Morehead City, NC - The Tri-City Chili Peppers were defeated by the Morehead City Marlins 7-5 in tonight’s road matchup.

The Chili Peppers were off to a slow start in Morehead City, not putting up any hits or runs in the top of the first. Danny Kirwin (Rider University) started on the mound for Tri-City and had a rough start, walking the first batter. An error by the catcher allowed that batter to advance to third and a single brought him home to give the Marlins an early lead.

The Morehead City lead didn’t even last a half inning. Vanderbilt’s Kenny Mallory Jr. started the second off with a double. Similar to the Chili Peppers defense in the bottom of the first, the Marlins had a walk and an error that scored Mallory to tie things up. Morehead City then walked in a run with a hit by pitch that gave Tri-City a 2-1 lead.

The Chili Peppers defense redeemed themselves in the bottom of the second, during which Kirwin pitched three up, three down. However, their offense struggled, as they failed to put up any hits or runs in the top of the third. Despite one hit in the bottom of the inning, the Marlins didn’t score, keeping the small lead for Tri-City.

Virginia Tech’s Cade Swisher hit a single in the top of the fourth and scored later in the inning along with Kasten Furr (University of New Orleans), who reached on an error earlier in the inning. These two runs made the score 4-1 in Tri-City’s favor.

The defense continued to shine for the team, as Kirwin pitched three up, three down again in the bottom of the inning.

The Chili Peppers had no hits or runs in the fifth, while Morehead City’s offense heated up with three hits and three runs to tie things up at four.

The only offensive action for Tri-City in the sixth was a single by Furr. Troy Shepherd (Catawba Valley Community College) took over pitching in the bottom of the inning, not allowing any hits or runs.

Tri-City’s offense struggled again in the seventh, as they batted three up, three down. Wyatt Stanley of Randolph Macon College came out of the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh. Morehead City had their strongest offensive performance of the game, with five hits and three runs to take a 7-4 lead.

Despite a single by David Jeffers (Coastal Carolina), the Chili Peppers were unable to score again in the eighth. The team switched pitchers to Terrell Hudson (University of New Mexico). The Marlins had two hits off of Hudson, but failed to advance their lead.

The Chili Peppers came up to bat for the final time in the top of the ninth with a three-run deficit. UNC’s Brandon Eike made the most of his final plate appearance of the game, scoring a home run as the first batter of the inning. However, this would be the only run of the ninth, ending the game in a 7-5 Tri-City loss.

The Chili Peppers will remain on the road tomorrow, traveling to face off against the High Point-Thomasville HiToms.