Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall pitcher Liam Kruse (left) celebrates a three-run home run with JR Vierstraete during the third inning of an American Legion baseball game against Worthington on Monday.

MARSHALL — Liam Kruse’s four shutout innings and three-run home run set the tone for the Marshall Mudcats in their American Legion matchup against Worthington on Monday night. Kruse started the day with three no-hit innings and the Mudcats strung together hits up and down the order to claim a 14-2 win in five innings.

As a team, Marshall finished the day with eight different batters recording a hit and a 12-3 advantage in hits overall. Heading into the Marshall Wood Bat Tournament on June 20, Marshall manager Mitch Maxwell said it would be interesting to see how the summer would progress with certain players who got significant varsity reps during the spring season and others who didn’t.

“That’s really a challenge to these guys, and right now I think they’re answering it at a really good time,” Maxwell said. “Credit to the work that they do. We ask a lot of them in that quick turnaround, as far as the team goes and building that chemistry. They’ve answered that to this point and we’d like to keep that rolling.”

Liam Kruse started the game for Marshall nearly perfect through three innings. The only baserunner he allowed in the first three frames came on an error, and catcher Levi Maeyaert caught the runner taking his time getting back to first after a strikeout, giving Marshall an inning-ending pickoff in the second.

The no-hitter was broken up in the top of the fourth, when Dominic Pavelko dropped a single into no-man’s land in center field. Yet, Kruse responded with two strikeouts and a ground out to end the inning unscathed.

Kruse finished the day with four shutout innings on the mound while holding Worthington to a single and no walks. He struck out eight batters, which he attributed in part to his ability to attack the zone with his fastball.

“It was working pretty much the whole time I was out there, so I just stuck with it. Unfortunately, they got the one bloop hit, which has happened to me a couple of times, but it happens,” Kruse said with a laugh.

As an eighth grader, Kruse had a school assignment to write a letter to himself as a senior. In that letter, he said that he’d hit a home run at Legion Field. Kruse attained that goal on Monday, hitting his first career dinger at the park, a three-run shot in the third inning. He also contributed a triple and a walk.

“That was amazing. I wasn’t expecting to hit a home run tonight,” Kruse said. “It felt good, but I honestly didn’t think it was going to make it out. I didn’t even see it go out, so I heart it was a wall-scraper. Coach Maxwell told me it was like 321 (feet) over the sign.”

The home run came in the top of the third, scoring Maeyaert and JR Vierstraete to give Marshall a 14-0 lead after a 12-run half-inning.

Stelter kicked off the third-inning rally with a walk. He stole second and scored on a Maeyaert single. Another single from Vierstraete and a Kruse walk loaded the bases, and Owen Kesteloot lined a single past the shortstop to drive in two runners for a 5-0 Marshall advantage.

The rally continued when Tyson Louwagie doubled into right field to drive in one run, and Wherry reached on a fielding error at third by Worthington to drive in another run. Stelter and Eli Weedman capped off the inning with a pair of RBI singles to make the score 9-0.

Maeyaert was hit by a pitch before a Vierstraete chopper that resulted in a Worthington error scored two runs and set the table for Kruse’s three-run homer.

Vierstraete recorded three hits with an RBI for Marshall while Stelter and Kruse each added another two, including a double and a walk for Stelter.

Clayton Jones pitched for two outs in the fifth, giving up two earned runs on two hits and two walks with a hit batter. Logan Phillippe took over with the bases loaded and struck out the first batter he faced to end the game.

Stelter got Marshall off to a hot start when he hit a leadoff double and scored on a passed ball with two outs. Vierstraete then singled, advanced to second on an error and scored whenKruse hit a triple into deep left field that went over the outfielder’s head, giving Marshall a 2-0 lead.

Worthington ended the drought when they got a pair of hits and an error to push a run across in the top of the fifth. Yet, Marshall got the first out of the inning when Maeyaert threw out a runner trying to steal second and the second on a fielder’s choice that scored a run. Still, Jones got a strikeout to keep the mercy-rule win intact.

Marshall has now won four of its last five games to improve to 10-8 on the season, and will look to continue building that momentum when it goes on the road to take on New Ulm Gold in a Thursday doubleheader at 5 p.m. The final stretch, Maxwell said, will be key to securing quality seeding for the sub-state tournament, which will be determined by Wednesday.

“We mentioned before this game last week, getting into a groove at the plate and on the mound and on defense, so all three phases of the game,” Maxwell said. “You don’t want to have a hitch right now, going into this stretch of the season, which is your most important stretch.

BOX SCORE

MARSHALL

M. Ostrem: L, 2.2 IP, 12 H, 14 R, 14 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO; C. Byrne: 1.1 IP, 2 SO.