Former Marshall County High School baseball standout Chad Kirby defeated his alma mater for the first time as the head coach of Summit on Monday night, as the Spartans beat the Tigers 4-2 in Spring Hill to hand MCHS their first loss of the season.

Having won all four meetings against Summit last year, Marshall County (1-1, 0-1 District) held a 2-1 lead through the first four and a half innings of play, but Summit (1-4, 1-0 District) tallied three runs in the bottom of the fifth to seize a 4-2 advantage before holding the Tigers scoreless over the final two frames.

"It's good to finally beat them. What's better is that we were 0-4 coming into tonight so it was nice to start District play with a win," said Kirby. "It's also good because Marshall County is the defending District champ so this is a big win for our program."

The Tigers outhit the Spartans 8-4 overall, but Summit held a 7-1 edge in walks while both teams stranded six runners on base. Catcher Chandler Harmon and Ryan McDaniel both notched two hits to lead Marshall County at the plate. Bubba Houghton, Aaron Hobbs, Matt Sharp, and Hayden Bailey each registered one hit for the Tigers as well with Houghton driving in a run.

"We hit the ball in the air too much and Summit made the plays," said MCHS coach Steve Reese. "Now we know what we're up against. We've got to get a win tomorrow and get a split because we can't afford to fall back in the District standings early in the season."

Marshall County starting pitcher Dylan McKnight suffered the loss, allowing three runs in four and a third innings of work on four hits and four walks to go along with four strikeouts. Bailey then came on in relief of McKnight and recorded five strikeouts over an inning and two-thirds while yielding one run on three walks. Harmon aided his pitching staff's cause by throwing out two Summit runners on the base paths to help snuff out a pair of Spartan scoring threats.

Jordan Kelley doubled and scored a run to account for Summit's lone extra base hit of the contest, while Karlton Turcois (1 RBI), Cody Campbell (1 RBI), and Will Dalton all singled. Spartan starting hurler Dale Burdick went the distance on the mound to earn the victory and registered seven strikeouts in the contest.

Both teams left runners in scoring position in the first inning before the Tigers plated a run in the top of the second to grab a 1-0 lead. Following a leadoff infield single by Harmon, courtesy runner Zach Gordon advanced to second on a Grayson Wiles sacrifice bunt prior to racing home on a RBI single by Houghton.

Summit mounted an immediate response and pushed across a run in the bottom of the second thanks to a leadoff double by Kelley, a Campbell bunt single, and a RBI single by Dalton to tie the game at 1-1.

Marshall County reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth when Hobbs scored on a RBI groundout by McKnight after drawing a one-out walk and advancing to third on a double by Sharp to give MCHS a 2-1 advantage.

The Tigers, however, were unable to keep the Spartans at bay, as Summit notched three runs in the bottom of the fifth with the help of four walks, a Turcois RBI single, a RBI fielder's choice by Nick Walker, and two balks to seize a 4-2 lead.

Burdick then worked around a two-out double by Bailey in the top of the sixth before retiring Marshall County in order in the seventh inning to close out the win for Summit.