On Thursday night, the Marshall County Tigers clinched the second seed in the upcoming District 12-AA tournament by hammering archrival Giles County 12-2 in six innings at Sam Davis Park to complete the season sweep of the Bobcats.

After narrowly defeating Giles County 4-3 in extra innings two days earlier, the Tigers (17-6, 13-3 District) held a 4-2 lead through the first five frames of Thursday's contest before exploding for eight runs in the top of the sixth to cruise to their sixth straight win.

Host team

Thanks to their triumph over Giles County, MCHS will now host one of the two four-team pools in the District tournament.

"This was a big win because we get home field advantage in the District tournament up until the championship game," said Marshall County coach Steve Reese. "We fell behind in the standings early in the year, but we've fought back and put ourselves in a good position. I think the we've gained confidence as the year's gone on."

Aided by their sixth inning outburst, the Tigers finished with nine hits and six walks against three Bobcat pitchers to go along with two hit batsmen and four Giles County errors.

Bubba Houghton (3 RBI), Grayson Wiles (2 RBI), and starting pitcher Matt Sharp (1 RBI) tallied two hits apiece to spearhead Marshall County's offensive attack with Wiles belting the first homerun of his MCHS career. Chandler Harmon (1 RBI), Zack Kirby, and Aaron Hobbs each had one hit for the Tigers as well.

Winning pitcher

Sharp also went the distance on the mound to earn the victory and limited the Bobcats to just two hits in the contest, while issuing no walks and notching five strikeouts.

"Except for one outing, Matt has been flawless for most of the year. He was hitting the corners all night and the umpire was calling them strikes," said Reese.

Trey Garrett (1 RBI) and Taylor Gilbert each singled to account for both Giles County hits. Bobcat starting pitcher Scott Shellhouse suffered the loss after yielding four runs in two and two-third innings on three hits and five walks.

The Tigers pounced on Giles County (8-20, 8-8 Distrcit) early and pushed across three runs in the top of the first inning thanks to a double by Sharp, three walks, a Ryan McDaniel RBI fielder's choice, a Bobcat error, and a RBI single by Harmon to grab a 3-0 lead.

Advancing

Marshall County left a runner in scoring position in the second inning, but tallied a run in the top of the third to open up a 4-0 advantage. After McDaniel and Ryan Richardson were both hit by pitches to put runners on first and second with one out, McDaniel raced home on a two-out RBI single by Houghton.

Sharp did not allow the Bobcats to reach base until the bottom of the fifth when Giles County plated two runs in the frame on a MCHS error, a Gilbert single, a passed ball, and a RBI infield single by Garrett to narrow the gap to 4-2.

The Bobcats' momentum would prove to fleeting, as the Tigers brought the mercy rule into effect by crossing home plate eight times in the top of the sixth inning with the help of Sharp RBI single, a RBI sacrifice bunt by Hayden Bailey, two Giles County errors, two wild pitches, a Houghton two-run single, and a two-run homer by Wiles to forge a 12-2 lead.

Sharp then retired the Bobcats in order in the bottom of the sixth to wrap up Marshall County's seventh consecutive victory over Giles County.