It is not the way the defending Marshall County Babe Ruth League champions wanted to open the season Tuesday night at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Field at Lewisburg.

The 2015 Farm Center of Chapel Hill champs played the Columbia Deli Dawgs to a 3-3 tie, heading to the top of the seventh inning when Columbia decided not to continue, giving Chapel Hill a 7-0 forfeit win according to Babe Ruth league rules.

The entire stats also count except for the naming of a winning or losing pitcher because the game was tied at the time of the forfeit.

Chapel Hill scores

After a scoreless first inning, Chapel Hill scored two runs in the top of the second as starting pitcher Blaize Sweeney walked to lead off the rally and was replaced at first base by courtesy runner Jay Lyons.

Allante Watts sacrificed Lyons all the way to third base before Jarvis Lyttle knocked him home with a double to left field.

Lyttle stole third base and the throw to try to get the Farm Center left fielder sailed away, allowing the second run to come home.

Sweeney held the Deli Dawgs scoreless through three innings and in the top of the fourth, Lyttle doubled to right field with one out and came home on a Jaylen Smith two-out RBI double, making 3-0.

Lyons came to the mound for Sweeney with two on and one out in the bottom of the inning and got out of the jam with a strikeout and the inning ended when Smith nailed Kavares Tears trying to steal third base.

Deli Dawg starting pitcher Jacob Perry set down Chapel Hill 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth before Columbia tied the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI by pool players Walker and Bryson Whaley and an unearned run.

The extra player pool was created by the Marshall County Babe Ruth League Board to compensate the Deli Dawgs' lack of a full roster.

Sudden stop

Chapel Hill did not score in the top of the sixth inning and Dustin Brashear set down the Deli Dawgs 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame before the Columbia coaching staff decided not to continue the game.

Smith and Lyttle had two hits apiece for the Farm Center, while Franklin Walker and Walker Whaley had a pair of base knocks each for Columbia.

Farm Center 020 100-3 6 0

Deli Dawgs 000 030-3 5 4

Farm Center: Jaylen Smith 2-for-3, Jarvis Lyttle 2-for-3, Dylan Pendley 1-for-3, Dustin Brashear 1-for-2

RS: Lyttle 2, Blaize Sweeney 1

BB: Smith, Brashear, Sweeney, Jay Lyons

2B: Lyttle 2, Smith

RBI: Smith, Lyttle

ROE: Luke Terry

SB: Lyttle, Sweeney

Deli Dawgs: Franklin Walker 2-for-2, Walker Whaley 2-for-2, Bryson Whaley 1-for-2

RS: Preston Shelton, Walker Whaley, Bryson Whaley

BB: Kavares Tears 2, Walker, Shelton, Jacob Perry

2B: Walker Whaley

3B: Walker Whaley

RBI: Walker, Walker Whaley

FC: Spencer Fields