After posting a 2-0 record at the rain shortened Sevierville Classic last weekend, the Marshall County Dusters had their modest two-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night when they lost 8-4 to the Shelbyville Golden Eagles on the road.

Playing nine innings instead of the usual seven, the Dusters (4-5) dug themselves an early hole and trailed 6-1 through the first five frames.

Late attempt

Marshall County then made a late charge and cut the deficit to 6-4 in the top of the eighth inning, but the Golden Eagles countered with two runs in the bottom half of the frame to open up an 8-4 advantage before holding the Dusters scoreless in the ninth.

Although Marshall County finished with 11 hits and four walks against four Shelbyville pitchers, the Dusters left 13 men on base overall, including 10 in scoring position.

Lane Whitesell, Matt Sharp, Cameron Isley, and Ryan McDaniel tallied two hits apiece to pace Marshall County at the plate, while Jay Murphy (2 RBI), Dylan McKnight (1 RBI), and Zack Kirby each had one hit.

Shelbyville, meanwhile, pounded out 12 hits and drew three walks against three Duster hurlers, but were also aided by four Marshall County errors, which contributed to three of their eight runs.

Bad start

"We got off to a bad start and you can't leave 13 runners on base and make four errors and expect to beat anyone good. We just didn't get enough hits with runners on base and made our comeback too late," said Dusters coach Mike Reese. "I thought our pitchers threw well, but we didn't play good defense behind them."

Marshall County starting pitcher Hayden Bailey suffered the loss after allowing four runs over one plus inning on six hits and a walk. McKnight then came on in relief of Bailey and yielded two unearned runs in four innings of work on four hits and two walks to go along with five strikeouts. Sharp also saw time on the mound for the Dusters and gave up two runs in three innings on two hits while registering five strikeouts.

Eagles lead

Shelbyville left two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the first inning, but pushed across four runs in the second on five hits, a walk, and a Marshall County throwing error to grab a 4-0 lead.

In the top of the third, the Dusters plated a run to trim the deficit to 4-1. Following a one-out walk by McDaniel, Connor Bush hit into a fielder's choice to replace McDaniel on the base paths. After Whitesell and Sharp both singled to load the bases with two outs, Houghton drew a walk to bring home Bush.

The Golden Eagles then tallied a run in the bottom of the third with the help of a two hits and a throwing error to open up a 5-1 advantage before tacking on another unearned run in the fifth thanks to a pair of singles and an error to make it 6-1.

Dusters fight back

Marshall County made things interesting in the top of the eighth by crossing home plate three times in the frame to narrow the gap to 6-4. Following consecutive one-out walks by Bubba Houghton and Trent Wiles, Wiles was thrown out at second on a fielder's choice by Kirby. McKnight then plated Houghton with a RBI single before Kirby and McKnight scored on a two-run single by Murphy.

Shelbyville mounted an immediate response and extended their lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run homer by Alex Birdsong before the Dusters left men on first and third in the top of the ninth.