EDENTON -- The green light inside Ryan Brenner's head was flashing, it's just that the Morehead City Marlins didn't see it.

So Brenner, the Edenton Steamers centerfielder who leads the Coastal Plain League in stolen bases, took advantage of the Marlins' inattention by stealing home plate with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Steamers a 9-8 victory Tuesday night at Hicks Field.

Brenner entered the game as a pinch-runner for pinch-hitter Adam Giacalone, who had doubled to open the inning. Brenner quickly stole third, but was forced to consider further aggression when Tim Saunders and Nathan Burns struck out.

"I noticed that when the catcher was getting a breaking ball in the dirt, he'd lob the ball back high to the pitcher and I was waiting to see if it would happen again," Brenner said. "I had already gotten a pretty good read on the pitcher when he was throwing to righthanders, so when I saw another one in the dirt, I decided to go."

Steamers coach Dirk Kinney, who has given Brenner blanket permission to steal whenever he feels he can make it, wasn't shocked when Brenner took off just as Morehead City catcher Geoff Perrott lobbed the ball back to pitcher Tyler Moore, but ...

"I was thinking he better get there pretty fast," he said.

He did. Moore was so startled to see Brenner racing to the plate that he threw high and late to Perrott, who injured his ankle on the play and had to leave the game.

"Huge play for us," Kinney said.

It also was a record-breaker for Brenner. He has 31 steals for the season, one more than the previous Steamers' mark, set by Kevin Reynolds in 2005.

Brenner's race to glory marked the final swing in a game that featured several dramatic shifts as the Steamers, the top-ranked summer league team in the country, upped their record to 38-10 -- one win shy of tying the Edenton franchise record for victories in a season.

A five-run second inning sent the Steamers ahead 5-1. In the fifth, the Marlins used three homers to score six runs off starter Jordan Moore and Jonathan Sanchez to go ahead 7-6. Then the Steamers got two in the seventh to regain the lead at 8-7 before the visitors tied it up in the eighth.

"Wow, what an interesting game," Kinney said. "We didn't throw strikes early, we didn't get the ball down early. Jordan was good when he was throwing strikes, but then he just couldn't find the zone. Sanchez got hit around, then he settled in.

"We've lost a lot of pitchers (to injury),  we're going to have to throw strikes and get a lot of hits to win games."

Fortunately, the Steamers, who shut down four-game winner and Coastal Plain League All-Star Brooks Fiala with a tender arm a few days ago, are still strong in the bullpen. Jordan Egan got out of an eighth-inning jam and Ethan Cole finished up for his 11th save.

The Steamers banged out 12 hits as Zach Stewart collected three and Bo Bigham and Burns two apiece. Stewart and Bigham also drove in two runs.

Joe Wendle -- the CPL's leading hitter -- went 1-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 21 games.

The Steamers are off Wednesday and at Outer Banks Thursday.