Senior pride shines as Marietta downs Belpre, 4-1
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MARIETTA -- Thursday night at Legion Field was Senior Night and the Pride of the Tiger seniors was shining bright as Marietta defeated Belpre 4-1.
Tiger coach Josh McKitrick elected to put all seven seniors in the starting lineup and they did not disappoint as each player played a part in a nice home victory.
The game was a pitching duel between Belpre's Noah Fullerton, who allowed just four Marietta hits, and Tiger senior Mark Duckworth, who allowed only two Belpre hits while going the distance on only 80 pitches.
The Bengals maximized their opportunity in the third inning as senior John Berry Wharff led off with a walk. Two outs later Duckworth worked a walk and when senior Josh Martin grounded to short, Duckworth beat the throw to second to keep the inning alive.
Tiger senior Adam Coil hit a sinking line drive to center field that dropped and skipped by the fielder as all three runners scored to make it 3-0 Tigers.
Meanwhile, Duckworth was in command of his pitches in his best outing of the season, striking out five of the first nine hitters.
"It was a stellar pitching performance by Mark tonight," said McKitrick. "We knew it was in there. It was nice to see. He was dominant tonight."
Belpre scored their only run in the fourth as Matt Deems drew a walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Evan Wells.
Marietta added a run in the fifth as senior Nicholas Early drove a one out double to left center.
"It was a fast ball and the hit felt great and it was fun to score," said Early.
Martin scored Early with a two-out single to left to make it 4-1 Tigers and Duckworth retired the final six batters in order to end the game.
McKitrick was also pleased with senior catcher Jaxson Bigley.
"Jax has been solid all year and has helped us out tremendously at the catching position," he said.
Marietta improved to 10-6 and will face Trimble at home today. Belpre dropped to 9-11 on the season.