The Marshall County Dusters (2-1) suffered their first loss of the summer season on Saturday morning when they were defeated 6-5 in six innings by the Summit Spartans at Columbia Central High School during pool play of the Southern Athletic Fields Invitational.

Summit pounced on the Dusters early and built a 5-0 lead through the first two innings of play before withstanding multiple rally attempts by Marshall County to hang on for the one-run victory.

The Spartans mustered only four hits in the contest, but took advantage of seven walks and four Duster errors, which contributed to five of Summit's six runs. Leadoff hitter Karlton Turcois set the table for the Spartans' offense by going 2-for-3 with a walk, two stolen bases, and three runs scored, while Nick Walker added a RBI double.

Rough day

"We made too many errors at the start of the game and the time limit got us at the end. We might have caught them if we had played that last inning," said Marshall County coach Mike Reese. "That's the way summer ball is. Some days you play well and some days you don't."

Duster starting pitcher Lane Whitesell suffered the loss after allowing five runs, only one earned, in an inning and two-thirds on two hits and four walks. Cameron Isley then came on in relief of Whitesell and yielded one unearned run over four and a third innings on two hits and three walks to go along with four strikeouts.

Marshall County finished with a modest six hits and three walks against three Summit pitchers. Bubba Houghton paced the Dusters at the plate by going 2-for-2 with a homerun and 2 RBI. Dylan McKnight (1 RBI) also tallied two hits for Marshall County, while Hayden Bailey (1 RBI) and Ryan McDaniel each had one hit.

Early deficit

Summit grabbed an early 1-0 lead by pushing across a run in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a leadoff single by Turcois, a walk, a passed ball, and two Duster errors.

The Spartans then padded their lead in the bottom of the second and tallied four runs in the frame on three walks, two wild pitches, a passed ball, a Walker RBI double, and two stolen bases to forge a 5-0 advantage.

The Dusters narrowed the gap to 5-2 in the top of the third when Houghton cranked a two-run homer over the left centerfield fence after Zack Kirby drew a leadoff walk.

In the top of the fourth, Marshall County continued to chip away at the deficit and plated two more runs to make it 5-4. After McKnight and McDaniel singled to put runners on first and third with no outs, Bailey drove in McKnight with a RBI single to close the gap to 5-3 before McDaniel scored on a wild pitch.

Late comeback try

Summit then tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth when Turcois scored on a Duster throwing error after singling, advancing to second on a groundout, and stealing third.

The Dusters tried to battle back once again and notched a run in top of the sixth to whittle the deficit to 6-5. Following a leadoff walk by Matt Sharp, McKnight ripped a RBI double into the right field corner, but was thrown out at third on the play trying to stretch it into a triple.

The Spartans left runners on the corners in the bottom of the sixth, before the game was called due to time restrictions.