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Mustangs turn tables on Trojans, 10-1

PHOTO BY TROY HYDE/NEWTON DAILY NEWS - East Marshall head coach Justin Frost, left, congratulates Justin Ridout (22) as he rounds the bases on his home run in the sixth inning of TuesdayÕs Class 2A District 12 semifinal in Pleasantville.

PLEASANTVILLE — East Marshall’s bats have started to bear fruit.

The Mustangs erupted for 17 hits and scored in double figures for the third time in their current seven-game winning streak, eliminating West Marshall with a 10-1 victory in Tuesday’s Class 2A District 12 baseball semifinal.

The sixth-seeded Mustangs (12-14) will square off with PCM (12-13) in Saturday’s 7 p.m. district final back in Pleasantville.

The win was a bit of revenge for East Marshall, which lost to its cross-county rival in last year’s district semifinals in Dike, 3-2. West Marshall (19-14) took both regular-season meetings this summer, winning 6-4 and 4-2 during NICL West Division play, but couldn’t complete the sweep in the single-elimination format.

East Marshall made sure of that by scoring at least once in five of its seven at-bats, starting with two runs in the top of the first inning and three more in the second.

PHOTO BY TROY HYDE/NEWTON DAILY NEWS

Austin Elliott opened the game with a leadoff double and later scored on a single by Justin Ridout, who eventually came across on Eric Ommen’s single.

West Marshall tried to answer immediately, but the Trojans stranded the bases loaded after scoring once. Cameron Bannister walked and scored on a Ryan Reyerson single, but Zach Jacobson settled down after back-to-back walks loaded the bases by getting the third out on strikes.

Three of Jacobson’s four walks were in the first inning, and Reyerson’s hit was the last one West Marshall got. Jacobson, a sophomore, faced the minimum over the final four frames, helped along by a double play to end the bottom of the fifth.

The Mustangs carried the momentum into their at-bat and tacked on three more runs, kickstarted by a solo home run for Justin Ridout. Jacobson reached on an error, Ommen and Kam Hoskins followed with consecutive singles, and Tyler DeBondt made it 10-1 with his sacrifice fly to left field.

East Marshall’s three-run second featured three-straight singles for Wesley Hamor, Elliott and Zane Johnson, and Jacobson plated two runs with his two-out single.

PHOTO BY TROY HYDE/NEWTON DAILY NEWS

Four singles in a row in the fourth got just one run across for the Mustangs, but they led 6-1 by that point. Hoskins and DeBondt hit consecutive doubles in the fifth for another insurance run, and the three-spot in the sixth sealed the deal.

Jacobson (3-1) struck out the last batter he faced before running into a pitch count with two outs in the sixth. He finished with seven strikeouts, four walks and a hit batter. Elliott induced a groundout from the only Trojan he pitched to, closing out the Mustang triumph.

Elliott, Johnson and Ridout finished with three hits apiece, while Jacobson, Ommen and Hoskins had two each.

Reyerson took the loss for West Marshall, surrendering two runs in the first inning — the only inning he pitched. Nat Markle and Bannister each threw three innings in relief.

East Marshall 10, West Marshall 1

At Pleasantville

EM 230 113 0 — 10 17 1

WM 100 000 0 — 1 1 2

Zach Jacobson, Austin Elliott (7) and Wesley Hamor; Ryan Reyerson, Nat Markle (2), Cameron Bannister (5) and Josh Larsen. W–Jacobson (3-1). L–Reyerson (2-1). 2B–EM: Elliott, Kam Hoskins, Tyler DeBondt. HR–EM: Justin Ridout (4). LOB–EM 9, WM 5.

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