The Marshall High baseball team captured first place at the 2009 Cheers Sports Spring Break Baseball Tournament, hosted by both the Freedom (South Riding) and Park View High teams. Marshall earned the title by defeating Park View, 11-1, in the finals game played on April 7 at Freedom.
Marshall advanced to the championship game by winning the Eagle Bracket with a 2-1 record. That set the Statesmen up to face Patriot Bracket champion Park View, which went 3-0 in pool play.
Playing in front of many bundled up and wind whipped fans that looked like they were attending a football game instead of enjoying the warmth of traditional baseball weather, Marshall jumped out to a three-run lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back on way to an 11-1 championship game win over Park View. Marshall starting pitcher Jake Bennett earned the win, allowing one run and five hits over five innings of work. Reliever Kyle Barrand pitched the sixth and final innings, allowing just one hit.
Trey Thomas and Bryan Whittington led the Marshall offense with good games. Defensively, the Statesmen made several "SportsCenter" type Web gems, including a particularly nice play by center fielder Mitch MacKeith. Marshall had its third errorless game in the four-game tournament.
In Marshall’s first spring break tourney game, the Statesmen defeated Liberty, 11-1. Mitch MacKeith earned the win on the mound and multi-hit games came from Greg Goldsmith, Whittington and MacKeith. Marshall lost its next game, 11-10, to Liberty District foe Thomas Jefferson. Tom Pacheco (two hits), Thomas (three), Goldsmith (two) and Kevin Williamson (one) had Marshall’s only hits, while Jefferson had seven hits. Both teams, playing in windy conditions, made several errors.
Next up for Marshall was host Freedom in the decisive pool round game. The Statesmen won, 8-6, behind the exceptional pitching of Goldsmith, who struck out 13 batters over five innings.
Freedom made the game interesting by tying it up at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Marshall responded with five runs in the top of the seventh.
Aaron Gooding and Thomas both had a pair of hits in the win that advanced the Statesmen to the finals against Park View (Dulles District).
<b>OVERALL</b> in the tournament, Goldsmith and Thomas led the Statesmen with seven hits each. Whittington led Marshall with 10 runs scored over the four games, while Thomas drove in 10 runs.
The following players were selected to the All-Tournament team: Brian Whittington (second baseman/pitcher) of Marshall High; Trey Thomas (designated-hitter/pitcher) of Marshall; Jonathan Mason (catcher/pitcher) of Park View; Ben Rosado (third base/pitcher)of Park View; Cody Donalon (third base/pitcher) of Liberty; Colin Milon (right field) of Bishop O'Connell; Brendan Shockley (designated-hitter/third base) of Freedom; Jonathon Knight (second base) of Dominion.