The Marshall County Dusters (18-15) wrapped up their season on Saturday afternoon when they lost 8-5 to the Dulins Dodgers at Middle Tennessee Christian High School in their final pool game at the MTSU Top Ten tournament.

Marshall County battled the Dodgers to a 4-4 tie through the first three and a half innings of play, but Dulins crossed home plate four times over the next three frames to seize an 8-4 lead before claiming the three-run victory.

Improvement

Having been shutout in their previous two contests, Marshall County finally experienced some success at the plate against the Dodgers and finished with seven hits overall to go along with four Dulins errors.

Bubba Houghton and Connor Bush both tallied two hits to lead the Dusters offensively, while Hayden Bailey, Chandler Harmon, and Zack Kirby notched one hit apiece.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, pounded out 10 hits and drew five walks against Marshall County starting hurler Cameron Isley and reliever Lane Whitesell.

Isley suffered the loss on the mound after surrendering five runs over five innings on seven hits and three walks. Whitesell then came in and yielded three runs in one inning on three hits and two walks.

Early lead

The Dusters grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Bush swiped home on a successful double steal after leading off the frame with a single and advancing to third on a Isley sacrifice bunt and a single by Sharp.

Isley worked around two walks in the bottom of the first with the help of a 5-2-6 double play, but Dulins tallied a run in the second inning on two hits to tie the game at 1-1 before pushing across three runs in the third on the strength of a hit batsmen, a single, and a pair of doubles to take a 4-1 lead.

Marshall County quickly erased the deficit by plating three runs in the top of the fourth with the aid of two Dodger errors, a single by Harmon, and a Houghton RBI double to knot the contest at 4-4.

Dulins fired right back and scored a run in the bottom of the fourth on a walk and a triple to pull ahead 5-4.

After the Dusters left the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, the Dodgers opened up some breathing room by crossing home plate three times in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a two-run homer and a RBI single to forge an 8-4 advantage.

Marshall County then notched a run in the top of the seventh with the aid of a Dulins error and a RBI groundout by Whitesell for the 8-5 final.