In their debut as the Motorboaters Friday night, the Morehead City took down the Holly Springs Salamanders 7-4 in mesmerizing fashion. Shaun Gamelin (Rhode Island College) took the bump for the Motorboaters, and went four innings, giving up three runs and striking out four in his four inning start.
Gamelin started the first with a bang, inducing a strikeout and two groundouts to start the frame. Salamanders starter Christian Keel would start the first with efficiency as well. Nate Anderson would single after a strikeout, but Keel would come back to strike out Michael Gould (Maryville) and Landon Choboy (Mount Olive) to end the threat.
The second would see two runners on for the Salamanders with one out, before Gamelin locked it in and struck out Win Johns, and prompted a Ty Torti to end the frame.
The Salamanders would get on the board first, as Nate Carriere would single to get things started with one out, and later advance to second on a passed ball. Gavin Troutman advanced him to third with a flyout before Michael Quinones knocked him in with an RBI single.
Down one in the bottom of the third, the Motorboaters would turn it up a knot, as returner McGwire Tuffy (Quinnipiac) would be plunked by a pitch, before Gould would launch a hanging Keel breaking ball into the stratosphere to put the fightin’ Boaters up 2-1.
The Salamanders would storm right back in the top of the fourth, as they took advantage of a Tuffy throwing error at third to put Win Johns aboard with one out. Ty Torti would advance Johns with a double, and Johns would later score on a Shayne Campbell passed ball to bring the score even at 2-2. Torti then advanced to third on a passed ball, before Braden Durham hit a sacrifice fly to Nate Anderson in center field to bring home Torti for the Salamanders to take a 3-2 lead heading to the bottom half.
Gamelin would exit the game giving up three runs and striking out four Salamanders through four innings.
With their backs once again against the wake, the Motorboats revved the engines again in the bottom of the fourth. Trent Youngblood (Transylvania) singled before Braylin Marine (Newberry College) sent a screamer over the fence in left to take a 4-3 lead against new Salamanders pitcher Jacob Coffin.
Joe Miceli (Gardner-Webb) would come on in the fifth in relief of Gamelin, and give up a run on a Joshua Kross RBI double to bring the teams back even with a 4-4 game. Miceli would also pitch the sixth, and go two innings total, giving up one run on one hit.
The reigning CPL pitcher of the week Hunter Stevens (Mount Olive) toed the rubber in the seventh for the Motorboaters, and would get out of the inning unscathed.
With two Boats on the pond and one out in the bottom of the seventh, The Salamanders called upon Jack McIntosh to relieve Coffin. McIntosh induced a flyout to shortstop, and a strikeout to end the inning. Stevens took care of the Salamanders in the eighth, and the game headed to the bottom half of the inning still tied 4-4.
The Motorboaters looked to send the large crowd home happy in the bottom of the eighth, as they busted out in a big way. With McIntosh on the bump in the top of the eighth, Trent Youngblood doubled to start the rally. Marine was intentionally walked to set up the double play, but the Motorboaters had other ideas. Dan Tauken (Albany) snuck a single in the four hole through the infield to the outfield grass to score Youngblood, and the Motorboaters took a 4-3 lead. After a Phillip Bernstein (Richmond) strikeout for out number one, Tuffy ripped a 2-RBI double into the pasture to score Marine and Tauken for the Motorboats to secure a 7-4 lead.
With a 7-4 lead, the Motorboats handed the ball to Steven Lacey (Delta State) to try and lock down the save. Lacey got Troutman to fly out, before striking out the next two batters to secure the 1-2-3 inning and the save.
With the win, the Marlins move to 9-2 and 6-2 in league play. They will enter play on Saturday against Florence riding a eight-game win streak. First pitch from Carolina Bank Field will be at 7PM. You can listen to the game on the MHC Marlins Baseball channel on Mixlr.