After winning their first game in the District 12AA tournament versus Murfreesboro Central Magnet 4-1, the Marshall County Tigers faced longtime rival Giles County in round two at Nolensville on Friday afternoon.

Giles County and MCHS had split their two-game series during the regular season, but the Bobcats jumped out to five run lead in the first inning then held on as the Tigers roared back to trail by one run with the tying run on third base and the go ahead run at second before a close play at first shut the door and Giles County eked out a 9-8 victory.

John Thomas Morgan went 2-for-2 with three RBIs to lead the Tigers as five Bobcat errors and three hit batsmen aided the MCHS cause.

Bryson Hammons started for the Tigers on the mound, giving up four hits and five runs in only one-third of an inning.

Logan McKnight came on in relief of Hammons for four innings and Grayson Miller finished out the game for the Tigers.

Jake Cardin started for the Bobcats and got out of a two-on, one out jam in the top of the first inning.

The Bobcats scored first with one out in the bottom inning on a single by Clay Mitchell and a double by Coleman Siniard to make it 1-0.

Jake Cardin walked and Riley Cardin was hit by a pitch before Sawyer Phillips drew a walk to force in another run.

Hammons walked another Bobcat and the Tigers were behind 3-0.

Cooper Hulbb singled in two more runs and the lead was now 5-0 after one inning.

Marshal County went quietly in the top of second and the Bobcats struck again in the bottom of the inning.

After McKnight gave up two hits, an error in the outfield allowed a run to score and upped the Bobcat lead to 6-0.

“It was a bad inning for us, take that away (five-run inning) and it’s a different ball game,” Marshall County coach Mike “Monk” Reese said.

Trey Warner reached on blooper to lead off the top of the third inning, but was forced at second when Graves bounced into a fielder’s choice.

Ryan Kirby lofted a fly ball to center field that the Bobcat fielder could not handle to put two Tiger runners on base before Morgan singled to make it 6-1.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Tigers inched closer as Warner reached on error and Graves doubled to right field.

Ryan Kirby reached on an error at third base that allowed Warner to score to make it 6-2.

Morgan then slapped a double to right field to score Graves and Kirby.

A pop out and a strike out ended the threat, but the Tigers were within reach at 6-4.

The Bobcats answered in the bottom of the fifth inning with a single and back-to-back doubles that scored two runs.

Hulbb, who had doubled to plate two Bobcat runners, scored on a sacrifice fly by Tucker Toone to push the Bobcat lead to 9-4 at the end of the fifth inning.

Going into the top of the seventh inning and trailing by five runs, the Tigers’ chances looked slim.

It was at this point that the Giles County coaches decided to change pitchers, bringing in Clay Mitchell.

Mitchell gave up a single to Graves before Kirby and Morgan were hit by pitches.

Graves scored on a wild pitch before Hammons walked to reload the bases with no outs and the Bobcats had seen enough of Mitchell and called in Will Hargrove.

Hargrove struck out Caleb McElhaney, but Carson Cheek worked a walk to score Kirby to make it 9-6.

With two outs, J.W. Beasley slapped a ball to shortstop that was booted, rolling far enough away that Morgan and Hammons scored to make it a two-run game.

The Tigers had the tying run at third in Cheek and the go ahead run at second base in Beasley when Warner hit the ball to shortstop and on a bang-bang play at first, Warner was called out and the Bobcats had prevailed 9-8.

“Bad first inning, but we never quit and came back and with a hit could have tied it or went ahead,” Reese said. “That is what you want to do, put yourself in position to win or tie the game.”

“We are still in it (tournament) and we’ll need to bounce back.”

Marshall County 001 030 4-8 6 2

Giles County 510 030 0-9 14 5

MCHS: John Thomas Morgan 2-for-2, Peyton Graves 2-for-3, J.W. Beasley 1-for-4, Trey Warner 1-for-4.

RS: Graves 3, Ryan Kirby 2, Thomas, Bryson Hammons, Warner.

RBI: Morgan 3, Kirby, Carson Cheek.

2B: Graves, Morgan.

HBP: Kirby, Morgan 2.

LOB: 7

LP: Bryson Hammons (.1IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 1SO, 2BB)

Logan McKnight (4IP, 9H, 4R, 3ER, 3SO).

Grayson Miller (.2IP, 1H, 1SO).

Giles County: Cooper Hulbb 3-for-3, Clay Mitchell 3 for 4, Jake Cardin 2-for-4, Tucker Toone 1-for-3, Coleman Siniard 1-for-4, Sawyer Phillips 1-for-3, Will Hargrove 1-for-2, Kaamari Turner 1-for-2, Riley Cardin 1-for-3.

RS: J. Cardin 2, R. Cardin 2, Mitchell, Siniard, Phillips, Hargrove Hulbb.

RBI: Hulbb 4, Toone, Siniard, Phillips, Hargrove.

2B: Phillips, Hargrove, Siniard, Hulbb

ROE: R. Cardin.

SB Karmi Turner.

CS: Clay Mitchell.

LOB: 6

WP: Jake Cardin (6IP, 5H, 4R 0ER, 8SO, 1BB).