Marietta’s Torin Baker squares to bunt as the pitch arrives during Tuesday’s game against Parkersburg at Legion Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

In a two-day span, Marietta saw its share of football arms turn baseball arms.

And the result was not the most desirable.

After losing to Warren and the school’s starting quarterback turned starting pitcher Jacob Sealey the previous night, the Tigers ran into another buzzsaw on Tuesday night against Parkersburg starting pitcher Cooper Cancade, who just happened to spend his final high school football season as the Big Reds’ starting quarterback.

At Legion Field, Marietta spotted PHS four runs in the first inning and Cancade made the lead stand up – striking out eight and limiting Marietta to five hits in a 9-5, complete-game victory.

The two teams have recently trended in opposite directions with PHS (2-8) producing its first winning streak of the season at two straight and Marietta (2-3) suffering its third consecutive loss.

Marietta starting pitcher Bryson Chidester delivers a pitch against Parkersburg Tuesday at Legion Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“I guess we are getting everybody’s best arm, which is great – it’s good to see that kind of talent,” Marietta coach Kail Hill said. “Cancade was great tonight. He filled up the zone and kept us off-balance. He overpowered us a little bit. Sealey did a bit of the same the previous night.”

With a runner on second base and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and his pitch count in danger, Cancade induced a fly out to straightaway to left field just as the the Big Red bullpen managed to get in its first and only warm-up pitch.

Cancade pitched without long sleeves despite temperatures hovering just above the freezing point.

“I never play with sleeves – if I got cold, I had my lettermen’s jacket in the dugout,” Cancade said. “It’s so much easier to play from a lead. When you are ahead, you don’t have to worry about trying to fight back the entire game.”

Cancade benefitted from the defense of his battery mate Jesse Showalter in a major way. Showalter threw out a runner attempting to steal second base in both the first and second innings, and a runner trying to swipe third base in the third inning.

Parkersburg baserunner Noah Holland dives back into first base as Marietta’s Carson Strahler (27) leaps to grab the pickoff attempt during Tuesday’s game at Legion Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“I would say the work in the weight room has helped,” Showalter said. “Wrestling helps with that because we lift a lot, and you have to be strong.”

Marietta starting pitcher Bryson Chidester took the loss after allowing seven runs on five hits over 3.1 innings of work. The Tiger defense didn’t do him any favors – committing three miscues during his appearance and resulted in four unearned runs.

“The defense kind of kept him out there a little longer and he had a couple of longer innings than we would have hoped,” Hill said. “But he competed and he did a really good job.”

Chidester nearly escaped the first inning with no damage. After singles by Parker Woods and Cancade left runners on second and third with one out, an infield foul out set the table for Noah Holland, who delivered in the clutch with a base hit to right field and bringing home the first two runs of the game.

Logan Fling followed with a single and Peyton Davis was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A routine grounder to third base was fielded cleanly, but the throw to second base for the force sailed into the outfield and the Bug Reds tacked on two more runs.

Marietta baserunner Torin Baker is caught stealing at second base during the first inning of Tuesday’s game against Parkersburg at Legion Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Marietta cut the deficit in half in the second inning. Will Tornes, who finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBIS, delivered a run-scoring double and Owen Warden added a run-scoring single.

“Will has been great since preseason,” Hill said. “The thing with him is just slowing him down because he gets amped up and he wants to have a big time hit. When he does less, he does more. He does some good things.”

Tack on runs for PHS resulted in large part due to five Marietta errors. After delivering a two-run double, Woods scored on a two-out infield error.

Logan Fling, who went 3-for-3 at the plate, led off the fifth inning with a double and eventually scored on Showalter’s sacrifice fly.

Gavin Fling followed the same script in the seventh inning with a lead-off double then scoring on Josh Knicely’s RBI single.

Parkersburg starting pitcher Cooper Cancade delivers a pitch against Marietta Tuesday at Legion Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Marietta, meanwhile, took advantage of some sloppy PHS fielding in the latter innings. The Big Reds finished the game with four errors, which resulted in three unearned runs.

“I didn’t like the errors at the end, but Jesse Showalter’s defense makes up for that,” Burns said. “During the season, Jesse was kind of doubting himself catching-wise. I told him you are one of the best catchers around. He said he is not throwing people out, Well, tonight he did.

“I thought Cooper looked good. The coaches and I were talking, in his last two outings he has given up 13 runs and only one of them has been earned. By going the distance and having three games over two days later this week, he puts us in a good spot.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg batter Noah Holland steps into the batter box during Tuesday’s game against Marietta at Legion Field. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)