The Marshall County Thunder stormed through the first round of the 15-year old Babe Ruth District tournament, as they defeated Columbia 8-2 on Sunday afternoon at Sam Davis Park in Pulaski.

Marshall County held a 3-1 lead through the first four innings of play before outscoring Columbia 5-1 over the final three frames of the contest to claim the six-run victory.

Bolstered by their late offensive surge, the Thunder finished with eight hits and five walks against three Columbia pitchers. Ethan Poteete and J.D. Crabtree each tallied two hits and 2 RBI to lead Marshall County at the plate. Second baseman Wilson Limbaugh also notched two hits and scored two runs for Marshall County, while Josh McKnight (1 RBI) and Derrick McKnight both had one hit.

Good pitching

Thunder starting pitcher Stuart Warner turned in a solid effort on the mound and allowed one run in four innings of work on four hits and a walk en route to picking up the win. Josh McKnight came on in relief of Warner and yielded one run over three innings on three hits and a walk.

Paul Heard and Savon Tears both notched two hits to pace Columbia offensively with Heard driving in one run.

Marshall County pounced on Columbia early and pushed across three runs in the top of the first inning thanks to a single by Limbaugh, a Warner walk, two errors, a sacrifice fly by Crabtree, and a passed ball to grab a 3-0 lead.

Columbia had a chance to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the first when they put runners on second and third with one out thanks to a single, a walk, and a passed ball, but Warner snuffed out the threat by retiring the next two batters on a strikeout and a groundout.

Closing in

In the bottom of the fourth, Columbia narrowed the gap to 3-1 when Tears scored on an errant pickoff throw by Warner after belting a leadoff double.

The Thunder quickly counterpunched and plated two runs in the top of the fifth inning to open up a 5-1 advantage. After reaching base on an error, Madison Peete advanced to second on a passed ball prior to racing home on a RBI single by Poteete. Warner drew a walk and Crabtree singled to load the bases with one out before Poteete scored on a Columbia throwing error.

Ahead to stay

Columbia plated a run in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI double by Heard to whittle the deficit to 5-2, but Marshall County put the game out of reach by crossing home plate three times in the top of the seventh to stretch their lead to 8-2. Limbaugh led off the frame with a single before stealing second and coming home on a RBI double by Poteete. Following a walk by Warner, Crabtree drove in Poteete with a RBI bloop single to make it 7-2. Derrick McKnight then legged out an infield single to load the bases with no outs before Josh McKnight plated Warner with a RBI infield single.

Beard tried to spark a Columbia rally in the bottom of the seventh when he belted a two-out double to right field, but Limbaugh gunned down Beard at third base on the play to end the game..