Marietta baseball falls to Logan in extras on senior night

Marietta’s Cooper Laumann delivers a pitch during a high school baseball game against Logan Tuesday at Pioneer Park.
(Photo by Aaron Lee)

It was a wet one on Tuesday when the Marietta Tigers hosted Logan for a baseball game at Don and Sue Schaly Field on senior night. Sixteen errors between both teams made for a game where no out was certain. The Tigers spent most of the game playing from behind before tying it up to force extras and losing 8-7 after eight innings.

Logan scored one run on an error in the top of the first, with Chris Gompf making it home. In the bottom of the frame, a pair of errors got home both Drew Warden and Cooper Laumann for Marietta to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead going into the second.

A sacrifice hit by Seth Goeller brought home Will Tornes in the bottom of the second to expand Marietta’s lead to 3-1.

The Chieftains took the lead with three runs in the top of the third. Two came by way of errors, and another happened on a sacrifice by Colton Hamilton to make the score 4-3. In the bottom of the third, the Tigers managed to load the bases, but compiled three outs before anyone could make it home.

Logan added another two runs in the fourth, one on an error and one on a wild pitch.

A pair of RBI doubles by Goeller and Laumann kept the Tigers within striking distance by cutting Logan’s lead to 6-5. Marietta managed to hold Logan scoreless for the next three innings, keeping the door open for a comeback.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jeremiah Loughry hit a single to send home senior Tharon Mitchell to tie the game at six runs a side and force extras.

Marietta gave up two runs on an error in the top of the eighth to make the score 8-6 Logan. The Tigers were able to come up with a run in the top of the eighth via Goeller on a fielder’s choice put in play by Laumann, but lost 8-7 after eight innings.

The Tigers used two pitchers throughout the game. Izak Knighten started things off with 3.1 innings pitched, six walks and five strikeouts. Laumann came in in relief, pitching the remaining 4.2 innings while accumulating three walks and five strikeouts.

Pitcher Lucas Wolfe got the win for Logan. He pitched three innings and had one strikeout. A.J. Lee started the game for the Chieftains, pitching two innings and walking five batters before being replaced by Conner Cook, who pitched for three innings and had one strikeout.

“I felt like our seniors played really well today. We just made too many mistakes in the field, that’s what it came down to,” said Marietta head coach Josh McKitrick.

“We lost 8-7, and I’m not sure they had an earned run. We battled back, we put guys in position. Reese Vuksic had a heck of a game at the plate tonight. We had a couple of opportunities to score with the bases loaded and nobody out and couldn’t get a hit. The mistakes in the field cost you in a game like this. Disappointing, but the kids are trying hard.”

After the game, Marietta took the opportunity to honor seniors Vuksic, Cameron Goeller, Mitchell, Robbie Swisher and Knighten for their years of dedication to the program. Each senior was escorted by their parents from the dugout to home plate before taking a trip around the bases, with a group of teammates waiting at each stop, “That’s something that I actually saw another team do about five or six years ago, and I thought, ‘that’s really good how they do that and have everybody involved.’ So we started doing it and our kids liked it. It’s a nice way to honor the seniors with their parents and all the players in the program,” explained McKitrick.

Marietta falls to 7-6 with the loss. The Tigers play Wednesday at Parkersburg High School and Thursday at Alexander. “It’s gonna be a busy time here in the next week and a half,” said McKitrick of the Tigers’ full road schedule near the end of the season.

Contact Aaron Lee at alee@newsandsentinel.com