On Monday night, Nichirin (7-5, 7-4) recorded their second straight lopsided victory when they defeated Marshall Medical Center 9-0 in five innings at Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Park.

Starting pitcher Stuart Warner went the distance on the mound for Nichirin to earn the victory and limited Marshall Medical Center (3-9, 2-9) to five hits and three walks in five scoreless innings of work while notching six strikeouts.

Winners' hits

Nichirin, meanwhile, banged out nine hits against two MMC hurlers to go along with a walk and three hit batsmen. Warner helped his own cause by going 3-for-3 with a double, 3 RBI, and two runs scored. Tata Davis (3 RBI) and Jay Howard (1 RBI) each tallied two hits for Nichirin as well, while Josh McKnight and Jacob Autry both had one hit.

Marshall Medical Center starting pitcher Trent Richardson suffered the loss and surrendered nine runs over one and a third innings on six hits. Nathan Derryberry came on in relief of Richardson and yielded three hits and a walk in two and two-third scoreless innings of work while registering five strikeouts.

Ethan Poteete was MMC's biggest bright spot offensively, as he went 3-for-3 with four stolen bases. Nate Huitt and Jackson Coward also had one hit apiece for Marshall Medical Center.

Early chance

MMC had a chance to take the lead early in the contest when they loaded the bases with two outs thanks to a Poteete single and a pair of walks from Derryberry and Payton Hood, but Warner fanned the next Marshall Medical Center batter to escape the jam.

Nichirin got their bats going in the bottom of the first inning and pushed across four runs in the frame to take a 4-0 lead. Madison Peete was hit by a pitch to start the inning before scoring on a Howard single and an error by MMC's left fielder. After driving in Howard with a RBI bloop single to make it 2-0, Warner advanced to third on another Marshall Medical Center error while Josh McKnight reached second base on the play. Davis then plated Warner and McKnight by slapping a two-run single into centerfield.

Final five runs

Warner worked around a couple of singles by Coward and Huitt in the top of the second before Nichirin crossed home plate five more times in the bottom half of the inning on the strength of a hit batsman, a Howard RBI single, a two-run double by Warner, a McKnight single, a Davis RBI single, and two errors to open up a 9-0 cushion.

After leaving a runner in scoring position in the top of the third, MMC had another chance to spoil Warner's shutout bid in the fifth inning when they put men on second and third with two outs thanks to a Poteete single, a Derryberry walk, and a wild pitch. Marshall Medical Center would come away empty handed once again, as Warner struck out the next MMC hitter to keep the mercy rule intact.