Wilson, NC – The Marlins lost a hard-fought game to the Tobs 8-4 from Historic Fleming Stadium on Thursday night, as the Tobs played a complete game on both ends of the ball. The first inning shone in pitching dominant fashion, as both offenses went down 1-2-3 in the first inning. Will Walsh (Nebraska) started on the bump for the Marlins and JD McCracken got the start for the Tobs. The second would also be a pitching dominant inning, as the Marlins would go 1-2-3 in the second inning before the Tobs cracked the hit column against Walsh in the bottom of the second with a Harrison Pontoli single. The third inning would fly by for both teams, as pitching on both sides continued to roll. The offense would explode for the Tobs in the fourth, as Luis Hernandez would step up to the plate with a runner on first and belt a majestic home run over the head of Nate Anderson (Gardner-Webb) and the left field wall for a 2-0 Tobs lead.
Back-to-back base hits following the home run set the table for the Tobs before Chase Waddell flew out to center for the second out. An Anton Lazits RBI single brought home a third run for the Tobs, but they weren’t done yet. With two runners on, Brian Fry stepped to the plate and jacked a ball over the right center field fence to balloon the Tobs’ lead to 6-0. After a 6-run inning, the Tobs headed to the fifth.
Down 6-0, the Marlins weren’t ready to give in. Back-to-back base hits with one out set the table for Shayne Campbell (Reinhardt). With Campbell at the plate and Zach Marriott (Hendrix College) 90 feet away at third, JD McCracken unleashed a wild pitch to allow Marriott to dash home and score the first Marlins run. Phillip Bernstein (Richmond) trailed Marriott to third. Now down 6-1, Campbell sent a fly ball to right that scored Bernstein on a sacrifice fly. Down 6-2 Cade Carlson (ETSU) would come on for Walsh who gave up six runs on seven hits. Carlson would pitch a clean 1-2-3 inning to bring the Marlins bats up for the sixth inning.
ABC baseball would reign supreme in the top of the sixth inning.
With runners on first and second, they both advanced on a Connor Caporale balk. Braylin Marine (Newberry College) sent a sacrifice fly to center to score the Marlins third run of the night to bring the score to 6-3. On the sacrifice fly, Trent Youngblood (Transylvania) would move up to third and score on a Marriott sacrifice fly to left. Ending the top of the sixth with a 6-4 score, the Tobs would strike again in the bottom half of the inning. Pontoli would take Carlson deep in the bottom of the sixth inning to push the score to 7-4.
The Marlins loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning but could not push across a run as Brett Anderson came on and limited the damage for the Tobs. The Tobs would push across another run in the bottom half, as AJ Jones came across to score on an infield hit. With the score 8-4, the Marlins tried to rally in the late innings, but fell short against Ryan Corbett and Cam Edmondson out of the back end of the Tobs bullpen. With the loss, the Marlins drop to 12-5 in CPL play.
The Marlins return home to take on the Wilmington Sharks from Big Rock Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7PM. Fans can watch the game on FloSports.