By Thomas Duzan
On a picture-perfect weather day on Memorial Day Monday the Marshall Lions were set to play host to the Sullivan Redskins in their first regional game at Hornbrook Field. It was a rematch of a game from earlier in the season, a game that was won by the Lions in walk-off fashion.
There was little doubt who would come out on top for this one, as Marshall had a couple of big inning on the way to winning by the score of 7-2.
For this win or go home scenario, Payton McGuire was tapped to be the Lion starting pitcher. He would end up having a relatively smooth top of the first. He started the game getting a leadoff groundout from Marshall Robison. He then gave up a walk to Caden Saul but then struck out both Fallon Rose and Christian Ogle.
McGuire began the bottom of the first at the plate with a leadoff single. He soon after advanced to second but wouldn’t go any further. Tucker Osborn grounded out, Garrett Pugh struck out and Reed Ramey grounded out to send the game to the second scoreless at 0-0.
McGuire made quick work of the Sullivan hitters in the top of the second, as he got Gavin Wade and Zaden Hussong to ground out, then he struck out Kolton Wiley. Marshall got the first two batters of the inning on base with walks to Liam Keim and Eli Thompson. From there, Max Welsh struck out.
Branson Maskell then hit a dribbling ground ball down the first base line that advanced both runners into scoring position with two outs. Unfortunately, a strikeout of Gavan Propst stranded them on base, and so after two innings the game was still 0-0.
The top of the third saw McGuire go back to work and he set Sullivan down 1-2-3. Owen Hooton and Brady Stollard popped out, and Robison grounded out for the third out. McGuire got the bottom of the third started with a leadoff double. Osborn then bunted him over to third on a sacrifice bunt.
With a base open and one out, Sullivan took no chances with Pugh, electing to put him on base with an intentional walk. McGuire and Pugh both got into scoring position at second and third, but once again the Lion bats came up empty as Ramey struck out and Keim flew out to end the inning. So the game went to the fourth remaining 0-0.
McGuire started to labor a bit in the top of the fourth. He gave up a leadoff walk to Saul. He later looked to take second, but a bad jump combined with a good throw from Propst got him out at second. He also gave up walks to Rose and Ogle. From there, Wade grounded into a fielder’s choice, and then Hussong grounded out to keep Sullivan off the scoreboard.
It was in the bottom of the fourth when the Lions finally broke through offensively. The inning began with a hit for Thompson. Following a failed bunt attempt for Welsh, Maskell got on with an infield single. Propst was then hit by a pitch. McGuire then came up and drew a walk.
On McGuire’s walk, the first run of the game came in to score. With the bases remaining loaded, Osborn drove in another run with an RBI single. Two batters later, Ramey got on base thanks to an error, on which two more runs came across to score. Eight batters helped to get four runs across, making it a 4-0 game in favor of Marshall going to the fifth.
Hooten got on base with a one out walk in the top of the fifth, but he soon after would become the second runner thrown out looking to steal second. A walk to Stollard and single for Robison put runners at first and second, but then McGuire struck out Saul to negate any further threat.
The Lions got a walk for Keim and a single from Maskell, but nothing came of it as Propst grounded out to send the game to the sixth still 4-0 Lions.
McGuire labored once again in the sixth, giving up a hit, walk and hitting two batters. But Hooten struck out to keep runs off the board. The bottom of the sixth saw McGuire lead off, and he helped his own cause by sending the first pitch of the inning out to left field for a solo home run. Osborn would follow up with a double.
Pugh came up next and knocked in Osborn with a stinging line-drive to right-center field for an RBI single. After Ramey struck out, Keim got on with an infield single. After a walk to Thompson, Ayden Houpt grounded into a fielder’s choice, which brought in another run. Those three runs made it 7-0 game going to the seventh.
Stollard started the seventh reaching base on an error, then Robison singled. He later scored on a wild pitch. A strikeout of Saul brought an end to the outing of McGuire, and then Pugh came on to pitch in relief, with McGuire going to third. He first faced Rose, who drove in their second run on an RBI groundout for the second run.
He then surrendered a walk to Ogle but got a strikeout of Wade to bring the game to a close and give Marshall the win by the 7-2 final score. They move on in the Bismarck-Henning regional to face off against St. Joseph-Ogden at 3:00 Wednesday at Bismarck-Henning High School.