Greenville, N.C. – The Yard Gnomes continued their early-season battles with the Morehead City Marlins, falling 18-3 on Saturday night. The Marlins (6-6), now in their 15th season, have claimed all three meetings so far this year against Greenville (2-10).
Morehead City has built a 48-10 scoring margin in the series, following a 20-2 win last Sunday in Greenville and a 10-5 victory Friday night at Big Rock Stadium. The teams will face off seven more times during the 2025 campaign as the Yard Gnomes look to even the series and build momentum this summer.
Hunter Chambers (Seminole State College) got the start for Greenville on Saturday and struggled with command. Chambers was slated to start last Saturday’s home game against Tri-City but was scratched late. As such, Chambers pitched for the first time since May 31st against the Marlins and showed signs of rust on his way to a crooked final line (8 ER, two hits, five walks).
Walks and timely base hits led Morehead City to their 15-run win on Saturday at Guy Smith Stadium as the visitors donned their Marlins attire for the first time this season against Greenville.
Morehead City walked their way to victory as the first three runs of the game for the visitors plated in the 1st off back-to-back-to-back bases loaded walks. A Ronan Donohue (Sacred Heart University) RBI single plated Broedy Poppell (Florida A&M University) to make it a 4-0 lead for the Marlins and that was followed by the game’s first big offensive splash, a bases-clearing double off the bat of Chayton Beck (Missouri Southern State University, 2-4, two runs, three RBI, walk) to swell the advantage to 7-0.
A Jon Howard (University of Mount Olive, 2-3, run, RBI) solo home run in the 2nd momentarily gave Greenville some life. Even so, it was still an 8-1 game by then. Howard’s big fly was his second of the early season which brought him, fittingly, into a tie for second on the team homer list (Joe Whitaker leads with three HR).
Danny Ramirez (Missouri) also joined the mini home run derby on Saturday for Greenville as he recorded his first long ball of Year Two in white and green courtesy of a two-run blast in the fifth. Ramirez slugged three homers in 2024 with Greenville so keep an eye out for that bat going forward.
It was a bookend game in a sense for Morehead City as they scored seven runs in the 8th to break out of a six inning stretch between the 2nd and the 7th that saw them only plate three runs. Like the 1st inning, most of the seven runs in the 8th came via the walk with base traffic. However, a bases-clearing triple for Wyatt Stanley (Western Carolina University, 1-3, two runs, four RBI, two walks) drove the lead up to 17-3 en route to an eventual 18-3 final for the victorious Marlins.
Morehead City walked 14 total times and finished with 11 base hits and an error.
LHP Reid Bertram (Gardner-Webb University) got the start for the Marlins and pitched well thanks to good form and a lot of run support. The southpaw got the win, his first of the season, and finished with 4.0 IP, one run (earned), two hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
Chambers took the loss for Greenville, his first of 2025.
The Yard Gnomes welcome in the Peninsula Pilots (8-3) on Father’s Day for a 5 p.m. first pitch. The two clubs met on May 29 to open the regular season at War Memorial Stadium as Peninsula squeaked by with an 11-10 extra-inning win. Fathers can play catch with their children on the field as part of Sunday’s activities.
By Corey Hodges (X: @The_CoreyHodges)