FLORENCE, SC – It was a business trip to Florence on Monday night, and the Marlins took care of what they needed to, taking down the RedWolves 10-7 at Sparrow Stadium.

“This was a long day and a good win for us,” Marlins head coach Jesse Lancaster said. “Would like to see us execute better with two outs on the mound, we made some mistakes tonight that could hurt us in the long run. But we did what we needed to do tonight.”

The scoring started early, as Hunter Shepherd (Catawba) drove in Sean Johnson (Belmont Abbey) with an RBI single in the top of the first inning. It was the first of four runs scored on the night for Johnson.

Florence hit back in the second inning, scoring two runs on three hits, including RBIs from Derek Berg and and Todd Mattox.

The Marlins wasted no time bouncing back, scoring three runs in the top of the third inning. The Fish hit four doubles in the inning. Sean Johnson started it off, followed up by Jack Harris (Newberry) picking up his league-leading 33rd RBI. Conner VanCleave (Pitt State) and Jordan Johnson (Arkansas-Monticello) also had RBI doubles in the inning.

Sean Johnson struck again the fourth, hitting a massive solo home run that flew over the scoreboard in left field at Sparrow Stadium. At that point, it was 5-2 Marlins. The Marlins added a sixth run in the sixth inning on Shepherd’s second RBI single of the night.

Florence hit back again in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three runs with two outs, capped off by an RBI triple from Berg. It was 6-5 Marlins after six.

Each team added a single run in the seventh inning, and after a scoreless eighth, MHC clung to a one-run lead heading to the ninth.

Then, the Marlins picked up some insurance.

VanCleave led the inning off with a double, and his pinch runner Zack Smith (Mount Olive) came home to score on a sacrifice fly from Jack Casbarro (Mount Olive). Robbie O’Neal (UNC-Greensboro) walked, and he came around to score on a single by Gibson Krzeminski (Canisius) helped out by a Florence error. Sean Johnson picked up another RBI on the night, driving in Krzeminski with an RBI single.

Brendan Bean (Penn) closed it out in the ninth inning, giving up just an unearned run.

Ty Bothwell (Indiana) got the win for MHC, pitching 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs and racking up ten strikeouts. Jack Hodgins (Hendrix) also picked up a hold for the Marlins.

The Fish are off tomorrow and return to The Rock on Wednesday for an exhibition game with the Greenbrier Knights. You can buy tickets here.