By Thomas Duzan
On a warm, sunny Thursday the Marshall Lions were back in LIC play, welcoming the Lawrenceville Indians to Hornbrook Field. It was a game that saw the return of Payton McGuire in the field, and at the plate the Lions found a way to get out to a lead and maintain it on the way to a 6-0 shutout victory.
It would be Garrett Pugh to start on the mound for the Lions, and he got off to a great start. He started off with a strikeout of Audie Taylor. He then gave up a hit to Emery Ivers, but then struck out Lane Jackson and got Elliot Gerritson to line out to first for the third out. The bottom of the first saw Branson Maskell and Tucker Osborn ground out for the first two outs, then Pugh got on base with a walk.
A single for Reed Ramey and walk to Eli Thompson loaded the bases for Ayden Houpt. He grounded out to shortstop to leave the bases loaded and Marshall without scoring. So the game went to the second scoreless at 0-0.
Pugh made quick work of the Indians in the top of the second. He struck out the side as Korbin Shaffer went down swinging, Hunter Gray looking and Teagan Rolland swinging. Shane Tarble started the bottom of the inning with a walk, then Gavan Propst and Liam Keim both flew out.
Maskell then drew a walk to put runners at first and second with two outs. However, Osborn would ground back to the pitcher to send the game to the third still 0-0.
It was a rinse and repeat sort of top of the third as the strikeout streak went on. Liam Morey and Ethan Metz went down swinging, and Taylor went down looking. It would be in the bottom of the third when Marshall had their breakout inning. It began with a leadoff triple for Pugh.
Ramey followed with an RBI double, which Pugh easily scored on. Thompson was then hit by a pitch, then Houpt reached on an error. After Tarble struck out and an RBI sacrifice fly for Propst brought in a run, Keim drew a walk to load the bases for Maskell. He would then walk with the bases loaded, on which another run scored.
Two more came across on a two-run RBI single for Osborn. A total of 10 batters came up to score five times and give Marshall a 5-0 lead going to the fourth.
Pugh returned to the mound for the fourth and gave up a leadoff double to Ivers. After that, he retired the side in order. He got a strikeout of Jackson, got Gerritson to fly out and struck out Shaffer to leave Ivers stranded at second. It would be a quiet bottom of the fourth inning as Ramey struck out, Thompson grounded out and Houpt struck out to send the game to the fifth still 5-0 Lions.
The top of the fifth inning saw Gray get on base by way of an error, the second in a row in which the leadoff runner got on base. From there, Rolland grounded into a fielder’s choice and Morey singled. With runners on first and second and one out, Pugh struck out both Metz and Taylor to keep them from scoring.
The bottom of the fifth saw Tarble lead off with a walk. Not long after that, though, he got caught leaning too far off first base and was picked off for the first out. Keim later walked but was stranded at first when Maskell grounded out. So after five innings the score remained 5-0 in favor of Marshall.
Ivers grounded out to start the sixth, then Jackson walked. He took off running to take second but Gerritson popped out to third for the second out. With Jackson standing closer to second base than first, the throw was made over to first to double him off for a double play.
In the bottom of the sixth the Lions were able to scratch across one more run. Osborn lined out on a soft liner to second, then Pugh singled. Ramey then got on with a hit of his own. Pugh later came in to score on a passed ball. That run made it a 6-0 Lion lead after six innings of play.
Pugh got the first two outs of the seventh with strikeouts of both Shaffer and Gray. At that point, Pugh’s outing came to an end, which was a three-hit, one walk and 14 strikeout outing. Coming to the mound for the final out was Payton McGuire, who made his season debut both in the field and then on the mound, though not yet batting.
All he needed was one pitch to get the final out, as he got Rolland to fly out to left field, ending the game giving Marshall the win by the 6-0 final score.