The Marshall County Dusters (6-5) completed the sweep of a doubleheader against Murfreesboro Central Magnet by defeating the Tigers 9-6 in four innings at home on Thursday evening in the nightcap.

After building a 7-2 lead in the first inning of play, the Dusters saw Murfreesboro Central Magnet whittle the deficit to 7-6 in the top of the second.

Sudden halt

The Tigers would come no closer, as Marshall County held Murfreesboro Central Magnet scoreless the rest of the way while tacking on a couple of insurance runs to claim their sixth win of the season.

The Dusters showed good patience at the plate and finished with six hits and eight walks against two Tiger pitchers to go along with two MCM errors. Dylan McKnight paced Marshall County at the plate by going 2-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored, while Jay Murphy (1 RBI), catcher Chandler Harmon (1 RBI), starting hurler Cameron Isley (1 RBI), and relief pitcher Grayson Wiles each had one hit.

Wiles also picked up the victory on the mound and allowed two hits and two walks in two and a third scoreless innings of work to go along with two strikeouts. Isley had to settle for the no decision after surrendering six runs over an inning and two-thirds on two hits and seven walks.

Jacob Crume (2 RBI), Alex Ropp (1 RBI), McKenzie Jackson, and Zach Long each notched one hit for Murfreesboro Central Magnet. Tiger starting pitcher Mike Zipay suffered the loss and yielded seven runs in two-thirds of an inning on four hits and four walks.

Early scoring

Murfreesboro Central Magnet wasted no time getting on the board and plated two runs in the top of the first inning on three walks, an Austin Worley sacrifice fly, and an RBI infield single by Crume to take a 2-0 lead.

The Dusters quickly surmounted the deficit in the bottom of the first when they crossed home plate seven times in the frame on the strength of a Murphy RBI infield single, a RBI single by Isley, two MCM errors, three bases loaded walks by Dunn Crowder, Connor Bush, and Hayden Bailey, and a RBI infield single by McKnight to seize a 7-2 advantage.

The Tigers then pushed across four runs in the top of the second with the help of four walks, a bloop single by Jackson, a hit batsman, and a wild pitch to narrow the gap to 7-6, before the Dusters stretched their lead to 8-6 in the bottom half of the frame behind a Wiles single and a RBI triple by Harmon.

No comeback

In the top of the third, MCM tried to mount another comeback attempt and put men on first and third with one out thanks to a Will Norfleet walk and a Long single. The Tigers, though, ended up running themselves out of the inning, as Norfleet was thrown out at home on a double steal attempt before Long was gunned down a few moments later when he tried to swipe third base.

The Dusters gave Wiles a little more wiggle room in the bottom of the third when Bailey scored on a passed ball to stretch their lead to 9-6 after Marshall County loaded the bases with two outs on walks by Bailey, Matt Sharp and Hougton.

Wiles then worked around a walk and a single by Ropp in the top of the fourth inning to secure the win for Marshall County.