Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Bryce Lance takes off on a stolen base attempt during their game against Luverne on Tuesday. He was safe on the play.

MARSHALL – The Marshall 15U Orange baseball team looked to bounce back from a hard-earned doubleheader split against Sioux Falls when it squared off against Luverne on Tuesday night. Instead, it was Luverne who jumped out to an offensive groove and never looked back, as Marshall fell 21-3 in six innings.

Luverne tallied 17 total hits on the game while Marshall had seven total hits.

Luverne found its offense right from the start, using a pair of walks and a single to load the bases with no outs before getting on the board on an RBI sacrifice fly. After an RBI single on the ensuing at-bat made it 2-0, Luverne drew a couple of walks to bring in another run and extend the lead to 3-0 after an inning of play.

Luverne continued its hot start in the next inning, drawing two more walks and getting an infield single before a fielder’s choice plated a run to make it 4-0. Luverne then scored on a wild pitch and an infield single to push its lead to 6-0.

Marshall Orange had its first scoring threat in the bottom half of the frame, though, as Brock Schultz reached on an error before AJ Toulouse and Spencer Wambeke connected on back-to-back singles to load the bases with one out. But Marshall couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity, as Luverne still held a six-run lead.

Luverne kept its foot on the offensive gas pedal in the third, using a bunt single, a hit batter and an error to bring in a run before an RBI single with two outs extended Luverne’s lead to 8-0.

After Marshall Orange went down in order in the bottom of the frame, Luverne got things started in the fourth with an infield single, but was quickly turned to a pair of outs when relief pitcher Zach Allen snagged a line drive and threw it to first to complete the double play. Luverne wouldn’t be deterred, however, using a pair of singles to bring in a run and make it 9-0.

Despite the large deficit, Marshall Orange wouldn’t go down without a fight, as Bryce Lance led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk before Toulouse connected on a single. After Lance stole third and Toulouse swiped second, Lance came across home plate on a wild pitch to give Marshall its first run of the game. After a walk, Noah Blomme then stepped up brought in another run on an RBI groundout to cut it to 9-2 after four.

Neither team found scoring in the fifth, before Luverne added to its scoring in the top of the sixth on an RBI single and an RBI double to push its lead to 11-2. Luverne would then do the majority of its damage with one out, getting three base hits to plate four runs and extend it to 15-2.

Luverne wasn’t done yet, however, as a hard-hit ball to the gap brought in two more runs to make it 17-2 before it added four more later to bring it to 21-2.

Marshall used three consecutive singles to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth, before a wild pitch brought in a run to make it 21-3, but that was all they could get.

Toulouse led the way for Marshall with a 3 for 3 day at the plate while Wambeke added a perfect 2 for 2 day. Blomme and Felcyn added the other two hits for Marshall.

Marshall Orange coach Thomas Fischer said they’ve got a lot of things they need to work on before their next game.

“Early in the game we hit some balls hard, we just hit them right at the defenders. We have a lot of things to work on as a team overall in pretty much all areas,” Fischer said. “This was kind of an eye-opener and we’ll defenitely have our work cut out for us in practice with stuff to work on.”

Marshall Orange will face Pipestone on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Irish Yard in Milroy.

Luverne 21, Marshall Orange 3

(6 innings)

Luverne 332 10(12) – 21 17 1

Marshall 000 201 – 3 7 4

Hitting: Marshall (Felcyn 1-2; Toulouse 3-3; Wambeke 2-2; Blomme 1-3, RBI).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Marshall (Schultz 2-6-6-4-6-1; Allen 2-3-1-5-1-1; Bouwman 1.2-9-9-7-3-1; Douglas 0.0-3-0-1-1-0).