On a beautiful Friday Spring evening with the spotlight on MCHS’ nine seniors, the 3A Lincoln County Falcons travelled to Joe George Field in Lewisburg to take on the Marshall County Tigers in a non-district matchup.

The Tigers scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning to overcome an early 3-0 deficit and then had to hold on as Lincoln County tied the score before MCHS pulled out a victory on a rarely seen obstruction call in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 5-4.

The game itself was as good a baseball game as could be witnessed or as Tigers’ head coach Mike “Monk” Reese stated, “Nothing like fundamental baseball. We played a solid defensive game, our pitcher made them hit ground balls and we made the plays.”

“This time of year, if you’re going to be successful, you need to do these things and you’ve got to do this on every play.”

Logan McKnight pitched an impressive game as he limited the potent Falcons’ lineup to four runs (two earned) on six hits, striking out six and walking two.

“My change-up work really well all night and my curve came around at the end,” McKnight said.

Carson Cheek relieved McKnight with one out in the top of the seventh to garner the win.

“Logan pitched well, but it was good situation to bring Carson in,” Reese said. “As we head to tournament play, he may be called on to come in to do this.”

Falcons’ middle reliever and closer Miles Smith started for Lincoln County and the fire-balling right-hander struck out five Tigers, but control issues enabled the MCHS nine to score four runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Chants Atchley relieved Smith with two outs in the bottom of the third and took the loss.

In the top of the first inning, Lincoln County loaded the bases as McKnight struggled with his control, hitting two Falcons and walking a third to load the bases with two outs.

McKnight settled down to strike out designated hitter Colton Monks to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first inning, MCHS put runners on via a walk to Peyton Graves, but a fielder’s choice by Ryan Kirby erased Graves.

An error on a ball hit by Caleb McElhaney put two Tigers on with two outs before a Smith wild pitch enabled both runners to advance to second and third base.

Smith bore down to strike out the next two Tiger batters and at the end of one inning, the score was 0-0.

The Falcons broke through in the top of the second inning as Brayden Cannon got aboard with a base hit and stole before Charlie Stubblefield walked.

McKnight struck out Chase Treola, but Tyler Anderson bunted to load the bases.

Smith drew a walk to force in a run and Parker Webb blasted a triple to center field to drive in two more runs and the Falcons led 3-0.

The bottom of the third inning saw the Tigers battle back and take the lead with Martin Methodist College signee Ryan Kirby tripling to right field to get things going.

A walk to McElhaney put two Tigers on base and with one out, Bryson Whaley grounded to third and Kirby was caught in a run-down attempting to score for the second out.

McElhaney advanced to third before scoring on a wild pitch to make the score 3-1.

Walks to McKnight and Blake Moreland loaded the bases and Christian Stacy drew a walk that scored Whaley to make it 3-2.

Lincoln County opted to make a pitching change, bringing in Atchley.

Caleb Grooms greeted Atchley with a base hit to right field, driving in McKnight and Moreland as MCHS took a 4-3 lead.

Sound baseball play by MCHS highlighted the next three innings.

McKnight weathered a Falcons’ threat when he got Atchley to ground into a nifty 6-4-3 double play in the fifth inning and after Lincoln County tied the game in the sixth inning on a base hit by Brayden Cannon, McKnight caught Cannon leaning and picked him off.

The seventh inning was full of tension as Treola led off with a hit and Anderson was gunned down attempting to go to second base after a bad throw with Treola making it to third on the play.

The Tigers then elected to bring in Cheek, who struck out Smith for the second out and the Tigers intentionally walked Webb.

Cheek spoiled the Falcons strategy when he got Atchley to ground to shortstop Moreland, who threw to McElhaney at first for the third out.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Cheek drove a ball to the fence for a long single and Grayson Miller came on as a pinch runner.

With Moreland at the plate, Atchley threw the ball away on an attempted pickoff play and the ball careened down the right field line as Miller took off, rounding second base and heading to third.

As he approached third base, Treola made a swipe tag, causing Miller to slide.

The only problem with that is Treola did not have the ball.

Attempting to tag a runner with no ball in hand is a form of obstruction and the umpire has the authority to award a base or bases to the runner.

Reese called timeout to talk to the umpires and after a brief consultation, Miller was awarded home plate and the Tigers won 5-4.

The District 12-AA Tournament begins Thursday for the Tigers as they travel to Murfreesboro Central Magnet School.

Central Magnet swept the regular season series over Marshall County, winning 7-0 at Murfreesboro and 7-4 at Lewisburg.

The winner faces second seeded Giles County on Friday at host Nolensville.

District 12-AA Final Standings

Nolensville (18-10, 8-2)

Giles County (12-14, 6-4)

MCM (14-14, 6-4)

Forrest (17-10, 4-6)

Community (19-11, 3-7)

Marshall County (12-10, 3-7)

Lincoln County 030 001 0-4 6 1

Marshall County 004 000 1-5 4 0

Lincoln County: Tyler Anderson 1 for 3, Brayden Cannon 1-for- 3, Chase Treola 1-for-3, Parker Webb 1-for-2.

RS: Charlie Stubblefield, Cannon, Anderson, Miles Smith.

RBI: Webb 2, Smith, Cannon.

3B: Webb.

SB: Cannon, Nate McAdams.

CS: Treola.

LOB: 6

LP: Chants Atchley (3IP, 1H, 1R 0ER, 1K, 3BB).

Miles Smith (3.1IP, 3H, 3R, 1ER, 5K, 7BB).

MCHS: Ryan Kirby 1-for-4, Caleb Grooms 1-for 2, Caleb McElhaney 1-for-1, Carson Cheek 1-for-1.

RS: Kirby, McElhaney, Bryson Whaley, Moreland, Grayson Miller.

RBI: Stacy, Moreland.

3B: Kirby.

BB: Peyton Graves 2, McElhaney 2, McKnight 2, Moreland, Stacy.

SB: Kirby 3, Griggs, Hammons.

LOB: 11

WP: Carson Cheek (1IP, 0H, 0R, 1K, 0BB).

Starting Pitcher: Logan McKnight (6IP, 6H, 4R, 2ER, 6K, 2BB).