Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall pitcher Carson Rowe throws a ball to first after fielding a ground ball during the seventh inning of a baseball game against Pipestone Area at American Legion Field in Marshall on Thursday night. Rowe threw a no-hitter to lead the Tigers to an 11-0 win over the Arrows in five innings.

MARSHALL — Karson Rowe looked to be in midseason form in his first start of the year on the mound for the Marshall baseball team on Thursday night. The senior pitcher threw a complete-game shutout, leading the Tigers to an 11-0 win over Pipestone Area in five innings.

“I just started at the beginning of the game just throwing strikes. That was all I really needed to do,” Rowe said, adding that he felt like he was in for a good day from the time he started warmups. “I couldn’t have done it without the guys in the field, they helped me out a lot.”

Rowe has typically been a reliever, so Thursday was his first varsity start. He struck out five batters during his time on the mound while limiting Pipestone to two baserunners.

“He threw strikes. He got in the strike zone and we played good defense behind him,” Marshall head coach Chace Pollock said. “That’s a recipe for success and I’m proud of him and all the other seniors today.”

Both of the Arrows’ baserunners, a walk and an error, came with one out in the first inning. Still, Rowe got out of the frame unscathed with a fielder’s choice and a runner caught stealing before pitching four perfect innings to close out the game.

While the Tigers’ offense was able to generate more than enough runs for the win, they were held to just three hits on the day with Talan Plante, Coby Brownlee and Braeden Myhre each recording one.

Two of those hits came in the first inning. Brownlee singled with one out, advanced to second when Andrew Cowden drew a walk and scored on a Talan Plante double for the first run of the game. Ashton Blomberg was then hit by a pitch and Jude Knudson and Juehl Morman each drew another walk to push another pair of runs across the plate.

Blomberg scored on a wild pitch before a strikeout put two down. Yet, Myhre came up with a double — the only other extra-base hit of the day — to drive in two runs for a 6-0 Tiger lead.

Plate discipline was key to the Tigers’ offensive success on the day, Pollock said. As a team, Marshall drew 10 walks on the day, including two each for Morman and Knudson.

“We were selective. We broke it open in the first inning, Talan Plante had the big extra-base hit for us and we hit some balls hard,” Pollock said. “We took what the defense gave us.”

Marshall put the game away in the bottom of the fourth. Cowden was hit by a pitch to start the frame and Plante and Blomberg each drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. From there, Knudson and Morman each drew additional walks to push another pair of runs across the plate and Blomberg and Knudson each scored on wild pitches to make the score 11-0.

Cowden reached on an error with one out in the bottom of the second inning, advanced on a balk and scored for a 7-0 Tiger lead when Knudson reached on another Arrow error.

Trevor Clark-Chaulsett pitched the first inning for Pipestone, allowing six runs on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts before being relieved. Jackson Melcher pitched one inning of relief, allowing one unearned run while holding Marshall without a hit or walk, while Xavier Bonjoke and Isaiah Sandy each pitched another inning of relief. Bonjoke allowed four earned runs with six walks while Sandy walked one batter while holding Marshall without a run.

Weston Reinhard drew the only Pipestone walk of the day.

Marshall improves to 15-3 with the win. They’ll head out on the road to play Owatonna at 5:30 p.m. tonight before taking on either Luverne or Windom in the Big South Conference championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Tigers will then conclude their regular season on the road against Alexandria on Tuesday.

“We’re going to play three really good teams here to end the season… so can’t ask for anything better going into the playoffs at the end of the season,” Pollock said.