Patriots facing Tri-County in playoffs

The quest for a state baseball championship began this week for the Marshall Academy Patriots.

MA, a regular post-season contender, opened a best-two-of-three series versus TriCounty Academy on Monday, April 27, at home. The Class 3A Division 1 state playoffs series shifts to Tri-County on Thursday.

The winner of the Marshall Tri-County series will advance to meet the North Delta School versus Winston Academy series victor the week of May 4 in the state semi-finals. Teams in the bottom half of the bracket are Riverfield Academy, Wayne Academy, Columbia Academy and St. Aloysius. The state title series will be held the week of May 11.

The Patriots closed the regular season with a 5-4 loss April 21 at Briarcrest Christian School in Shelby County, Tenn. MA outhit the Saints 10 to six but committed three errors.

Getting two hits each for Marshall were Kyler Todd, Cohen Lundine and Cash Redding. Adding one hit each were Charlie Cross, Jaxson Rikard, Gage Todd and Colt Carpenter.

Coach Dustin Skelton used three pitchers – Rikard, Gage Todd and Landon Loper.

The Patriots, the second-place team from District 1-3A, went 11-4 in district play and finished the regular season with a 19-18 overall record.