MARTINS FERRY – Despite being unbeaten in five outings, Martins Ferry head baseball coach Anthony Reasbeck was left shaking his head Tuesday night.

And that was after his Purple Riders had posted a 13-7 victory over Union Local in a game called after five-and-a-half innings high atop the Purple City due to darkness.

“We were pathetic. We played really, really bad,” he lamented. “We may still be undefeated, but we haven’t played all that well. That may sound stupid, but there are three phases of the game – fielding, hitting and pitching – and we haven’t had them all click at once yet.

“We’ll get good pitching one game. We’ll hit the ball in another and we’ll play good defense in another,” he stressed. “But we need to start playing well in all three at the same time.”

Martins Ferry led 2-1 entering the bottom of the third when it sent 13 batters to the plate as all nine regulars scored for a 11-1 reading. The hosts played station-to-station in the uprising, which was highlighted by the bottom three in the order.

Winning pitcher Baron Lucey, the No. 7 hitter, drew a bases-loaded walk before designated hitter Jesse Nagel ripped a run-scoring single to left. Ayden Ludolph followed with a rocket back through the box, and two batters later, Hayden Smith doubled into the rightfield corner as two more runners crossed the plate.

The Jets (1-4) responded with six runs of their own in the top of the fourth. A pair of errors by the Purple Riders and some wildness on the part of Lucey contributed to the outburst.

Logan Hess and Blake Rauschenberg had RBI singles in the inning, while two other runs came in on wild pitches.

Lucey gave way to Jackson Romshack with two on and two out in the fourth and Romshack got out of further damage with a strikeout looking.

“I’m proud of the way Baron pitched. He did what we wanted him to do, but we just didn’t play any defense behind him,” Reasbeck said.

“We need to cut down on our errors and we’ll be alright.”

The veteran Purple Rider coach was also pleased with the relief effort of Romshack, who fanned four and walked a pair in 2.1 innings of work.

“Jackson did exactly what we needed him to do,” Reasbeck noted. “All he does is throw strikes.”

Smith paced Martins Ferry’s 10-hit attack with a pair of doubles and the aforementioned two runs batted in. Brayden Maine added two singles and a pair of RBI, while Conner Probst had a pair of one-base raps.

Clay Akers and Rauschenberg each singled twice for UL.

Martins Ferry visits Memorial Park in St. Clairsville today in search of a season sweep of the Red Devils. The Jets are idle until Friday when they host the Purple Riders in a rematch.

“We had one bad inning in the field,” Union Local head coach Wade Smolira said.