Friday’s loss to Giles County sent the Marshall County Tigers to the District 12-AA Tournament loser’s bracket where if you win, you play every day and if you lose, you go home, season over.

These Tigers have taken it to heart, eliminating their northern neighbor Forrest Rockets 2-1 on Saturday and they came back with another gutsy performance on Monday versus Community.

Bryson Hammons had a big game on the mound and at the plate as the Tigers ousted the Vikings 6-0 to set up another game with their rivals from down south, the Giles County Bobcats.

Hammons, who did not get through the first inning in the loss to Giles County, came back with a gutty performance on the mound, battling the Vikings hitters and stranding 10 runners, striking out five, and walking four.

“This is a good come back for me after giving up those runs to Giles County on Friday,” Hammons said.

Hammons helped his own cause by going 2-for-2 at the plate, scoring two runs and driving in two.

One of the beauties of baseball is until the final out of the season is recorded, second chances are always there to redeem and fulfill dreams.

The Tigers came out ready to go in the first inning as Peyton Graves lined a base hit to center field.

Ryan Kirby sacrificed Graves to second and John Morgan Thomas brought him home with a base hit to left field.

Hammons lined a shot down the left field line and when the Viking left fielder slipped, Thomas came home to make the score 2-0.

With one out, Carson Cheek lined a base hit to center field and Hammons rambled home to push the lead to 3-0.

Hammons took the mound in the bottom of the first inning as the Vikings fought back.

With one out, Dillon Norris doubled to the gap in left field.

After Hammons retired Evan Petrie on a grounder to short with Norris taking third base on the play, Jackson Bailey worked a walk and stole second base.

The Vikings had runners in scoring position, but Hammons got Corey Paterick to fly out to Graves in right field for the third out.

In the bottom of the second inning, Hammons faced another threat as Sam Holley beat out a base hit on a bang-bang play at first.

Hammons struck out the next Viking hitter before Mason Russell singled to left field to put two runners on.

Holley advance to third base on a sacrifice fly, but was stranded as Will Reed bounced a ball to Tiger shortstop Trey Warner, who relayed to first for the third out.

The Tigers added to their lead in the top of the third inning as Kirby led off with a base hit to center field and Thomas doubled to left.

Hammons drove a fly ball to center field to score Kirby and the Tigers led 4-0.

With one out in the bottom of the third inning, an unusual play occurred when Petrie got aboard on a Tiger error and on a passed ball reached second base, but somehow he thought the ball had been fouled off and went back to first base as the Viking coaches were screaming at him.

Hammons retired the next two batters and as the saying goes, “No harm, no foul.”

The bottom of the fourth inning saw Hammons working hard as two Vikings got aboard via walks, but he got two strikeouts and a fly ball out to left field to stop the threat.

The Vikings threatened again in the bottom of the fifth inning, putting two runners on but again Hammons denied the threat by getting Holley on a called third strike.

The top of the sixth saw the Tigers cushion their lead as Hammons doubled to the wall in center field.

Caleb McElhaney singled and Carson Cheek singled home pinch runner Bryson Whaley to make the score 5-0.

Christian Stacy pinch ran for McElhaney and gained third on a wild pitch before scoring on another wild pitch to make it 6-0.

The Vikings, as they had done in every inning, got runners aboard in the bottom of the sixth, but Logan McKnight got out of the jam on a nice play by Thomas on an off-line throw to first base by coming off the bag to tag the Vikings’ runner for the third out.

Stacy came on in the bottom of the seventh and gave up a single to Bailey, but got Hawkins to fly out to Graves for the final out as the Tigers get to play Tuesday against Giles County with a chance to play in the district finals and a trip to the region tournament on the line.

“We talked about this game Saturday after winning and we felt that Hammons would keep their bats down and if we can hit the ball and play good defense, we liked our chances,” MCHS coach Mike “Monk” Reese said. “This was a good game for Bryson. The big inning in the first helps us because they have a good ball team.”

Nolensville beat Giles County 4-3.

MCHS 301 002 0-6 9 2

Community 000 000 0-0 6 0

MCHS: Bryson Hammons 2-for-2, Carson Cheek 2-for-3, John Thomas 2-for-3, Ryan Kirby 1-for-3, Peyton Graves 1-for-4, Caleb McElhaney 1-for-4.

RS: Hammons 2, Kirby, Graves, Thomas, McElhaney.

RBI: Hammons 2, Cheek 2, Thomas, McElhaney.

2B: Hammons 2, Thomas.

BB: Thomas, Hammons, J.W. Beasley.

SAC: Kirby.

SF: Hammons.

LOB: 5

WP: Bryson Hammons (5IP, 6H, 0R, 0ER, 5SO, 4BB).

Relief: Logan McKnight (1IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0SO, 0BB).

Relief: Christian Stacy (1IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0SO, 1BB).

Community: Jackson Bailey 2-for-3, Sam Holley 1-for-3, Dillon Norris 1-for-4, Jacob Hawkins 1-for-3, Mason Russell 1-for-3.

2B: Norris

BB: Bailey, Corey Paterick, Hawkins, Jacob Cooper.

SB: Jackson Bailey

HBP: Holley.

LOB: 13

LP: Jackson Bailey (2IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 2SO, 1BB).

Relief: Will Reed (5IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 5SO, 2BB).