By Thomas Duzan
On a warm, breezy Monday, the Marshall Lions made their way down to Robinson to face off with the Robinson Maroons, which marked the start of LIC play. The two teams had created similar paths for themselves to this point, hovering at or around the .500 mark in overall record.
Unfortunately, it was the Lions who labored through a rough first inning that did them in and could never get much of anything going in being defeated by the score of 7-1.
Branson Maskell led off the game against Maroon starting pitcher Grayson Brown. The Lions saw very little in the way of fastballs from Brown and struggled as a result. Maskell started with a groundout, then Tucker Osborn struck out. Garrett Pugh worked the count a bit and was able to draw a walk for the first baserunner of the contest. Reed Ramey would strike out for the third out.
It was Ramey’s turn to take the mound for this game as the starting pitcher for Marshall. He would find himself working behind the 8-ball in the bottom of the first. The leadoff hitter Jetson Hoalt walked, then Braylon Murray reached on an error. A walk to Reese Johnson loaded the bases up for Felix Reynolds, who drove in two on a two-run RBI single.
Another run came across when Brayden Turner reached base on an error. The first out wasn’t achieved until a bloop single for A.J. Knoblett dropped into short center field, and the runner was hung up between the bases. A total of 11 Robinson batters took to the plate to score six times, making it 6-0 Maroons after just an inning of play.
It was a quiet top of the second for Marshall. Liam Keim struck out, Eli Thompson popped out and Shane Tarble grounded out on a sharp ground ball to the second baseman. Ramey was able to come back and work a scoreless bottom of the second. He gave up a hit to Johnson, who made his way around to third, but after the hit Ramey retired the side with a groundout for Reynolds, strikeout of Turner and a sharp low liner back to Ramey on the mound from Gunner Hoalt. So going to the third the score was still 6-0 Robinson.
It would be in the top of the third when the Lions broke through for their lone run of the game. Max Welsh started off with a walk. After a strikeout of Gavan Propst, Maskell flew out to right field. Welsh had advanced into scoring position and came in to score on an RBI single from Osborn. Pugh came up next and hit a stinging line drive to right-center but it found a glove for the third out.
Defensive issues reared their ugly head for Marshall in the bottom of the inning. Knoblett popped out for the first out, but then Brody Baker and Hayden Bonnell singled. Baker would come in to score when Jetson Hoalt reached on an error. Murray and Johnson both flew out to negate any further scoring threat, but it now made the score 7-1 in favor of the Maroons.
The top of the fourth came and went without much noise. Ramey and Keim both struck out, then Thompson flew out for the third out. The bottom of the fourth saw Tarble come on to pitch in relief of Ramey. He started the inning by giving up an infield single to Reynolds; there was also an error on the play. Turner flew out to left, then Gunner Hoalt walked.
Later in the inning, a popout for Bonnell enabled Tarble to keep the Maroons off the scoreboard. So the game went into the fifth still 7-1 Robinson.
The Lions went down in order in the fifth and sixth, and the Maroons were set down without any further scoring also. Marshall finally got another hit in the top of the seventh when Keim got on with a hit. However, the side was retired after that, and with that the game ended with Brown throwing a complete game and Robinson coming out on top by the 7-1 final.