ALEXANDRIA — Liam Kruse had everything working for him on the mound in the Marshall’s opener in a Legion Tournament at Alexandria on Friday. The Mudcats held Centennial scoreless in a 7-0 win to start pool play on a high note.Kruse held Centennial to just three hits and three walks in the complete-game shutout. He struck out two batters and threw an efficient 83 pitches over seven innings of work.

Marshall surged ahead in the top of the third when Deagan Maurice singled and scored on a Coby Brownlee double. Andrew Stelter followed up with another RBI double to give the Mudcats a 2-0 lead.

That lead held until the seventh inning, when Marshall added three more insurance runs. Maurice again started the rally, this time with a double, while Brownlee followed up with an RBI double to drive him in. Sam Thor then drove in Brownlee with a bunt and Kruse hit an RBI double to center to extend the Marshall lead to five runs.

Kruse, Thor, Maurice and Brownlee each had a pair of hits on the day with Maurice also drawing a walk.

Marshall, now 2-0 on the season, will continue pool play in Alexandria today with a 9 a.m. game against Champlin and a 1:30 p.m. game against Glenwood/Lowry. The Mudcats will play another game on Sunday, pending the final results of pool play, with first-place teams playing at 3:30 p.m., second place at 1:30 p.m., third-place at 11 a.m. and fourth-place at 9 a.m.