In a wild game that included clutch hitting and base running to throwing errors and a one hour power outage both teams battled back and forth to set up a thrilling
7th inning.Marshall jumped on Hillcrest starter Josh Rogers early as the Patriots scored 4 runs in their half of the 1st inning. Parker James led the game off with a single and got into scoring position after stealing second base. An infield single from Tyler Childers advanced James to third and Jake Omedeo’s single to center field brought James home for Marshall’s first run. Designated hitter JW Ray smashed a double scoring both Childers and Omedeo to push the Marshall lead to 3-0. The Patriots increased their lead to 4-0 as JW Ray scored on a Josh Vanderburg blooper that was dropped.
Hillcrest matched Marshall with four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Josh Rogers hit a lead off single and James Adams drew a walk to set up a Justin Smith double that scored Trent Driver who replaced Rogers as a courtesy runner. Caleb Baucum then reached base on a throwing error which scored Adams to cut the deficit to 4-2. Hillcrest knotted the game at 4-4 when Thomas Woodruff nailed a two out single to score Smith and Baucum.
(Above) Caleb Baucum of Hillcrest connected on two big hits
Marshall grabbed two more runs in the 2nd inning as Jake Omedeo’s long fly to the wall in deep center couldn’t be caught scoring Elgin Lafever. Omedeo scored from third to give Marshall a 6-4 lead when Joey Omedeo’s grounder to third baseman Remarcus Stallings wasn’t handled.
Hillcrest punched back with two runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning, Remarcus Stallings drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third base on catcher Josh Vanderburg’s errant throw to first base. A Josh Rogers single to right field scored Stallings to trim the lead to 6-5. Trent Driver, running for Rogers, stole second and third base and then tied the game at 6-6 when Justin Smith’s infield grounder scored the freshman to tie the game. 
Both pitchers settled in and began controlling the batters to start the 3rd inning. Rogers began hitting his target as the southpaw struck out 11 of the next 12 batters he faced.
Marshall starter Will Patton retired six of seven Hillcrest batters after the second inning but ran into trouble in the bottom of the 5th inning. Caleb Baucum crushed a lead off double to deep center field followed by Austin Hartzog’s infield single. After Hartzog stole second, designated hitter Thomas Woodruff laid down a textbook bunt down the third base line to score Baucum and give Hillcrest their first lead of the game at 7-6. Patton controlled the damage as the senior struck out TJ Knowles and Drew Fountain to end the inning.
Marshall was primed to tie the game in the top of the 6th with one out when Parker James reached base on an infield hit and then stole second base. Elgin Lefever’s line drive smash that looked like it would clear the gap between third and shortstop was snagged on a diving catch by shortstop Austin Hartzog to save a run. 
Will Patton found himself in trouble again in the bottom half of the inning as Hillcrest had runners on second and third with one out as a result of a walk and an error by second baseman Joey Omedeo, but Patton struck out Justin Smith and forced a ground out from Austin Hartzog to end the inning with Hillcrest clinging to a 7-6 lead.
Hillcrest pitcher Josh Rogers seemed ready to close the deal as the senior was clocking 85 mph on his fastball and in complete control over the previous four innings but a lead off walk to Jake Omedeo on five pitches put the tying run on base. Sophomore speedster Andy Burleson replaced Omedeo as a pinch runner at first base and a well executed bunt from Joey Omedeo moved Burleson into scoring position at second. A third strike pitch to JW Ray was dropped by catcher Lee Ogletree and the freshman’s throw to first base was high and rolled into right field scoring Burleson from second base to tie the game at 7-7. Up stepped junior Josh Vanderburg who nailed the first pitch over the right field wall for a two run homer to give Marshall a 9-7 lead. Caleb Baucum relieved Rogers after 6 and 1/3 innings and retired the following two hitters. 
Will Patton finished the game by striking out the side and ending any hopes Hillcrest had of rallying.
With the win Marshall improves to 27-5 while Hillcrest falls to 17-9. Game two will be Thursday at 5pm in Holly Springs. Game three, if necessary, will immediately follow.
Will Patton went the entire distance for Marshall to improve to 8-1. Patton gave up 8 hits and 3 earned runs while striking out 14.
Josh Rogers took the loss after going 6 and 1/3 innings giving up 8 hits and striking out 15.
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Post game comments:
Marshall head coach Johnny Ray
“We knew after we got a 4-0 lead that Rogers was going to give us everything he had and that Hillcrest was going to compete and get right back in it and they did. We matched each other the whole game and we just happened to get the big break at the end.”
“In the top of the 7th we got some breaks and then Josh Vanderburg stepped up and delivered. He’s the hardest working kid I have and at times he has struggled at the plate this year and for him to step up and get a hit like that was tremendous.”
“There’s no doubt that winning game one here tonight is big but I look back to last year when we played Canton and lost game one at home, won game two at their place and then we lost game three back at our place so it’s just a crazy game. I understand anything can happen, Hillcrest is a very talented team and I know they’re going to run some very goods arms at us but we’ll just keep on competing like we’ve done all year.”
