Marshall Black 8,

Chisago Lakes 0

ALEXANDRIA — The Marshall Junior Legion Black baseball team opened play at the Alexandria tournament on Friday with an 8-0 win over Chisago Lakes. Leading the way, Tyler Kraft threw a complete-game shutout and drove in a pair of runs to set the tone in Marshall’s win.

Kraft pitched all six innings of the mercy-rule win for Marshall, striking out four batters while limiting Chisago Lakes to four hits and a walk. As a batter, he finished with a double, a single and two RBIs.

The game was locked in a scoreless tie until Marshall found its offensive rhythm in the fourth inning. Trae Bailey started the inning with the first of his two doubles of the day, and a Jackson Sirovy walk and a Cannon Craigmile bunt single loaded the bases with no outs. 

Andrew Lee drew a walk to drive in the game’s first run and Cody Rauch — in as a courtesy runner for Sirovy — scored on a wild pitch to double the lead. After Kael Frana walked, Ethan Weedman grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Craigmile and Kraft hit a two-run double with two outs to make the score 5-0.

Bailey finished with two doubles and a walk while Sirovy and Lee each walked twice.

Singles by Ethan Boeck and Noah Pieper with a Cole Raley walk in between loaded the bases to start the sixth. A balk scored Boeck and Bailey doubled in Rausch to trigger the mercy rule.

Marshall also scored a run in the fifth when walks to Bailey, Sirovy and Lee loaded the bases with one out and Frana hit a sacrifice fly to score Bailey for a 6-0 Marshall lead.

BOX SCORE

MARSHALL

D. Zeiher: L, 5 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 8 BB, 2 SO

Marshall Black 1

ALEXANDRIA — Coming off a dominant win in the first game of their Alexandria tournament opener, the Marshall Junior Legion Black baseball team couldn’t find its offensive momentum in its second game against Willmar. Marshall was limited to two hits in the game, which it lost 4-1.

The game was tied at one run apiece heading into the sixth inning, but Willmar scored the go-ahead run on a single and an error. After a walk, another error allowed one run to score and an RBI single brought Willmar’s lead to its final margin of 4-1.

Marshall tied the game up in the fifth inning when Noah Pieper singled, stole second and scored Marshall’s lone run on a Jackson Sirovy fielder’s choice.

Pieper was one of two Marshall batters with a hit on the day, the other coming on a single from Cannon Craigmile, Ethan Weedman, Trae Bailey and Kael Frana each drew a walk in the game.

Craigmile also pitched the first five innings for Marshall. He gave up three earned runs on four hits and three walks, while striking out four batters. Frana pitched a pair of scoreless innings of relief, limiting Willmar to one hit with a pair of strikeouts.

A walk followed by an RBI double gave Willmar the game’s first run in the top of the fourth.

Marshall falls to 14-4 with the loss and will look to bounce back when it takes on Alexandria Junior Legion Red in its pool-play finale today at 9 a.m. Marshall will then wrap up its tournament run on Sunday, with the game’s time and opponent yet to be determined based on today’s results.

BOX SCORE

MARSHALL

H. Sjoberg: W, 7 IP, 2 H, R, ER, 3 BB, 6 SO.