Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Jake Hess connects for a triple during their game against Worthington on Monday. The Tigers defeated the Trojans 13-2 in six innings.

MARSHALL – The Marshall baseball team looked to be deadlocked in a tight battle with its Big South Conference opponent Worthington, as the score remained a one-run game for the majority of the afternoon. Then the Tiger offense came alive, as Marshall broke out the bats in the middle innings to earn a 13-2 victory in six innings.

After a scoreless first inning, Worthington got the scoring started thanks to a leadoff double before coming around on an RBI single to take an early 1-0 lead. But the Tigers responded in the bottom half of the frame, as Cody Greve, Kaleb Bossuyt and Nick Macchio all drew walks to load the bases with nobody out. Kaleb Welvaert would ground into a double play on the ensuing at bat, but Greve would come across to score in the process to tie things up at 1-1 after two.

Neither team would get on the board in the third, but the Trojans strung together three consecutive walks before an RBI single gave Worthington the lead back at 2-1 in the top of the fourth. The Trojans would have another chance to break the game open in the top of the fifth, loading the bases again, but they couldn’t capitalize as Marshall maintained its one-run deficit going into the bottom half of the frame.

The Tigers would break out the bats in the bottom of the fifth, using big hits and capitalizing on some errors to plate six runs. After Welvaert drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch, Jackson Hughes reached on a bunt single before Alex Thompson connected on an RBI single to tie things at 2-2. After a Nick Klaith sacrifice fly gave Marshall the lead at 3-2, Jake Hess would step up and smash a line drive to right field for an RBI triple to make it 4-2. Isaac Schmitt then got an RBI single on the ensuing at bat to make it 5-2 before Marshall took advantage of a wild pitch to extend its lead to 6-2. The Tigers would then add another run to push it to 7-2 after five.

Marshall added to its lead in the next inning, getting a leadoff double from Welvaert before he scored on a wild pitch. Hess would then get his second RBI hit of the day with a single before Greve connected on an infield single to make it 10-2. Bossuyt would get hit by a pitch to load the bases before Macchio drew a walk to plate another run. Marshall would then get a two-run base hit from Welvaert to bring it to the 13-2 final.

Marshall coach Chace Pollock said Worthington starter Will Brandner did a nice job of keeping their offense quiet for the majority of the game before they were able to break through in the fifth and sixth innings.

“Their (Worthington) starter did a nice job. Brandner is a good pitcher and we battled there for the first four or five innings with nothing to show for it and then we finally burst through when we got his pitch count up. He’s a good pitcher and is only a sophomore, so we’ll see him a lot more in the future which is a scary thought,” Pollock said. “Our guys did a nice job and stuck with it and were able to get the barrel on the ball late in the game, and hopefully that’s a good sign for us.”

Hess and Welvaert each led the way offensively for the Tigers with two hits while Hess had two RBI and Welvaert added three. Thompson, Hughes, Greve and Schmitt all collected hits for Marshall as well.

Hess said their key offensively was being able to draw some walks late and be more patient at the plate before getting some hits to go through and bring in some runs.

“We worked some counts and he threw a few balls and we got a couple of walks,” Hess said. “Once he started to throw them a little more down the middle we were ready for them and put them in play and make things happen.”

Hess also credited Schmitt’s ability to create plays for the defense when on the mound and they were able to back him up well.

“Well Schmitt always does an outstanding job and gets us ground balls and bloopers,” Hess said. “Whenever there are plays to make, we try to make them because he’s just an outstanding pitcher and we want to get it done for him.”

Schmitt earned the victory on the hill, going four innings while allowing two runs on six hits and striking out six. Welvaert then came on in relief, tossing two scoreless innings while allowing one hit and striking out four.

Pollock said Schmitt did a nice job of getting himself out of tough situations and kept themselves in it before Welvaert closed out the game.

“He did a nice job and worked himself out of some tough situations in some innings and saved us. He put a band-aid over a potential big inning and even though he didn’t have his best stuff and was a little erratic, but for the most part Isaac did a nice job battling,” Pollock said. “Sometimes pitching you’re not going to have everything working for you every game but it’s how you handle it and I thought he did a nice job and then turned it over to Kaleb who did a nice job.”

Marshall (4-3) won’t get much time off before it faces Worthington again, as the Tigers square off with the Trojans today in Worthington at 4:30 p.m.

Pollock said their biggest takeaways were that they’re continuing to get better on the hitting and offensive side of things as well as the defensive aspect.

“From a hitting perspective I think we got better. I’m proud of that, and I think the guys would agree, especially against the starter that we saw,” Pollock said. “Another takeaway is I thought we played well defensively.”

Marshall 13, Worthington 2 (6 innings)

Worthington 010 100 – 2 7 3

Marshall 010 066 – 13 8 0

Hitting: Marshall (Welvaert 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI; Hess 2-3, 3B, R, 2 RBI; Klaith 0-1, RBI; Thompson 1-3, RBI; Macchio 0-2, RBI; Bossuyt 0-2, RBI; Hughes 1-2; Greve 1-3; Schmitt 1-2, RBI).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Marshall (Schmitt 4-2-1-6-5-6; Welvaert 2-0-0-1-0-4).