Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Charlie Jacobson delivers a pitch during their game against Mankato West on Thursday. Marshall fell to Mankato West 9-0.

MARSHALL — With game-time temperatures hovering in the mid 30s, the Marshall baseball team took the field for the first time this season against Mankato West, but it would be the Scarlets who got the hot start to the year, capitalizing on four MHS errors to plate nine runs and earn a 9-0 victory on Thursday.

Marshall coach Chace Pollock said while they were able to show improvements in the later frames against Mankato West, they know they need to continue to work together throughout the rest of the season.

“It’s a start for us and I told the kids after the game that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish and we’ve got to get better, there’s no doubt. We need to get better and it starts at practice [tomorrow] and continuing out through the season,” Pollock said. “In a way we’re just starting to see what we’ve got with our team this year and we’re learning a lot but we’ve got to work and get better.”

Mankato West jumped out to a quick start, drawing a leadoff walk before reaching on an error to make it 1-0. The Scarlets then used an RBI groundout and a wild pitch to score two more runs and take a 3-0 lead after a half-inning of play. Mankato West kept things going in its next at-bat, scoring a run on a dropped third strike before a double steal and another wild pitch gave the Scarlets two more runs and a 6-0 lead after two.

After a scoreless third inning, Mankato West continued to capitalize on offense, getting a leadoff single before a pair of walks loaded the bases with no outs. The next batter would be hit by a pitch to bring in a run before a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch pushed the Scarlets’ advantage to 9-0.

Marshall had an opportunity to get on the board in the bottom half of the fifth when AJ Toulouse connected on a single and Jacob Hughes got hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with one out, but Mankato West got out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts and ultimately earned the shutout victory.

Toulouse and Josh Baker led Marshall with a hit apiece.

Charlie Jacobson took the loss on the mound, going 1 1/3 innings while allowing six runs on one hit and struck out two. Jaden Pearcy tossed 2 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on two hits and struck out five while Mitchell Bouwman threw three innings and didn’t allow a run on two hits and struck out three.

Pollock credited Mankato West’s pitching for challenging them early on, but felt they did some positive things and was pleased with Bouwman’s work in relief.

“They had a good pitcher, so we had our work cut out for us and the first time out and seeing an arm like that is a challenge, so we’re going to have to continue to get better hitting-wise,” Pollock said. “We did do some nice things; I thought Mitchell did a nice job throwing for us in relief and looked really good. We’ll build on the positives and keep working and by no means is this a finished product out here.”

Up next

Marshall (0-1) will hit the road on Saturday to face Waseca in a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.

Mankato West 9, Marshall 0

Mankato West 330 300 0 – 9 5 0

Marshall 000 000 0 – 0 2 4

Hitting: Marshall (Toulouse 1-2; Baker 1-3).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Marshall (Jacobson 1.1-6-4-1-4-2; Pearcy 2.2-3-2-2-4-5; Bouwman 3-0-0-2-0-3).