The Marshall County Tigers completed the season sweep of District 11-A foe Fairview on Thursday afternoon when they defeated the Yellow Jackets 12-2 at home in six innings.

After scoring 15 runs in the previous meeting between the two teams, MCHS (3-2, 2-2 District) once again feasted on Fairview pitching, as they banged out 10 hits and drew five walks against two Yellow Jacket hurlers.

Matt Sharp led Marshall County at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a double, 2 RBI, and three runs scored. Tiger starting pitcher Hayden Bailey also helped his own cause by going 2-for-3 with a homerun and 4 RBI, while Dylan McKnight (2 RBI), Aaron Hobbs (1 RBI), Ryan McDaniel (1 RBI), Ryan Richardson (1 RBI), and Chandler Harmon all had one hit.

Mound win

Bailey also went the distance on the mound to pick up his first win of the season and allowed two unearned runs on two hits and three walks in six innings of work to go along with two strikeouts.

"Hayden pitched a great ballgame. He struggled one inning where he gave up two runs because of an error, but all in all he threw well. He's tough to hit when he drops down and throws submarine style," said MCHS coach Steve Reese.

Max Cole and Fairview starting pitcher Seth McCormick each singled to account for both Yellow Jacket hits. McCormick suffered the loss on the mound as well, yielding six runs over four innings on three hits and five walks.

Early lead

The Tigers took advantage of some shoddy defense by Fairview in the bottom of the first inning, as they tallied a run thanks to two Yellow Jacket errors and a RBI groundout by McKnight to grab a 1-0 lead.

Marshall County left two runners in scoring position in the second inning before Fairview (4-5, 2-4 District) notched two runs in the top of the third on a Cole single, a Hunter Myatt walk, and a MCHS error to pull ahead 2-1.

The Tigers quickly overcame the deficit by plating two runs in the bottom half of the third to seize a 3-2 advantage. After drawing a leadoff walk and stealing second, Hobbs advanced to third on a McKnight groundout. Sharp then belted a RBI double to deep left field before stealing third and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Bailey.

MCHS began to open up some breathing room in the bottom of the fourth and pushed across three runs in the frame with the help of three walks, a Yellow Jacket error, two wild pitches, a balk, a Hobbs RBI groundout, and a RBI single by McKnight to make it 6-2.

In control

In the bottom of the fifth, Marshall County tacked on three more runs to open up a 9-2 advantage. Sharp led off the inning with a walk before Bailey belted a two-run homer over the left field fence. Following a walk by McDaniel, pinch runner Trent Wiles stole second and advanced to third on a Harmon groundout prior to coming home on a Richardson RBI single.

The Tigers then brought the mercy rule into effect in the bottom of the fifth by scoring three runs in the frame on the strength of a Hobbs infield single, a wild pitch, a RBI single by Sharp, a Bailey single, a Fairview error, and a RBI single by McDaniel to cap their 12-2 triumph.