On a night to celebrate the hard work and dedication of the Tigers’ five seniors, Mount Pleasant played well enough to win but, unfortunately, only for six of the seven inning game. Marshall scored five runs in the final frame to sink the Tigers who were looking to end the 2021 season on a high note.

The pre-game festivities honored the five Tiger senior baseball players along with the three student assistants for the team. Players honored were Baker Peterson, Brock Cooper, Logan Dunn, Jerrius Vickers, and Timothy Noah. The student assistants honored were Joselynn Smith, Emma Baggett, and Tyler Welborn. Marshall opened the scoring early in the first inning taking advantage of two hit-by-pitches, two walks, and a single to take a 2-0 lead. The starting pitcher, Cooper, would battle through and wound up striking out the side. The Tigers would respond in the bottom of the inning pushing across three runs on a Layne Pinckard sacrifice fly scoring Cooper and a Sklyer Nelson two-run blast to left center. The Mavericks would tack on single runs in the third and fourth mainly due to free passes given by the Tiger pitchers, but Mount Pleasant found themselves within striking distance down 4-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth. The Tiger bats would come to life in the inning with Mount Pleasant putting a 4-spot on the board and taking a 7-4 lead. A three-run home run launched to left field by Dunn would be the big hit the Tigers needed to take the advantage.

The final inning would not be kind to the Tigers as two hits, two errors, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch would see Marshall score five runs in the inning. The Mavericks would muster up 19 baserunners on the evening but only 5 of those reached via a hit. That disparity would catch up with Tigers and come up to bite them in the final frame. Mount Pleasant would be unable to get anything going in the bottom of the inning and suffered the loss to set their final record at 7-17-1.

Jerrius Vickers led the Tigers at the plate and on the bump this season tied for the team lead in hits (16) and strikeouts (28). Logan Dunn also notched sixteen hits and was the team leader in doubles (5), homeruns (3), and RBI (13). Braden Duff was a menace on the base paths with a team-high seven steals. On the mound, Brock Cooper, Drew Dyke, and Vickers all finished with two wins. Dyke and Keller Thompson tied with Vickers for the team lead in strikeouts with 28. Layne Pinckard had the best fielding percentage on the team at .977 in 133 total chances.

The Tigers return 11 players from this year’s team as they look to take the experience from this season and improve upon their record next season.

By Drew Barkley
Photos by John Whitten