Coming off a humbling 8-1 loss to Lewis County the previous evening, the Marshall County Tigers turned in one of their best performances of the season on Tuesday night when they defeated District 12-AA rival Spring Hill to hand the Raiders their first loss of the year in conference play.

After winning all three meetings against Spring Hill last season, MCHS (10-5, 6-3 District) was locked in a 1-1 tie with the Raiders through the first three and a half innings of play.

The Tigers' bats then began to heat up after that point, as they tallied six runs over the next three frames while Marshall County starting pitcher Matt Sharp held the Raiders (12-5, 8-1 District) scoreless the rest of the way.

Sudden change

Spring Hill had yielded less than two runs per game in their previous eight District contests, but the Tigers pounded out 11 hits and drew five walks against three Raider pitchers.

Second baseman Hayden Bailey had a night to remember and spearheaded Marshall County's offensive attack by going 4-for-4 with a triple, a homerun, 2 RBI, and two runs scored. Aaron Hobbs and Ryan McDaniel both notched two hits for the Tigers as well with Hobbs driving in three runs, while Grayson Wiles (1 RBI), Bubba Houghton, and Dylan McKnight each had one hit.

"This should give our confidence a big boost because Spring Hill was undefeated in District play. After the Lewis County loss, I told the guys that they needed to play with more with more heart and more pride," said MCHS coach Steve Reese. "It was nice to see the bats come alive too. We hit the ball really hard tonight."

Raider-stopper

Sharp turned in a stellar outing on the mound and held Spring Hill's usually potent offense under wraps, as he racked up nine strikeouts in seven innings of work while limiting the Raiders to one run on only five hits and a walk.

"Matt had a bad outing against Forrest in his last start, but he is such a competitor that he asked for the ball tonight and got the job done," said Reese.

David Andrews (1 RBI), Brandon Hardison, Cody Endicott, Cole Barksdale, and J.T. Farmer each recorded one hit for Spring Hill. Raider starting pitcher Jake User suffered the loss after allowing two runs over three plus innings on five hits and three walks.

Both teams left the bases loaded once in the first two innings of play before Bailey gave Marshall County a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third by blasting a solo shot over the left field fence for his second homer of the year.

Spring Hill tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth when Hardison scored on a RBI single by Andrews after smacking a two-out triple into the left centerfield gap.

Tiger attack

The Tigers quickly counterpunched and pushed across two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff double by Houghton, a Hobbs RBI single, a Raider error, and a RBI triple by Bailey to seize a 3-1 advantage.

MCHS continued to distance themselves from Spring Hill in the bottom of the fifth and stretched their lead to 5-1 by plating two runs in the frame. After McDaniel singled and Houghton drew a two-out walk, Hobbs laced a triple down the left field line to plate both runners.

The Raiders then left a runner at third in the top of the sixth before Marshall County tallied two more runs in the bottom half of the frame on a Bailey single, a walk by Zack Kirby, a Wiles RBI double, and a wild pitch to open up a 7-1 advantage.

In the top of the seventh, Sharp worked around a two-out triple by Endicott to wrap up win for the Tigers.