Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall shortstop Andrew Stelter (16) is greeted by teammates Chase Alcorn (11) and Liam Kruse after scoring a run in the third inning of Marshall's 10-0 win over Worthington in Big South Conference play on Tuesday at Legion Field in Marshall.

MARSHALL — A home run from Josh Kraft and a pair of RBIs from Samuel Thor helped the Marshall baseball team capitalize on Liam Kruse’s pitching performance in a Big South Conference matchup against Worthington on Tuesday at Legion Field. The Tigers surged ahead with a total of six runs in the third and fourth innings, and held on from there for a 10-0 win in five innings.

“We were good on the mound and we picked it up really well on the field. It was just a good, clean, well-played game on defense,” Marshall head coach Chace Pollock said. 

Kraft hit an emphatic home run over the left-field wall to lead off the fourth inning, giving Marshall a 3-0 lead. The homer was Kraft’s second of the season, tying his total from last year.

“[Kraft] did that [hit for power] last year too, he hits well for us,” Pollock said. “He’s a good hitter, he led our team in hitting last year and it was a ball that was up in the zone and he went with it.”

The Tigers went on to tack on another pair of runs in the frame when Eli Alcorn was hit by a pitch and Deagan Maurice walked. Braxton Koster laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Eli Alcorn and Chase Alcorn doubled to right field to score Maurice.

Kruse threw the first five scoreless innings of the game for Marshall, striking out eight batters while surrendering three singles and a walk. Eli Alcorn finished the game on the mound with a scoreless sixth inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced. 

Marshall first claimed the lead in the bottom of the third. The Trojans retired each of the inning’s first two batters, but Chase Alcorn walked, stole second and reached third base when Andrew Stelter reached on an error. Thor then drove a single into left field to score both runners.

Maxwell Ostrem started the game for Worthington, giving up a pair of unearned runs on one hit and a walk over three innings. He also struck out three batters. 

“[Ostrem] was sneaky on us. He got the ball on us quicker than we thought, and you could tell the first time through,” Pollock said. “We were fouling so many balls off and were late on them. As the game went on, we were a little better, we were on time.”

Walks to Leyton Wherry and Koster and a Levi Maeyaert hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with one out for Marshall in the fifth. Chase Alcorn drilled a sacrifice fly to left field to score Wherry, and after the runners advanced into scoring position on a passed ball, Stelter hit a two-run single to score 9-0 in favor of the Tigers. 

Clayton Jones came up with the game-sealing hit with one out in the sixth, dropping a single into center field to drive in Tyson Louwagie to make the score 10-0 and trigger the mercy rule. It was Jones’ first game-winning hit.

“[I was thinking about] just going up there, seeing a pitch that I like and swinging at it,” Jones said. “I was just happy we won.”

In relief for the Trojans, Brayden Raymo gave up four earned runs on two hits and four walks while getting two outs, while Dalton Larson retired the lone batter he faced.

Marshall improves to 8-1 on the season with the win and next hosts Waseca for a Big South doubleheader on Saturday. The first of the two games is slated to start at 11 a.m. at Legion Field.