After suffering a humbling 11-0 loss to the Franklin Stealth in the opening round of the 14-year old Babe Ruth State tournament the previous evening, the Marshall County Stars began their long journey through the loser's bracket by defeating the Warren County Pioneers 9-2 on Saturday afternoon in Manchester.

Marshall County held just a 1-0 lead through the first three innings of play, but saw their bats heat up shortly after that point and outscored the Pioneers 8-2 over the next two frames to pull away for the seven-run victory.

Buoyed by a six-run fourth inning, the Stars finished with nine hits and nine walks against three Warren County pitchers to go along with two hit batsmen and two Pioneer errors. Brayden Gentry (1 RBI) and Jay Howard both tallied two hits to lead Marshall County at the plate, while Brett McGehee (2 RBI), Logan Bailey (1 RBI), Austin Wood (1 RBI), Iendi Biggers, and Trent Richardson each had one hit.

Mound star

Despite having to overcome six errors by his defense, starting pitcher Will Johnson picked up the win on the mound for the Stars and yielded two unearned runs in five innings of work on five hits and one walk. McGehee came on in relief of Johnson and yielded a hit and two walks over two scoreless innings.

Marshall County catcher Ben Taylor helped his pitching staff's cause by throwing out two Pioneer base runners on steal attempts.

Warren County starting pitcher Jamey Jennings suffered the loss after surrendering six runs over three and two-third innings on seven hits and three walks. Jennings and Noah Fann both notched two hits to pace Warren County offensively, while Austin Melton, and A.D. Majors added one hit apiece.

The Stars wasted little time getting on the board and plated a run in the top of the first inning to grab a 1-0 lead. After Johnson was hit by a pitch, courtesy runner Hunter Bradford advanced to second on a bloop single by Howard before coming home on a Gentry RBI single.

Scoring charge

Jennings held Marshall County scoreless over the next two innings, but the Stars broke the game open by crossing home plate six times in the top of the fourth on the strength of a walk by Gentry, a Bailey RBI double, a RBI infield single by Wood, a Biggers single, a two-run single by McGehee, a hit batsman, and a Pioneer throwing error to forge a 7-0 advantage.

Warren County capitalized on some shoddy defense by Marshall County in the bottom of the fourth and pushed across two runs in the frame with the aid of a Melton infield single and four errors to trim the deficit to 7-2.

The Stars quickly counterpunched and tallied two runs in the top of the fifth to stretch their lead to 9-2. Following a leadoff single by Gentry, Richardson drew a walk before both runners moved up 90 feet on a Taylor groundout. After Gentry scampered home on a passed ball to make it 8-2, Richardson scored on a Pioneer throwing error a few moments later.

Threat ends

In the bottom of the fifth, Warren County loaded the bases with two outs thanks to a Jennings single and two errors, but Johnson retired Micah Woodlee on a fly out to escape the jam.

McGehee then worked around a walk and a single by Fann in the bottom of the seventh with the help of a 4-3 double play to wrap up the win for Marshall County.