The Elks (7-1, 6-1) tightened their grip on the top spot in the Marshall County Babe Ruth League standings by defeating second place Nichirin 7-6 in five innings on Tuesday night at Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Park.

After narrowly losing 4-3 to the Elks in their previous encounter on May 28, Nichirin (4-4, 4-3) appeared they would avenge that setback and held a 6-2 lead through the first three and a half innings of play.

Blazing bats

The Elks, however, saw their bats catch fire in the bottom of the fourth and pushed across five runs in the frame to seize a 7-6 advantage before the game was called at the end of the fifth inning due to time constraints.

Bolstered by their late offensive surge, the Elks finished with 10 hits against two Nichirin pitchers. J.D. Crabtree helped spark the Elks' late comeback by going 3-for-3 with a double, a RBI, and two runs scored, while Austin Wood added two hits and a stolen base. Starting pitcher Wilson Limbaugh (2 RBI), Will Johnson (1 RBI), Derrick McKnight (1 RBI), relief pitcher Jay Lyons, and Nathan Thomason each notched one hit for the Elks as well.

Lyons also picked up the victory on the mound and allowed three runs in two and two-third innings of work on five hits. Limbaugh had to settle for the no decision after yielding three runs, only one earned, over two and a third innings on one hit and five walks to go along with five strikeouts.

Josh McKnight went 2-for-3 with a RBI and two runs scored to pace Nichirin at the plate, while starting pitcher Stuart Warner (1 RBI), Tata Davis (1 RBI), Madison Peete, and Levi Hargrove each had one hit. Warner suffered the loss and yielded seven runs over four innings. Peete then came on in relief of Warner and recorded one strikeout in one perfect inning of work.

Close early

Both teams left two runners on base in the first inning before the Elks stranded a man at third in the bottom of the second.

Nichirin broke the scoreless stalemate in the top of the third inning and pushed across three runs in the frame with the help of single by McKnight, two walks, three Elk errors, two wild pitches, and a RBI fielder's choice by Hunter Bradford to grab a 3-0 lead.

The Elks then sliced the deficit to 3-2 by plating two runs in the bottom of the third thanks to a Crabtree single, two Nichirin errors, and two wild pitches.

In the top of the fourth, Nichirin hung another crooked number on the board and tallied three more runs in the frame on the strength of RBI singles by Josh McKnight, Warner, and Davis to forge a 6-2 advantage.

Winning edge

The Elks, however, quickly erased the deficit by crossing home plate five times in the bottom of the fourth to pull ahead 7-6. Following consecutive singles by Lyons and Thomason, Limbaugh belted a two-run triple to left field to close the gap to 6-4. Crabtree then drove in Limbaugh with a RBI double before coming home on a two-out RBI single by Johnson to tie the game at 6-6. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Johnson raced home on a Derrick McKnight RBI single to give the Elks the lead.

Each team then went down in order in the fifth before the game's time limit expired at the end of the inning.