Hampton, VA- The Marlins took their first trip across the border into Virginia to secure a scintillating 5-1 victory over the Peninsula Pilots Saturday night. The pitching stayed consistent throughout while the bats came out in timely fashion.
The first inning started off a little rocky for the Marlins as Braylin Marine (Newberry College) grounded out, followed by a Trent Youngblood (Transylvania) strikeout. Micheal Gould (Maryville) was able to shift the momentum as he lined a base hit to left field, Landon Choboy (Mount Olive) then smacked a hard hit ball into right field, Pilots right fielder Ryan Dooley bobbled the ball which would allow Michael Gould to come around and touch home plate to put the Marlins ahead 1-0. Scotty Young (Rutgers) would then get rung up by Pilots pitcher Trey Morgan to end the top of the first.
Pitcher Noah Covington (UMES) secured a win in his Marlins debut as he didn’t give up a run. He struck out one batter, while allowing five hits in his five innings pitched. He went three up and three down in the bottom of the first. The first Peninsula batter Zac Morris mustered a single to center field, give way to Mason Dunaway. He then flew out to right fielder Trent Youngblood. Shortstop Braylin Marine came in clutch as he scooped Dooley’s grounder, stepped on second base, and made the throw to first baseman Dan Tauken (Albany) to conduct the double play.
The Marlins saw some more action on the scoreboard in the second inning after Zach Marriott (Hendrix College) grounded out for the first out in the inning. Tauken smacked a frozen rope into deep right field for a home run, which extended the Marlins lead to 2-0. Morgan was able to keep composed as he forced a Blake Falor (Francis Marion) groundout to second baseman Aaron Manias. He then struck out Evan Leibl (West Texas A&M) to close the inning.
Morehead City continued their one run per inning streak in the top of the third as Youngblood knocked a single to set the table for designated hitter Landon Choboy. Choboy would blast another RBI double that bounced off of the bullpen fence in right field to propel the Marlins to a 3-0 lead.
Marlins starter Noah Covington kept things rolling as he put away the first twelve batters in order during his fantastic debut. In the fifth inning, Covington saw five batters, the first of which was Chris Martinez who hit a lead off single. Second baseman Blake Falor would give assistance to Covington as he snatched a Justin Starke chopper, stomped on second base and whipped it to first basemen Dan Tauken for a double play to put two away. Ethan Ott would then step into the box to knock an infield single to shortstop Braylin Marine, Aaron Manias would chase Ott as he followed up with a base hit. The two out rally was short lived for the Pilots as Covington forced another ground out to second baseman Blake Falor to keep the Marlins on top 3-0.
The Pilots only run came in the bottom of the seventh while Steven Lacey (Delta State) was on the mound for the Marlins. The Pilots’ Justin Starke, and Manias both secured base hit knocks, Cole Stanford then scored Starke with yet another single to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Marlins. Lacey would put an end to the Pilots run as he put two away to end the inning.
Morehead City would score two more runs in the eighth as Pilots pitcher Camden Nuckuls took the bump. Gould got the inning started with a lead off base hit, Choboy took a pitch to his inside elbow to take a base with runners at first and second. Marlins centerfielder Scotty Young dribbled an RBI single into center field to give the Marlins a 4-1 advantage. Nuckuls picked off Young at first to secure a much needed out. Marriott continued the Marlins rally as he singled into right field to bring around Choboy and put the final run on the board for the Marlins 5-1 victory. Pilots pitcher Michael Caldon came in relief for Nuckuls with one out and proceeded to put the next two batters away.
The Marlins sent Joe Miceli (Gardner Webb) in to finish the game out. Miceli only allowed one hit, and one walk as he struck out the final batter to secure the fourth Marlins win in a row.
Morehead City takes the victory over the Peninsula Pilots at War Memorial Stadium 5-1. With the win, they advance to 5-2 and 4-2 in league play.
The Marlins look to continue their four game win streak as they are set to take on the Wake Forest Fungo on Monday, June 5th. First pitch is all set for 7pm at Big Rock Stadium.