Marshall 12, Worthington 2 (5 innings) 

WORTHINGTON — The Marshall boys baseball team started the season off with a 12-2 mercy-rule win in five innings over Worthington on the road Tuesday night in a Big South Conference matchup. 

The Tigers opened the night with three runs in the top of the first inning, followed up with a six-run second inning to separate themselves from the Trojans early on. 

Marshall went through five pitchers, each at the mound for an inning. Eli Alcorn and Joshua Kraft each led with three strikeouts, while Logan Miller threw for another two. Miller allowed the two Worthington runs, which both came at the bottom of the fifth. 

Marshall brought in its 12 runs off 10 hits, led by Andrew Stelter’s three hits, two runs and one RBI. Cooper Mensink followed with another two hits and two runs. 

Marshall also had six team walks, to Worthington’s one. 

For the Trojans, Chase Byrne pitched two innings, allowing nine runs, four hits, five earned runs with no strikeouts. 

Stelter got the first run of the night after hitting a double to center field, and advancing to third base on a pitching error. He was brought in off a passed ball with bases loaded, with Samuel Thor and Liam Kruse both being walked. 

Thor and Shep Jensen each also scored on a passed ball to build Marshall’s 3-0 first-inning lead. Jensen was a courtesy runner for Kruse. 

The Tigers brought their early momentum right into the second inning, starting with Mensink hitting a single line drive to right field and stealing second with Deagen Maurice at the plate. 

Mensink made his way to third base by a catcher error, and scored after Maurice hit a ground ball, reaching second base off an error by the Worthington third baseman. 

Stelter brought in the next two runs with a single to left field, and eventually went home himself when the Worthington pitcher attempted a pickoff at first base. 

The final two runs of the second inning came from Thor and Kraft, each coming in off another two hits, for a 9-0 Marshall lead heading into the third inning. 

Worthington was held scoreless through the first four innings until mercy rule took effect in the fifth. The Trojans were able to score a pair of runners in the bottom of the fifth, but it wasn’t enough to force another inning as Marshall’s defense was able to withhold more runs, ending the game. 

Marshall finished with zero errors while Worthington committed five. 

The Tigers (1-0) are slated to play the first game of the year at American Legion Field on Friday when it hosts Moorhead at 5 p.m.

RTR 3, YME 2

GRANITE FALLS — The Yellow Medicine East baseball team hosted Russell-Tyler-Ruthton on Tuesday afternoon for a non-conference matchup. The Sting held the lead for the bulk of the game, but a three-run fifth inning gave the Knights their second come-from-behind victory in as many days after they rallied late to defeat Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove on Monday.

RTR trailed 2-0 entering the fifth inning before singles from Seth Cowell, Eli Determan and Chase Christianson loaded the bases with no outs. 

Gavin Schreurs drove in the Knights’ first run of the day with an RBI single, though Tyson Burns, in as a courtesy runner for Cowell, was tagged out at the plate. Still, Christianson tied the game by scoring on a passed ball and Brayden Chandler doubled into left field to make the score 3-2 in favor of RTR. 

YME put the tying run on third in the bottom of the fifth, when Gunnar Fagen singled and got to third base on a Jacob Peterson single with two outs. Yet, a pop out ended the inning and the Sting weren’t able to get any closer in the final two frames.

Gabe Elton was credited with the win in relief, tossing two shutout innings while striking out three batters. He gave up just one hit.

Sean Griesse pitched the first 1 1/3 innings for RTR, allowing one earned and one unearned run on four walks and a pair of hits. Drew Chandler also threw 3 2/3 scoreless relief innings, allowing four hits with four strikeouts. 

YME struck first in the bottom of the first when Braden Nelson and Fagen drew consecutive walks, and Gage Wilke reached on an error to score Nelson. That lead doubled in the second when Gavin Torvik singled before eventually scoring on a wild pitch.

Fagen threw the game’s first five innings for YME, allowing two earned and one unearned run on seven hits and a walk in the loss. Nelson also tossed two scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits and striking out a batter. 

Cowell, Christianson and Brayden Chandler each had a double and a single for RTR while Fagen led YME at the plate with a pair of singles. 

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (2-0) will play its third consecutive road game to start the season on Thursday, taking on Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian in Edgerton at 4:30 p.m.

Yellow Medicine East (0-1) next heads out on the road to face off against Montevideo on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

E/SWC 15, Lakeview 5

COTTONWOOD — The Lakeview baseball team lost its season opener to Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian by a score of 15-5 at Lakeview High School on Tuesday.

Stats were unavailable for the game at the time of print.

Lakeview (0-1) will travel to Tracy for a game against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (0-2) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.