive single to bring in the game’s first run.
Clayton Wyatt added an RBI double, and Maddox Cope tacked on a one-run single before Wyatt scored on a balk, extending the lead to 4-0. Doughty’s RBI double pushed the score to 5-0, and he later came home on an error to make it 6-0.
Marshall County added four more runs in the sixth, loading the bases and capitalizing on a walk, a Bagby single, a hit-by-pitch on Ayden Clevidence, and another bases-loaded walk to seal the shutout.
Murray 0 0 0 0 0 0 x | 0 1 2
Marshall 0 0 0 6 0 4 x | 10 8 0
Marshall: Doughty 2/3 (2B, RBI), Henderson 1/3, Chiles 1/3 (RBI), Bagby 2/4 (2 RBI), Clevidence (RBI), Wyatt 1/2 (2B, 2 RBI), Cope 1/3 (RBI)
Marshall: Merrick 6.0 (1 H, 0 R, 9 SO)
Murray: McCoil 1/2
Murray: Crady 4.1 (6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB 3 SO), Munsey 1.1 (2H, 4 R, 4 BB)
Murray avoided a district sweep and secured the series split with a 3-2 walk-off win over the Marshals on Thursday.
Despite outhitting the Tigers 10-5, Marshall County couldn’t convert opportunities into runs. Talen Rose led the Marshals at the plate, going a perfect 3-for-3. Hudson Doughty and Matthew Henderson each went 2-for-4 and drove in a run.
Henderson put the Marshals on the board first with an RBI double in the top of the third, but Murray quickly responded in the bottom half with a two-run double off the bat of Cody Garner. Doughty’s RBI single in the fourth tied the game at 2-2.
The Marshals had a chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh, putting two runners on base, but couldn’t capitalize. In the bottom of the eighth, a single by Winters and a subsequent error allowed the winning run to cross the plate, giving Murray the walk-off victory.
Marshall 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 | 2 10 2
Murray 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 | 3 5 3
Marshall: Doughty 2/4 (RBI), Hurst 1/3, Henderson 2/4 (2B, RBI), Chiles 1/4, Clevidence 1/2, Rose 3/3
Marshall: Dunn 1.0 (1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO), Gray 6.2 (4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 8 SO)
Murray: McCoil 1/2, Starks 1/4, Garner 1/2 (2B, 2 RBI), Winters 1/4, Ryan 1/2
Murray: Starks 3.0 (5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SO), McCoil 4.0 (5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 SO)