Tharptown falls to Marion County

J.R. Tidwell/FCT Kelby Hallmark (10) waits for a pitch against Marion County Friday afternoon at Tharptown.

THARPTOWN — The Marion County Red Raiders were too much to handle for the Tharptown Wildcats on Friday afternoon, as the team in red defeated the team in blue 4-1 in a seven-inning game.

“I thought if we could have got some big hits we would have been in the game,” Tharptown head coach Derek Ergle said. “We were stranding too many runners.”

Marion County broke the tie at 1-0 with a run in the top of the second.

The Red Raiders scored another run on a wild pitch in the top of the third to double their lead.

Marion County scored one run in the top of the fifth and seventh innings, getting out to a 4-0 lead.

Tharptown finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth after Hayden Fleming got on base for the Wildcats.

A groundball hit by Heath Hatton brought Fleming in for Tharptown’s only run of the contest.

The Wildcats could not get a rally going late, and Marion County picked up the road win.

Kelby Hallmark was the losing pitcher for Tharptown, although he did not have a bad day on the mound.

“I was pleased with our pitching,” Ergle said