Warren’s Aiden Lipscomb slides into third base as Marietta’s Owen Warden awaits a throw during a high school baseball game Monday in Vincent. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

VINCENT — The Marietta Tigers found themselves just two outs away from being “mercy-ruled” Monday evening as they hit the road to take on the arch-rival Warren Warriors.

The Tigers trailed 11-1 with one out in the fifth inning but overcame all odds as they rallied to score 11 unanswered runs over the final three innings to stun the Warriors 12-11 in an absolute thriller at Warren High School.

The marathon took up every single second of daylight and finished at the last possible minute before the umpires would have been forced to call the game due to darkness.

Bryson Chidester’s two-run single in the top of the seventh inning capped the incredible Tiger rally and a stellar defensive play by catcher Will Tornes and pitcher Owen Warden in the bottom of the seventh produced the final out to secure no doubt the largest Tiger comeback win in some time.

“That’s just a really gutsy win out of our guys,” said second-year Marietta coach Kail Hill. “We got mercy ruled our last game and were on the ropes of having that happen to us again and we just didn’t quit this time.”

For the first five innings it appeared that it was going to be an easy five-inning Warren victory as they scored six times in the second inning to open up a huge lead while starting pitcher Haiden Strong was solid over the first four innings.

The Warriors scored those six second inning runs off of Tiger starting pitcher Jeremiah Loughry as they sent 10 batters to the plate.

A base-hit by left-fielder Carter Strong produced the first run of the game and a triple by center fielder Braylen Murray plated two more as the Warriors built an early 3-0 lead.

Third baseman Aiden Lipscomb then singled to plate Murray with the fourth run of the inning and Hill elected to replace Loughry on the mound with Chidester.

The Warriors managed to add two more runs to their total in the second on hits by Haiden Strong and Tate Jonas.

Warren added a solo run in the third inning on a double by Sabon Jonas and later on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Carter Strong to increase their lead to 7-0.

Haiden Strong had allowed just a pair of Tiger base hits over the first three innings before allowing an unearned run in the fourth inning as the Tigers broke up the shutout.

The Warrior offense would get that run back and three more to boot in the bottom of the fourth to increase their lead to 11-1.

Keying the inning for the Chad Porter-coached Warriors were RBI singles by Tate and Sabon Jonas as well as catcher Will Carte.

With the game seemingly out of hand, Hill brought in center fielder Owen Riley to pitch for the first time in his varsity career and Riley managed to retire the final two Warren hitters of the inning.

Riley is playing baseball for the first time since junior high school and was brought in more to save the Tigers from using another experienced arm in such a lopsided game.

“I had never even seen him (Riley) pitch but he has been begging us to and I said here’s your opportunity,” said Hill of Riley. “Sure enough he went out there and competed and threw strikes and kept us in the game.”

Little did they know the fortunes were about to change for the Tigers and in a big way.

The Tigers managed to score a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 11-3 and prevent the game from being mercy ruled.

An RBI doubled off the bat of Tornes and an infield ground out by Chidester provided the two runs.

Riley pitched a scoreless fifth inning for Marietta to set up a pivotal sixth inning for the Tiger offense.

Warden led off the inning with a single and the next three Tiger hitters reached base on errors committed by the Warren infield.

Goeller drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the first run of the inning and first baseman Elijah McLeish delivered a sacrifice fly to plate the second run.

Tornes connected on his second double in as many innings to plate another run and bring an end to Strong’s night on the mound.

Porter elected to bring in Al Winters to pitch and his night on the bump would last just one hitter as he walked Chidester to reload the bases.

A wild pitch plated the fifth Tiger run of the inning before Riley’s sacrifice fly on a diving catch in left field by Carter Strong cut the Warren lead to 11-9.

Tate Jonas managed to strike out Warden to end the inning and prevent any more damage from occurring.

Riley walked the first hitter he faced in the bottom of the sixth and Hill elected to bring Warden in to pitch.

Warden set down the next three Warren hitters in order to send his team to the top of the seventh inning needing two runs to tie and three to take the lead.

Zach Birge led things off for the Tigers with a double and second baseman Carter Hutchinson was hit by a pitch.

A base hit by Loughery loaded the bases with Tigers before Goeller hit a sacrifice fly to right field to cut the lead to one.

McLeish reached on yet another Warren fielding error but Jonas got Tornes to pop out in foul territory to first baseman Luke Riser.

With darkness setting in quickly Chidester came through in the biggest way as he grounded a base hit up the middle to score both Hutchinson and Loughery with the tying and go-ahead runs.

Jonas managed to fan Warden to end the inning and give the Warriors one last chance at redeeming themselves and avoiding the loss.

Warden struck out Haiden Strong to begin the bottom of the seventh before walking Riser and allowing a single to Tate Jonas that allowed Riser to move to third.

Jonas stole second before Warden fanned Jayce Hilverding for the second out of the inning.

Warden’s first pitch to Sabon Jones was high and tight and bounced away from Tornes but the Tiger catcher quickly found the ball and fired a strike to Warden who applied the tag on the sliding Warren baserunner at the plate for the final out to secure the thrilling win for the Tigers.

“The ball was kind of up and away and he (Tornes) goes and makes a play and on the run makes a perfect throw,” recalled Hill of the game-winning play. “Owen (Warden) alertly got there in time and that was just one of the coolest plays I’ve seen.”

Warren no doubt has some things to clean up after committing seven errors in the game as their season mark slipped to 1-4.

The win squares the Tigers season mark at 3-3 and Hill hopes it is the type of win that his team can gain some momentum from.

“We hope it’s one of those wins that can kind of get us going on a roll but it’s all about the next game,” said Hill. “We’ve got a few days until our next game so we will cherish this one and then get right back to work.”

at Warren High School

WP: Owen Warden 2IP, H, BB, 3 SO

Starter: Jeremiah Loughry 1.1 IP, 4H, 4ER, 1BB

Bryson Chidester 2IP, 4H, 3ER, 1BB, 1 SO

Seth Goeller 0 +-IP, 3H, 3ER, 2 BB

Owen Riley 1.2 IP, H, BB.

LP: Tate Jonas 1.2 IP, 3H, 3R, 1ER, 2 SO

Starter: Haiden Strong 5.1 IP, 6H, 9R, 1ER, 3 BB, 4 SO

Al Winters 0 IP BB.

Leading hitters

Marietta (3-3): Seth Goeller 2-3, 2R, 2RBI, Will Tornes 2-5, R, 2RBI, 2 2B, Owen Warden 2-4, R, 2B, Elijah McElfresh 1-4, RBI, Bryson Chidester 1-4, 3RBI, Zach Birge 1-4, 2R, 2B, Jeremiah Loughry 1-2, R, Owen Riley 0-4, R, RBI, SF.

Warren (1-4): Tate Jonas 3-5, R, 2RBI, Braylen Murray 2-4, R, 2RBI, 3B, Sabon Jones 2-4, 2R, RBI, 2B, Will Carte 2-3, R, RBI, Aiden Lipscomb 1-5, R, RBI; Haiden Strong 1-4, 2R, Jayce Hilverding 1-3, 2R, 2B, Carter Strong 1-2, R, 2 RBI.