Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Mason Penske throws to first during their game against Sacred Heart on Friday. Marshall defeated Sacred Heart 5-2.

MARSHALL — Both the Marshall and Sacred Heart amateur baseball teams earned two-run victories to open their postseason on Wednesday. So when the two teams faced each other in the next round of the Corn Belt League tournament, they looked to create some more breathing room on the offensive end.

Thanks to a dominant outing by Matt Hmielewski and a couple of key innings, Marshall jumped out to a 5-0 lead before holding on for the 5-2 victory Friday at Legion Field.

Similar to their game against Wabasso, Marshall was locked into a pitcher’s duel early, with Hmielewski settling into his zone for Marshall. The A’s were held without a hit for their first couple of at-bats, but in the third, Marshall’s offense struck first when Connor Neubeck connected on a double and Alex Thompson smacked a single before back-to-back RBI singles by Hmielewski and Doug Mead gave them a 2-0 lead.

Marshall kept things going in the next frame, with Zach Olson leading off the fourth with a double before advancing and later scoring on a sacrifice fly by Joe Rock to make it 3-0.

Sacred Heart would get a pair of baserunners aboard in both the fifth and sixth inning, but Hmielewski continued to stay in command and got out of the jam both times. Marshall wasn’t able to find scoring in those frames either, but had an answer in the seventh when Rock connected on a single and Ryan VanMoer reached on an error before Hmielewski lined a two-run double to push Marshall’s lead to 5-0.

The Saints kept fighting, though, and used an error and a single to put runners in scoring position with two outs before getting on the board with a two-run double of their own. But that was the closest they got, as Hmielewski got a strikeout to end the eighth before recording a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the victory.

Hmielewski earned the victory on the mound, going nine innings while allowing two runs on four hits and struck out 10.

He also led Marshall with three hits and three RBI while Mead and Rock each had a hit and an RBI and Olson, Logan Tomasek, Neubeck and Thompson each had a hit.

Up next

Marshall will face the winner of the Granite Falls/Sacred Heart game today at 4 p.m. at home. The Kilowatts, who defeated Wabasso on Friday, will face the Saints at 1:30 p.m. in Marshall.