Morehead City tallied 11 hits, including a six run third to beat Holly Springs 12-2 in eight innings. There were a total of nine errors tonight, six from the Salamanders and three from the Marlins. Morehead City improves to 14-9, while Holly Springs falls to 6-17.
The pitching staff worked a tremendous game, using only two pitchers to get the job done. Sayers Collins made the start in his first outing of the summer, and allowed just one earned run across four innings. Drew Stegura was dominant out of the bullpen, tossing four hitless frames with six strikeouts to earn the win.
The huge third inning was carried by a pair of two run singles from Tommy Kendrick and Joe Quelch, to give the Marlins a 9-2 lead. Hayden Jatczak had a massive swing to left center on the first pitch of the sixth, for his second home run of the summer. Morehead City added two more in the eighth off another RBI hit from Kendrick, and a wild pitch to Briggs Rutter to secure the mercy rule victory.
The Marlins stayed one game back from the three teams tied at the top, as all of them were victorious tonight. Morehead City will play their final game of the first half tomorrow night at Big Rock Stadium against the Wilson Tobs at 6:30 p.m.