Travelers rally for two wins

Brittan Williams led off the seventh with a single and scored the tying run as the Travelers snapped a seven-game slump with a come-from-behind victory. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The Travelers battled back from deficits twice over the weekend to split a pair of doubleheaders with late-inning heroics, the first victory snapping a seven-game losing streak -- and avenging an earlier sweep at the hands of the Macon USSSA squad.

Marshall led most of that road contest Saturday, singles by Jacob Philips and Ryan Smith -- newly returned to the line-up after being sidelined two weeks with a shoulder injury -- produced a first-inning run.

Matt Thomas doubled in a pair of runs for Macon in the third, but the Travelers answered n the fourth with four runs on four hits -- a double by Jordan Pannell and singles from Mike Castle, Phillips and Tanner Dillon.

Tucker Oliver blanked Marshall over the next two frames, Macon catching up when Gatlin Wiggans tripled in a run and scored on Tyler Hodge's single in the fourth and pulling in front on Austin Clapp's sixth-inning double.

Dillon reached on an error following Brittan Williams' lead-off single, then stole second base and came in with the go-ahead run when Smith cracked a double.

Dillon yielded only a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh for his first win of the season, 7-6.

Macon (7-2) jumped on top with four runs in the first inning of the nightcap, three on Thomas' homer, for a 9-4 win.

The Travelers could only chip into the deficit a run at a time. Sebastian Sims doubled and was plated by Phillips' single in the second. Three hit batters loaded the bases, so Castles' two-out walk forced in a run in the third.

Smith, Brock Musick and Josh Toliver singled for a run in the third which tightened the margin to 5-3 in the fourth, but an error led to a Macon run in its half of the inning.

Smith cracked his first homer in the sixth to close the gap to 6-4, but Macon racked up three runs in the sixth -- two on Josh McEwen's single -- to put the game out of reach.

As satisfying as it was for Marshall to beat an opponent which had whipped it by scores of 12-1 and 14-1 a week earlier, more impressive was the team's next win -- which came Sunday against a visiting Fulton American Legion Post 210 club which featured a number of college players from schools like William Woods and Hannibal-LaGrange.

The Travelers appeared overmatched in the first game, falling 13-2 as former Mexico all-NCMC hurler Ryan Hollenbeck tossed a four-hitter and struck out eight batters while not allowing an earned run.

Jacob Harrison, who helped lead Fulton to its first appearance in the MSHSAA Class 3 Championships since 1995, had three hits and drove in three runs for the Peacocks.

Marshall didn't help itself on defense. After committing only two errors the previous day, a positive step for a team which had racked up 46 boots for 42 unearned runs through its first 11 games, the Travelers had seven flubs for five unearned runs.

Those miscues were missing in the second game, although a dropped fly ball in the fourth inning helped stake the Peacocks to a 4-2 lead -- John Filkins' two-run, two-out double capping a three-run rally in the top of the first.

Fulton errors helped the Travelers score their first two runs, but then they started putting hits together -- although they had seen their hole deeper when Josh Gathright smashed an RBI double and stole home in the fifth.

Down 6-2, Marshall began its comeback in the bottom of the fifth. Smith doubled, Musick beat out a bunt and a thrown-away pick-off attempt let one run in. John Lozano's sacrifice fly plated Musick.

Phillips drove in a run with a single and came around on Phillips' double to tie the game in the sixth.

After that, it came down to pitching. While Lozano held the Peacocks at bay for three innings, Gathright's lead-off single eventually paid off with a run for Fulton (5-9) on a sac fly in the top of the ninth.

The Peacocks' second lead didn't last as long as their first one; one batter, to be exact, as Smith homered to start the Travelers' ninth. Toliver singled with one out, went to second on a wild pitch and came in with the game-winning run on Lozano's double.

Although he wasn't yet able to pitch, Smith's return to the field was a strong one: seven hits in 15 at-bats -- four for extra bases -- six RBIs and four runs scored. It should be noted, however, that even while injured Smith was a constant presence in the dugout -- exhibiting the type of leadership that could serve this young team well over the next two years.

In the meantime, Marshall (4-11) is looking for continued improvement -- having lifted a Mendoza-line team batting average of .201 some 20 points over the weekend -- during Wednesday's home rematch against Oak Grove.