The Marietta Tigers spotted the Morgan Raiders six runs in the first inning before rallying to come up with an 8-7 non-conference victory at Legion field Tuesday night.
The first eight Morgan hitters reached base safely in the first inning off of Tiger starting pitcher Joe Roberts to send the Raiders out to a 6-0 lead.
The Tigers scored a single run in their half of the first before knocking Morgan starting pitcher Kyle Earich from the mound with a six-run inning of their own.
MHS appeared to be going down quietly in their half of the second before shortstop Jordan Satterfield drew a two-out walk.
Five batters and five base hits later the Tigers had rallied all the way back to take a 7-6 lead.
Corey Spanner, Tim Grosel, Eli Lenington, Nick Spurr and Ben Bricker accounted for the Tiger hits, with Spurr's producing a pair of runs.
Tiger co-head coaches Larry Burke and Jim Thrash elected to turn to a new arm to start the third inning as junior Nick Lewis was brought in to replace Roberts.
That move turned out to be the right one for the orange and black as Lewis stymied the Morgan hitters the rest of the way.
Lewis allowed only one base hit and a pair of walks over the last five innings and stranded a pair of Morgan base runners in the top of the seventh to preserve the victory.
"Nick Lewis was the key to the game," said Thrash. "He threw the ball great tonight."
The MHS right hander fanned five to earn the victory, while Justin Greer was saddled with the loss in relief of Earich for Morgan.
The win was the second straight come-from-behind victory for Marietta and improved the Tigers season record to 10-8.
Spurr paced the Tiger offense with three base hits and four RBI's, while Spanner collected three singles and scored twice from the lead-off spot for the Tigers.
Stuart Crandall and Austin Campbell had a pair of hits apiece for the Raiders, while Dustin Duffy knocked in three.
Thrash is pleased with the 'never give up' attitude his club has displayed of late.
"That was a nice come-from-behind win," said Thrash. "Morgan showed a lot of improvement and we showed a lot of adversity."
The Tigers improved to 10-8 with the win and will continue a busy week today as they travel to Cambridge to battle a very tough Bobcat team, before returning home Thursday for a make up game against the Warren Warriors.
Morgan will travel to New Lexington today.
MARIETTA 8
MORGAN 7
Morgan 600 000 1 - 7-9-4
Marietta 160 010 x - 8-10-2
WP: Nick Lewis: 5IP, H, R, 2BB, 5K, Joe Roberts (Starter) 2 IP, 7H, 5ER, 2BB, 2K.
LP: Justin Greer: 41/3 IP, 4H, 2R, K, Kyle Earich: 1 2/3 IP, 6H, 6R, BB, K.
Morgan Top Hitters: Stuart Crandall: 2-4, 2B, Austin Campbell: 2-4, Dustin Duffy: 1-4, 3RBI, Greer, 1-3 2B, RBI.
Marietta Top Hitters: Nick Spurr: 3-4, 2B, 3RBI, Corey Spanner: 3-4, 2R, Justin Futrell: 1-3, 2B.
Next Game: Marietta (10-8): Today at Cambridge.
