The Marlins outplayed a state-ranked baseball team for 5 ½ innings in their first game of the Nixon-Smiley Tournament.

Unfortunately, the game was six innings long, and the Marlins couldn’t last the distance as the D’Hanis Cowboys scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to win, 3-2.

The Marlins outhit the Cowboys, 9- 4, and committed one error during the game.

Mac Owens went three for three and a double; Nick Benavidez and Alex Groseclose each went two for three; and Tyler Pate was one for three and a double to account for the Port Aransas offense.

Pate went the distance on the mound, striking out six batters. He hit two batters and walked two, allowing three runs.

	1	23	4
PA	1	0 1	0	0	0	0	2	9	1
DH	0	0 0	0	0	3	x	3	4

Players may have had vindication in mind when they walked onto the field to face the 2A Nixon-Smiley Mustangs. The Marlins scattered hits among six players in the 11-1 win, with Kevin Sikes leading the attack. Sikes went one for three and had a run batted in and two walks, and scored two runs. Sikes also went all seven innings as pitcher, allowing four hits and no walks and striking out eight batters. He allowed only one run.

Other scoring came from Zach Ainscough, two for three with two walks, two RBIs and a double; Benavidez, two for four, one RBI; Groseclose, two for three and a triple with two RBIs and two runs; Owens, one for five with a double and one RBI and one run; Christian Collins, one for two, hit by a pitch and walked twice with one double and an RBI.

Six of the Marlins’ runs came in the final inning.

	1	2	3	4
PA	0	2	2	2	0	3	6 11		10	1
NS	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	4

(The numbers of hits in the box scores and individual statistics for the first and second games show a discrepancy, but the South Jetty could not reach coaches to reconcile it.)

Back with blood still in their eyes for their third game, the Marlins delivered a solid 12-1 victory over another 2A team, Rice Consolidated.

Andrew Groseclose handled the pitching duties for three innings, striking out six and allowing one hit and one walk with no runs. Collins took over for the final two, walking one, striking out four and allowing one run on no hits.

Andrew Groseclose picked up three runs on two hits in three at-bats, including one RBI, to lead the scoring. Sikes went two for three with three RBIs and three more runs. Ainscough was one for three with one RBI and one walk, scoring twice; Tanner Merrill went one for one, sacrificing once and getting an RBI; Connor Ulch went one for two with one run; Alex Groseclose picked up one RBI on one hit in three at-bats; Fletcher Ray was one for two; and Collins was one for one with a double.

Again, the Marlins not only spread the scoring among players, they spread it among innings, picking up at least two runs in four of the five innings.

	< BOLD>1	2
PA	3	3	0	2	4	12 10		1
RC	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	3

In their last game of the tournament, the boys fell behind a George West team, and with a four-inning, one-hour time limit on the game, they couldn’t catch up fast enough. The Marlins lost the final game, 4-1.

Benavidez accounted for one hit in two trips to the plate, while Alex Groseclose and Dillon Martin each had one hit for one at-bat. Martin also contributed a double.

Collins started on the mound, allowing three hits, three walks and three runs and striking out three in the first two innings. Tyler Pate took over for the final two, striking out one batter and walking two, and allowing two hits and one run.

“We just ran out of gas against George West, and with a one-hour time limit, there wasn’t time to come back,” coach Brian Flack said.

	< BOLD>1
PA	0	0 1	0	1	3	4
GW	0	3 1	0	4	5