By Thomas Duzan
It was a warm, briskly windy day Monday as the Marshall Lions made their way up to Arcola to take on the Arcola Purple Riders. For the third straight game, the Lions got runners on base and scored plenty of runs, enough normally to win. The problem was, Arcola did as well, and took advantage of chances to score, and won by the score of 14-7.
The game for Marshall got off to a nice start, with Branson Maskell leading off with a double and Gavan Propst getting on base with a bunt single. Despite a strikeout of Garrett Pugh, Reed Ramey came up next and drove in both runners on a two-run RBI single. Liam Keim then got on with a walk.
That put runners on first and second with just one out, but Eli Thompson struck out and Tucker Osborn lined out to negate any further scoring. Max Welsh took to the mound to start for the Lions in the bottom of the inning and got the first two outs. Brody Phillips popped out and Brevyn Whisman flew out to center.
Then came Jackson Griffith, who knocked a deep fly ball out to left field. With the wind blowing right to left across the field, it carried out to left field for a solo home run. Welsh came back and got Hunter Drake to fly out to send the game to the second at 4-1 in favor of Marshall.
The Lions answered back with a couple more runs in the second. Welsh led off with a walk, then Ayden Houpt grounded out. Maskell reached base on a hit batsman, then Propst struck out. With runners in scoring position for Pugh, he connected with the right pitch and drove both runners in on a two-run RBI double.
Ramey came up next and drew a walk. He soon after took second but was stranded there following a strikeout of Keim. Even though he surrendered a leadoff walk to Brody Drake, Welsh struck out the side as he set down Jordan Gingerich, Kaden Hohlbauch and Canton Wesch with strikeouts to send the game to the third at a 4-1 Lion lead.
Osborn got on base with one out in the top of the third with a single. After Welsh struck out, Houpt got on with a walk. With Maskell at the plate and Osborn at third, a wild pitch skittered away from the catcher with Osborn looking to score but was thrown out at the plate.
It was in the bottom of the third that the Riders came back with three runs to tie the game. The first came on an RBI double for Whisman, then RBI singles for Drake and Gingerich brought two more runs in to tie it at 4-4 going to the fourth.
The top of the order started the fourth for the Lions with Maskell grounding out and Propst striking out, then Pugh got on with a double, his second of the game. Two straight walks to Ramey and Keim loaded the bases for Thompson. Thompson hit a solid line-drive out to center field, but unfortunately it found the center fielder’s glove for the third out.
The bottom of the fourth saw Shane Tarble come on to pitch in relief of Welsh. He got the first batter of the inning with a strikeout of Wesch. However, from there he walked Ronnie Vega and Phillips, then gave up two straight RBI doubles to Whisman and Griffith. Four runs made it 8-4 Arcola going to the fifth.
The Lions came back with two runs in the top half of the fifth. Osborn started the inning off with a double. Tarble then got on base with a walk. Osborn later scored on a wild pitch, and Tarble scored on an RBI single for Maskell. Propst walked to put runners on first and second, but Pugh grounded out and Ramey struck out to end the inning.
The back breaker came in the bottom half of the inning, as the Riders put up five runs. With one out and Tarble struggling, Osborn came on to pitch. He inherited the bases loaded and struck out Drake but walks to the next two batters brought in two more runs. Eleven Arcola batters came up to plate the five runs and thus gave them a 13-6 lead after five innings.
Arcola scored once more in the sixth and Marshall put up one more run in the top of the seventh with an RBI single for Ramey. The game came to an end when Osborn grounded into a fielders’ choice to give Arcola the victory by the 14-7 final score.