Photo by Samantha Davis. Marshall VFW’s Rocco Rignell throws a pitch during the second game of a doubleheader against Moorhead Friday evening at Yankee Field in Milroy. The Tigers fell to Albany 9-1 in the first game and 8-1 in the second, which Rignell threw five strikeouts in.

MILROY — Errors hurt the Marshall VFW Orange 15U team in the first game of a doubleheader, and struggled to make contact at the plate in the second for a pair of losses during the two-day Marshall Legion home tournament at Yankee Field in Milroy on Friday. Marshall fell to Albany 9-1, and 8-1 to Moorhead Gold, both 16U teams.

“I thought both teams we played were actually really good. They swung it decent, and we didn’t swing it decent, which is where we get in trouble,” Marshall coach Charlie Jacobson said. “To play up is a bit of a challenge, but it’s good for them [Marshall], because we’re learning stuff. We’re seeing the struggles … We’re going to learn more than we would playing lower competition.”

The Tigers recorded six hits with six errors to Albany’s 11 hits and two errors, and were limited to two hits with five errors while Moorhead had 13 hits and two errors in the second game.

Jack Bly spent the opening four innings of the first game on the mound for Marshall, and threw four strikeouts while allowing two walks and four earned runs. Levi Kraft stepped in as relief for two innings for a pair of strikeouts, one walks and two earned runs, while Brendan Price threw for the last inning with two walks.

In game two, Rocco Rignell pitched for five innings with five strikeouts and one walk, while allowing three earned runs. Isaac Roberts relieved for one inning, throwing one strikeout.

“I thought in the first game, Jack Bly threw OK. He’s been better, but he fought and he battled. I thought Levi Kraft threw really well out of the bullpen. Brendan Price came in for the first time all year and threw a decent inning, which is good to see,” Jacobson said. “Rignell threw great I thought … Isaac came in there at the end, and I thought he did OK. He hasn’t pitched a whole lot, so it’s probably good to get him in there.”

Marshall moves to 4-4, and will play another two games today to wrap up the tournament. The Tigers will face Renner, S.D., at Yankee Field in Milroy at 9 a.m., and will play again at either 2 or 4 p.m. depending on seeding.

Albany 9, Marshall 1

Despite the defensive struggles, Marshall was able to get a string of good looks offensively, but it wasn’t enough to fully find an answer to Collin Breitbach’s pitching, who threw six strikeouts while allowing no walks or earned runs through his four innings.

Carson Mensink led the Tigers going 2 for 3 at the plate, while Rignell, Charlie Moline, Gavin Williams and Jaxsen Bednarek all recorded one hit as well.

Moline sparked Marshall’s run in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single ground ball to short center field, allowing Mensink to charge home from second base to bring the Tigers within a 4-1 deficit.

Mensink initially got on base with a line drive single out to right field.

Albany consistently brought it runs throughout the game, scoring at least one in every inning except the fifth.

The Dawgs scored a single run in the first, second and seventh innings, while pulling away to a larger lead with a pair of runs three separate innings.

Marshall got some momentum going in the bottom of the fifth with a Bednarek line-drive single to left center field and Mensink single to center to get two runners on base, yet Albany completed a double play with Breitbach catching a hit on the mound and throwing the force out to first to halt the Tigers from getting further.

Albany ended the game in the bottom of the seventh with a trio of strikeouts during Marshall’s final at-bat.

Moorhead 8, Marshall 1

Marshall scored a run in the first inning for the game’s first lead, yet Moorhead Gold made contact consistently throughout the game. Gold scored two in the third along with a trio of runs in each the fifth and sixth innings to pull away, including a two-run homer in the fifth.

Gold’s pitcher Nolan Holmes spent all but one inning on the mound and threw a game-high nine strikeouts while allowing one hit.

Moorhead had four doubles and two triples during the game, both triples of which came off fly balls to deep center field.

Mensink and Charlie Moline split the Tigers’ two hits.

Mensink brought in the Tigers’ first run to begin the game with aggressive base running after hitting a single fly ball to left field.

After stealing second base and advancing to third off a Moline single to right field, Mensink safely charged home off a wild pitch.

Although its offensive ultimately fell short, Marshall’s had a few strong defensive plays throughout the night.

In the second inning with a Moorhead runner on third, Moline fielded a ground ball at first base and threw to catcher Grant Lingl for the successful tag-out at the plate.

Rignell completed a pick-off from the mound in the fourth inning with a throw to shortstop Jaxsen Bednarek, who was able to tag Moorhead leading off.

“Defensively, I thought we got a little better. We still made a couple errors that we just need to clean up,” Jacobson said. “We just got to go after the ball and play fearlessly. That’s the big thing right now.”

Moorhead scored its three hits in the fifth off a series of hits to center field, and the two-run homer the following inning with two outs put Gold up 8-1, ultimately becoming the final score.

Marshall got bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth with the potential of a late rally, however a strikeout, right field fly ball catch and a force at first by Moorhead put a stop to the Tigers’ chances.

“I thought we competed actually for the most part. Most of our at-bats were good. Confidence is starting to get there,” Jacobson said. “We feel pretty confident with this team going down the road. When we get some more games, we’ll feel comfortable. The struggles will slowly wave out, and then mentally, we’ll just feel better too. That’s the big thing, when you have confidence mentally, it makes the game a lot easier to play.”