Photos by Jake McNeill Above: Marshall shortstop Andrew Stelter (left) smiles as he hands a bat to first baseman JR Vierstraete as Vierstraete walks to the batters box in the third inning of Marshall’s game against Kasson-Mantorville in the Marshall Wood Bat Classic at Legion Field on Friday.

MARSHALL — An 11-run third inning made all the difference for the Marshall Mudcats on Friday when they opened group play in their Wood Bat Tournament against Kasson-Mantorville. The Mudcats trailed by a run heading into the frame but surged ahead from there to claim a 13-5 mercy-rule win in five innings.

“Our team is really smart in the box. They work counts, they get deep into counts, and that makes pitchers struggle,” Marshall shortstop Andrew Stelter said of the rally. “That tires [opposing pitchers] out in the inning, which gets us better pitches to hit and leads to big innings like that.”

Stelter led off the rally with a hard-hit single just a tad high for the outstretched glove of a leaping Charlie Heser at third. While he was held up at first on the play, he stole second to get into scoring position, and baited Kasson-Mantorville into holding the ball too long on an Eli Weedman ground ball, allowing Weedman to beat out the throw for a single.

A double steal advanced Stelter and Weedman into scoring position with no outs, and Stelter beat the throw home to tie the game when Josh Kraft grounded into a fielder’s choice. JR Vierstraete then legged out a perfectly placed bunt single down the first baseline to load the bases with no outs. 

Braxton Koster walked to force in one run and Levi Maeyaert reached on an error to drive in another two for a 5-2 Marshall lead. After Deagan Maurice walked to reload the bases, Leyton Wherry walked in one run, Tyson Louwagie beat out a fielder’s choice to drive in another and Stelter singled in a third to bring Marshall’s cushion to six runs.

A Weedman two-run double, a Kraft RBI single and a Vierstraete ground out capped off the inning’s scoring with the Mudcats holding a commanding 12-2 advantage.

“Those [11-run innings] don’t happen unless you’re barreling some balls up and have some clutch hits,” Marshall manager Mitch Maxwell said. “I thought we overcame some adversity… sort of a slow start there and that’s part of what we’re doing with this group. We’re developing and we’re working on things to help them get better for the future.”

After Kasson-Mantorville got three runs back in the fourth, Stelter was hit by a pitch and scored when Kraft beat out a ground ball single with two outs to seal the mercy-rule win in the fifth.

Photo by Jake McNeill: JR Vierstraete swings at a pitch during the first inning of the game.

Stelter and Weedman each finished with two hits in the game, including two RBIs and a double for Weedman. Maeyaert also logged a game-high three RBIs on a single and a walk.

Maxwell commended his team for its dedication to the sport and their ability to focus on improving as individuals and as a team, something he expects to show in performance as the season goes on.

“One of the nice things about these guys is I don’t doubt their enthusiasm for the game and their love and passion for baseball,” Maxwell said. “They come to the ballpark excited every day. They come to practice ready to work, not a bad apple in the bunch… I think that as we progress through the summer, that’s going to benefit them a lot.”

Kasson-Mantorville rallied ahead with two outs in the top of the first. Sam Graunke got the rally kicked off with a double deep into left field and scored when Jace Craft reached on an error at third by Kraft. Craft advanced to second on the error and scored when Drew Frederickson lined a single into right. 

Frederickson pitched the first two innings for Kasson-Mantorville, giving up eight earned runs on six hits and four walks in the loss.

Owen Kesteloot settled down after the first inning and went on to pitch a complete game for Marshall. He struck out seven batters while giving up three earned runs on eight hits and a trio of walks.

Koster put Marshall on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second when he singled, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a Levi Maeyaert single to shallow center. Maurice followed up with a double to put both runners into scoring position, but Maeyaert was picked off by the catcher at third and a pair of strikeouts left the tying run stranded. 

Kasson-Mantorville loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the second, but Kraft fielded a grounder and threw it to Maeyaert behind the plate for the first out, Kesteloot came up with a strikeout for the second and Stelter made the throw to Weedman at second to escape the jam unscathed.

“We work defense a lot during practice, so I feel like just the muscle memory kicks in,” Stelter said. “You do what you can to get an out and work out of it.”

Kaden Wyffels, Owen Abbott and Heser loaded the bases with a walk, an error and a single to start the fourth. Graunke drove in Wyffels with a sacrifice fly, and a Marshall throwing error trying to catch Abbott at third allowed Abbott to turn the corner for another run. Frederickson then drove in Heser, with Heser knocking the ball loose on a play at the plate, to cut Marshall’s lead to 12-5. 

Marshall improves to 3-4 on the season with the win and next takes on Renner, S.D. today at 9 a.m. It’s the first of two games on the day for the Mudcats, who will then also take on Barnum/Moose Lake/Willow River at 3:30 p.m. Both games will be played at Legion Field.

The team will focus on playing clean baseball in the games, Maxwell said, adding that Marshall Tiger and Marshall Mudcat baseball come down to pitching, defense and timely hitting.

BOX SCORE

1  2  3  4  5     R H E

KM:    2  0  0  3  0     5  8  3

MAR:  0 1  11 0  1    13 9 1

Batting

A. Stelter: 2-3, RBI, HBP; E. Weedman: 2-4 (2B), 2 RBI, SB; J. Kraft: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB, SB; J. Vierstraete: 1-3,RBI; B. Koster: 1-2, RBI, BB; L. Maeyaert: 1-2, 3 RBI, BB; D. Maurice: 1-2 (2B), BB; L. Wherry: 0-2, RBI, BB; T. Louwagie: 0-3, RBI.

Pitching

O. Kesteloot: 5 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 7 SO