The Marshall County 12U All-Stars opened up the Babe Ruth Southeast Regional Tournament with a 9-1 loss versus Winchester, Va. in Lewisburg Wednesday night.

Marshall County fell into a first-inning4-0 hole as Winchester swung some hot bats, while being aided by a couple of fielding mistakes by the host squad.

Jalen Tyson, Michael Robertson, Colby Monroe, and Ronnie Hileman all drove home a run for Winchester in the frame.

Chandler Ballenger started on the hill for Winchester and struck out five out of the eight batters he faced in his two innings of work.

Game MVP

Ballenger picked up the win for the Virginia squad and was eventually named the game MVP for his outstanding effort on the mound.

Winchester added three additional runs in the top of the second inning to take a 7-0 lead as Tyson came up with a fielder's choice RBI and Ethan Pierce came through with an RBI single in the stanza.

Sam Williams led off the bottom of the second inning with the only base hit off Ballenger, who whiffed the next three Marshall County batters to end his stint on the hill.

There was no scoring in the third inning, but in the top of the fourth, Winchester added an unearned run to make it an 8-0 contest.

No score

Hileman, who came on for Ballenger in the bottom of the third inning, escaped a bases-loaded two-out jam in the bottom of the fourth inning to keep the host squad off the scoreboard.

Peyton Rutherford led off the top of the fifth inning with a base hit for Winchester and would eventually come around to score, putting Marshall County in a 9-0 hole.

Hileman set down Marshall County 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth, while Carson Blackwell blanked the visitors in the top of the sixth.

Williams led off the home half of the sixth inning with a base hit up the middle, but was erased at second on a fielder's choice groundout by Blake Aldridge.

Marshall scores

Aldridge would go on to steal second base and take third on an error before coming home on a fielder's choice RBI by Jake Singleton, making it a 9-1 contest.

Hileman got a pop-up to third base to end the contest.

Pierce (2-3, RS) had two hits for Winchester, while Ballenger (1-3, 2RS, BB, HBP), Tyson (1-2, 2RBIs, 2BB), Robertson (1-4, RS, RBI), Monroe (1-2, RBI, 2BB), Hileman (1-4, RBI), Calvin Bowser (1-2), Rutherford (1-4, RS), and Jarrett Kelchner (1-3, RBI) all had one base knock apiece for Winchester in the game.

Williams had two out of the three hits in the game for Marshall County, while Preston Shelton had the other base knock.