Photo by Jake Przytarski Marshall’s Mitchell Bouwman delivers a pitch during their doubleheader against Brookings (S.D.) on Thursday. Marshall Orange fell to Brookings 11-1 in five innings and 10-4.

MARSHALL - The Marshall 15U Orange baseball team had no answer for the red-hot hitting Brookings (S.D.) Bullets in Thursday’s doubleheader at Legion Field. Marshall went on to drop the first game 11-1, and the second game by a final score of 10-4.

Game 1

The Marshall offense appeared to be well on its way to a strong day at the plate in the doubleheader opener as Orange was able to get on the board first in the latter half of the first inning. The scoring was set up by a walk to Jake Eben, who later reached second base following another walk to Conner Nuebeck.

With two outs and runners on base, Braxton Meyer stepped to the batter’s box for the first time and delivered his first of two hits to score Eben. Marshall Orange would leave Nuebeck stranded at third following a ground out in the ensuing at-bat.

In the top of the second, the Bullets would all but put the game away with an 11-run frame featuring 10 total hits and five going for extra bases. After the seventh run came across, Marshall Orange replaced Mitchell Bouwman with Seth Radke on the mound where he would remain until the top of the fifth.

Down to one final frame, Eben took over for Radke and continued the stretch of scoreless innings. Marshall Orange was unable to add any additional offense of their own, however, bringing the game to an end at 11-1 through five innings.

Game 2

After falling behind to start game one, the Bullets flipped the script in game two to open the scoring with one run in the first inning and two more in the second to take a 3-0 lead.

Marshall was quick to respond in their second time up, though, as Eben led off with a single and was later waved home via an RBI base hit from Kadam Brinkman. Owen Knockmous kept the rally alive with another run-scoring single, and Keaton Maertens drove in the team’s third and final run of the frame with a ground out.

Marshall starting pitcher Zachary Allen held the Brookings offense scoreless in the next inning, but a six-run fourth frame forced a pitching change with Preston Hoflock taking over after a bases-clearing double made it 8-3. The Bullets added one more run before the final out was recorded to make it 9-3.

Both offenses stalled in the later innings but came alive once more in the seventh. The Bullets would score their 10th run in the top half of the inning, but Marshall answered with its fourth and final run thanks to an RBI double by Allen to score Meyer.

Marshall Orange will be back in action on Monday when they travel to Luverne to take on the Cardinals at 6 p.m.