By Thomas Duzan
On a cool, overcast Thursday the Marshall Lions had their regular season finale game, hosting the North Central IN Thunderbirds out at Hornbrook Field. It was a back-and-forth battle for the first four innings until the Lions broke through and had a big fifth inning, en route to winning by the score of 9-3.
It would be Liam Keim to take to the mound as the Lions’ starting pitcher for the final home game of the regular season. He got off to a shaky start, giving up a leadoff single to Hayden Schultz to start. He then got Colton Taylor to pop out, then Greydyn Walters got on with a single.
Schultz got over to third and scored when Lane Phegley grounded into a fielder’s choice. Keim was able to keep the damage there when Tyler Samm grounded back to him on the mound. It would be an uneventful bottom of the first for the home team as Payton McGuire and Tucker Osborn grounded out, and Garrett Pugh struck out to end the inning, and give North Central the early 1-0 lead going to the second.
It started with a strikeout of Adam Farmer, then Hunter Taylor and Bryson Marlow got hits. with runners at first and second and one out, Keim got a strikeout of Ayden Urbain and got Schultz to fly out to deep left center field, where McGuire ran it down in front of the warning track. The first baserunner for Marshall came with a one out walk to Keim, then D.J. Williams came on as a courtesy runner.
Eli Thompson grounded out, then Max Welsh walked and Branson Maskell was hit by a pitch. They would be stranded on base when Ayden Houpt popped out for the third out. So after two innings of play the game was still at 1-0 Thunderbirds.
Keim worked a 1-2-3 top of the third, then the Lions got through with their first run of the game. McGuire started with a leadoff walk but was later thrown out looking to steal second. After Osborn struck out, the first hit and run came in a big way, as Pugh knocked one out to straight away center field for a game-tying solo home run. That tied the game at 1-1, going to the fourth.
Samm started with a walk to start, then Farmer grounded into a fielder’s choice. Taylor flew out for the second out, then a two-run RBI single for Urbain put North Central back in front. Marshall scratched across another run in their half of the fourth. Keim, Thompson and Welsh all drew walks, then Gavan Propst, who came into the game for Maskell, hit a deep enough fly ball to bring in a run to score and cut it to a 3-2 T-Bird lead after four.
Keim got groundouts from Taylor and Walters, then Phegley reached on an error. He got around to third, but he then struck out Samm to strand him there. Then, as alluded to earlier, the bottom of the fifth proved to be the Lions’ big breakthrough inning of the game. It all began with an infield single for Osborn.
From there, Pugh drew a walk. With two on and no outs, Reed Ramey followed up and got into one that sailed into deep right field, and it carried over the wall for a three-run homer to put the Lions back in the lead. Keim was then hit by a pitch and later scored on a wild pitch. Then, Thompson reached on a throwing error.
After Welsh struck out, Propst got on with a walk. An RBI groundout for Houpt scored Thompson. All nine batters took to the plate to score five runs to make it 7-3 in favor of the Lions.
The top of the sixth started with an infield hit for Farmer. He would be doubled off when Keim got Taylor to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Marlow got on with a hit, but then Urbain popped out to negate any further scoring threat. The Lions put two more up in the bottom of the inning.
Though Osborn struck out to start, Pugh came up next and belted a tape-measure solo home run to left field. Ramey got on with an infield single after that. Keim then drew his fourth walk of the game and then Thompson then got on with a hit. A hit batsman for Welsh with the bases loaded brought in the other run of the inning. That made it a 9-3 Lions lead after six innings of play.
Keim went back to the mound in the seventh looking to finish the job he started and did exactly that. Schultz got on base thanks to an error, then Taylor lined out to center. A strikeout of Phegley brought an end to the game and gave Marshall the victory by the final of 9-3. They next take on Sullivan in the first round of regionals on Monday at home, 11:00 a.m.