Elks oust longtime rival MMC from tournament

Anthony S. Puca Sports Editor
Posted 7/15/20

The Silver pool loser’s bracket final took two days to be completed because of a weather suspension and a lightning delay, but when it was finally finished the Elks ended Marshall Medical Center’s season with a close 6-4 win.

The Marshall County Babe Ruth League’s postseason game began on Tuesday at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field as MMC starting pitcher Ashton Grubbs retired the side in order in the top of the first inning.

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Elks oust longtime rival MMC from tournament

Posted

The Silver pool loser’s bracket final took two days to be completed because of a weather suspension and a lightning delay, but when it was finally finished the Elks ended Marshall Medical Center’s season with a close 6-4 win.

The Marshall County Babe Ruth League’s postseason game began on Tuesday at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field as MMC starting pitcher Ashton Grubbs retired the side in order in the top of the first inning.

Grubbs produced a run all by himself in the home half of the inning as he rapped a leadoff single, stole and third base and scored when the throw from the catcher on the steal to third went in to the outfield.

Micah Riddle reached on a leadoff error in the top of the second and went to second on a wild pickoff attempt.

Bryce Tankersley followed with an infield single to put runners on first and third and then stole second base.

Elks’ starting pitcher Tanner Mullins tied the game with a fielder’s choice RBI groundout and Breken Inch followed in kind to make it 2-1.

MMC failed to score in the bottom of the second inning and the Elks took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third via an RBI single by Riddle.

Mullins set down MMC in order in the home half of the frame and Grubbs struck out three out of the four batters he faced in the top of the fourth before the skies opened up and the game was suspended with the Elks in front 3-1.

The game resumed at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Grubbs walked to lead off the bottom of the fourth and came around to score on an error, a base hit by Austin Kelley, and a wild pitch.

The Elks got the run back in the top of the fifth to make it 4-2.

In the bottom of the inning, Red Birds’ fill-in Dylan Jones rapped a two-run single that tied the game before another lightning delay halted play for 30 minutes.

The fifth inning ended after the delay and the Elks took the lead in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Tankersley and then added an unearned insurance run to make it 6-4.

Red Birds’ fill-in Chris Gilbert was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the inning for MMC and Kelley followed with an infield single.

A double steal put the runners on second and third with no outs when Mullins whiffed the next three MMC batters in order to end the game.

Mullins took the complete game win, giving up four runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out 12 and walking four MMC batters.

Elks 021 012-6 5 1

MMC 100 120-4 5 5

Elks: Bryce Tankersley 2-for-4, Michael Wilson 1-for-2, Micah Riddle 1-for-3, Conner Jones 1-for-3.

BB: Wilson, Breken Inch.

RS: Riddle 2, Thomas Beech, Wilson, Tankersley, Inch.

RBI: Riddle, Tankersley, Tanner Mullins, Inch.

HBP: Inch.

ROE: Beech, Riddle, Jones, Tankersley.

FC: Riddle, Mullins, Inch.

GIDP: Jones.

SB: Riddle 2, Beech, Tankersley.

CS: Tankersley, Inch.

LOB: 3

E: Riddle.

WP: Tanner Mullins (6IP, 5H, 4R, 2ER, 4BB, 12K).

MMC: Austin Kelly 2-for-3, Ashton Grubbs 1-for-4, Dylan Jones 1-for-1, Peyton Fowler 1-for-2.

BB: Jones 2, Cova Rowland.

RS: Grubbs, Rowland, Koen Fagan, Jones.

RBI: Jones 2.

HBP: Chris Gilbert.

SB: Grubbs 2, Kelly 2, Rowland, Gilbert.

LOB: 6

E: Jones 2, Grubbs, Kaden Fuller, Kelly.

LP: Ashton Grubbs (5IP, 5H, 4R, 2ER, 4BB, 6K).

Relief: Cova Rowland (1P, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 0K).