Coming off a 9-2 win over Warren County earlier in the day, the Marshall County Stars turned in their most complete performance at the 14-year old Babe Ruth State tournament when they thrashed Johnson City 16-0 in six innings on Saturday night in the second round of the loser's bracket.

The Stars swung hot bats the entire contest and pounded out 17 hits against four Johnson City pitchers to go along with five walks and a hit batsman.

Hitters' lineup

Catcher Ben Taylor and third baseman Brayden Gentry both tallied three hits and 2 RBI to lead Marshall County's offensive onslaught, while right fielder Austin Wood (3 RBI), Will Johnson (2 RBI), Brett McGehee (1 RBI), and Logan Bailey notched two hits apiece. Starting pitcher Trent Richardson, Jay Howard, and Iendi Biggers each added a hit and 2 RBI for the Stars as well.

Richardson also shined on the mound and tossed a three-hit shutout to earn the victory while issuing three walks and recording four strikeouts. The Stars played solid defense behind Richardson and turned two double plays while Taylor threw out a Johnson City base runner on a steal attempt.

Colby Martin, Colton Birchfield, and Jerry Howard each had one hit to pace Johnson City at the plate. Johnson City starting pitcher Jordan Holly suffered the loss and yielded seven runs over five innings on 12 hits and two walks.

Winning beginning

Marshall County grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when McGehee scampered home on a RBI single by Howard after belting a leadoff double to deep centerfield and advancing to third on a wild pitch.

The Stars left the bases loaded in the top of the second, but plated two runs in the third inning to open up a 3-0 advantage. After drawing a leadoff walk, Johnson advanced to third on two passed balls before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Gentry. Following a double by Richardson, Taylor drove in courtesy runner Hunter Bradford with a RBI double.

Johnson City had a chance to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the third and put runners on first and third with two outs thanks to two walks and two wild pitches, but Wood caught a sinking line drive by Birchfield to extinguish the threat.

Onslaught is on

Marshall County began to quickly pull away after that point, as they tallied two runs in the top of the fourth on a pair of RBI singles from McGehee and Johnson to make it 5-0 before stretching their lead to 7-0 in the fifth inning with the help of a two-run single by Wood.

In the top of the sixth, the Stars then put down the hammer and crossed home plate eight times in the frame on the strength of a Richardson RBI fielder's choice, a RBI single by Taylor, a Wood RBI single, a two-run single by Biggers, a couple of bases loaded walks by Johnson and Howard, a Gentry RBI single, and a Richardson RBI groundout to forge a 16-0 advantage.

Richardson then worked around an error in the bottom of the sixth with the aid of a 4-3 double play to keep the mercy rule in effect.

Marshall County's tournament run would come to an end on Sunday afternoon when they were defeated 10-6 by Cookeville in the third round of the loser's bracket.