The Hounds, no longer able to blame the short Southwest porch, were treated to 2 more Marlin home runs on Monday night, in a back-and-forth that ended with a season-first victory at Baseball Alley.

Atticus Conway, fresh off a long day of professional laboring, provided 94 pitches and 4.1 innings of amateur baseball labor, and kept the game within reach for his team.

The Hounds went down 3-1 in the first inning, the former on uncharacteristic errors and the latter on a Greg Sells (2B) manufactured run (Single, SB of second, GO to third, WP to home). They also threatened to score in the second, but rookie Zen Iwankiw (RF, 3B) was stranded, his long LF double wasted. In the fifth, a free-base parade would bring them within one and a station-to-station RBI single by Kruse (3B) would bring them even. A trademark Bandi (LF) frozen rope added 2 RBIs of cushion and a bases-loaded 9-pitch Correa (EH, C) RBI walk set the score at 6-3.

The fifth saw the aforementioned home run jacks (back-to-back jacks to be exact) and tilted the seesaw in the Marlins’ position 7-6. Cole Thompson, jogging in from centerfield and ascending the mound, allowed the maximum number of runners, but limited the damage by securing the last two outs on a K and a ground out. The hurler later turned in a scoreless sixth. The Doggo half of that inning saw 2021 MVP Sells manufacture another run (double, SB of third, GO to home). A wild pitch set the seesaw back in their favor as it scored the go-ahead run.

The top of the 7th looked to be trending the wrong way, the Marlins’ starting the inning with an off-the-fence double against two-days-rested reliever Arron Kruse. The runner would move to third base on a sacrifice fly. The Doggos gifted the next two batters first and second on an error and walk respectively. Facing the bases loaded and one out, the righty induced a comeback grounder, fired home to substitute catcher Correa, who then fired it over to Jules Cantor (1B) to complete the 1-2-3 game ending double play.

With that, the Hounds held onto their butts and the game, notching 2024’s first victory. They resume play Saturday back at Baseball Alley against the Blazers.