Marianna loses two close ones

After bringing home the championship this past weekend in tournament play at Bozeman, the Marianna High School Bulldogs baseball team dropped two one-run games at home against Port St. Joe Monday afternoon. Game One was a 3-2 loss, with Game Two going into extra innings and resulting in a 4-3 loss.

In the first matchup, Colby Johnson worked the mound for the Bulldogs. He went three innings, giving up one unearned run and no earned runs on three walks, no hits and with one error committed behind him. Johnson struck out six batters.

Dylan Halstead came on in the fourth inning and gave up two runs on one hit, one walk with two errors committed. Zack Smith closed out the game in the fifth inning and retired the side in order.

Marianna was three up, three down in the first inning. Johnson singled to start the second inning, stole second and scored on a single by Halstead. A two-out triple by Smith down the line went for nil when the next batter ground out to the mound. With two outs, Jae Elliott singled, but a ground out to the mound once again ended the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Johnson drew a one-out walk, stole second and third, and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Halstead. Smith singled to start things off in the fifth and final inning, but Zac Davis — running for Smith — was out on an attempted steal of second. Golden singled, but was out on a fielder’s choice by Blanton, who got Bradly Middleton at home pinch running for Golden. Michael Mader was issued a walk, but the next batter went down on strikes to end the inning.

In the second game, Adam DeWitt got the start for the Bulldogs. He went two innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out three. Middleton came on in relief for two innings, giving up one run on one hit, two walks with one error while striking out two. Zac Davis closed out the final two innings, giving up two runs, one unearned, on two hits, one walk and two errors.

Middleton led off the first inning with a walk, stole second and scored with two outs on a double by Austin Lombardo. A pop up to the catcher ended the inning.

Marianna was retired in order in the second and third innings. In the fourth inning, Madison Harrell singled and with one out, moved to second when Heath Roberts drew a walk. But no runs plated when the final batter went down on strikes.

Marianna plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game and force a sixth inning. Mader led off with his second walk of the day, and with two outs he scored when Clayte Rooks singled to right field and took advantaged of a misplayed ball to turn it into a triple. Johnson doubled to score Rooks, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the inning. Marianna was three up, three down in the bottom of the sixth to end the game.

Marianna was scheduled to take on South Walton in doubleheader action Tuesday at Bulldog Field. Results of those games were not available at press time.