MOREHEAD CITY, NC – The Marlins conquered the Tobs in comeback fashion on Wednesday night as they bested the Tobs 7-6.
The action began in the first inning when the Tobs put the leadoff runner, Seth Gergley, on before Rafe Perich crushed a ball over the wall for a 2-0 lead without recording an out. Max Weber (Felician) rebounded nicely to finish the top of the first, and the Tobs would take their lead into the bottom of the inning. Looking to get the offense rolling, Brantley Cutler (Maryland Eastern Shore) walked in front of Will Walsh (University of Nebraska), who destroyed a Caleb Clark pitch over the left field fence to tie the ballgame at 2-2 after the first inning.
The Tobs got their offense right back and rolling in the top of the second inning when they put two runners on in front of Andrew Branson. Branson singled to score the third Tobs run before the Tobs pulled off a double steal which saw Branson take second and Stevens score on the throw down. The two runs led the Tobs to a 4-2 lead heading to the bottom of the second.
The Marlins would carry their lead to the bottom of the third where they looked to strike back. A fielder’s choice put Cutler on first ahead of Dan Tauken (University at Albany) who chopped a ball over the Wilson first baseman’s head. The ball rolled all the way into the right field corner and allowed Cutler to score and pull the Marlins a run closer with a 4-3 game.
It was all pitching until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Marlins would put more runs on the board. It started with a Trent Youngblood (Transylvania) single, and he advanced to third on a steal and a miscued pitch from Tobs reliever Ryan Corbett. Cutler then smacked a ball to first baseman Anton Lazits, in which he decided to throw straight home, and Youngblood was safe for a no-out fielder’s choice by Cutler to tie the game 4-4.
In the top of the sixth, the Tobs bounced right back and put two runners across to take back their lead. After two walks and two fly outs, Gergley belted a two-run triple into right-center field to put the Tobs up 6-4.
The Marlins scored again in the bottom of the seventh after Cole Gilley struck out the first two batters he saw. This brought out a two-out rally as McGwire Tuffy (George Washington) hit a single, and Cutler walked for Walsh to come to the plate and rocket a double to score Tuffy and put runners on second and third. They would be left on base, but the Marlins brought the score to 6-5 with work still to do as the Tobs led.
Jarrett Hall (William Peace) pitched a three-up, three-down top of the eighth to set up the bats for the bottom half. The Marlins got rolling as Shayne Campbell (Reinhardt) singled, Dylan Rogers (Appalachian State) doubled, and Mike Kenney (University of Mount Olive) walked to load the bases with one out. Youngblood hit a clutch single to score Campbell, tie the game, and keep the bases jacked for the Marlins. Tuffy was then immediately hit by a pitch to score Rogers and take the first lead of the game 7-6, where it would stay for the remainder.
Sebastian Mejia (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) sealed the deal in the top of the ninth inning as he pitched a one, two, three-inning with a ground out and back-to-back strikeouts to close out the 7-6 victory.
The Marlins improved their record to 27-14 in Coastal Plain League play as they get set to travel to play the Tobs for the second game in a row in Wilson, Thursday night at 7 PM.