Dusters fall to Shelbyville Post 23

The Marshall County Dusters (16-5-1) had their three-game winning streak snapped on Monday night when they suffered a 4-0 road loss to Shelbyville Post 23 in the first game of a doubleheader.

Coming off a nine-day layoff, Marshall County looked rusty at the plate and mustered just five hits against Shelbyville starting pitcher Collin Baldwin and reliever Van Boyce. Matt Sharp went 2-for-3 with a stolen base to pace the Dusters offensively, while Aaron Thomason, Brandon Bush, and starting hurler Cody Vernon each had one hit.

Baldwin picked up the victory on the mound for Post 23 after yielding three hits in three scoreless innings of work to go along with three strikeouts.

Shelbyville, meanwhile, tallied eight hits and a walk against three Marshall County hurlers. Catcher Heath Sain swung the hottest bat for Post 23, going 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. David Pearson and Jonathan Pearson both tallied a double and a RBI as well, while Parker Gunn, Blair Dukes, T.J. Cooper, and Taylor Paschal all singled with Paschal driving in one run.

Vernon suffered the loss for Marshall County and allowed three runs on five hits over two innings. Ryan McDaniel came on in relief of Vernon and gave up one run on three hits in two innings of work, before Dylan McKnight took the hill and yielded only one walk over two scoreless innings.

Baldwin worked around a pair of singles by Thomason and Bush in the top of the first inning before Shelbyville grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the frame when Gunn scored on a Duster throwing error after singling, advancing to second on a Sain single, and stealing third.

Post 23 extended their lead to 3-0 in the second by pushing across two runs in the frame on three hits. After singling and stealing second base, Dukes advanced to third on a single by Cooper prior to coming home on a Jonathan Pearson fielder's choice. Pearson then advanced to third with the help of a wild pitch and a passed ball before scoring on a RBI single by Paschal.

In the third inning, Shelbyville tacked on another run thanks to a Sain bunt single, a Marshall County throwing error, and a RBI double by David Pearson to open up a 4-0 advantage.

The Dusters then left runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings before Boyce retired Marshall County in order in the top of the seventh to close out Post 23's victory.