Photos by Travis Rosenau Marshall catcher Levi Maeyaert throws the ball to first base during a first-round Sub-State 2 American Legion Baseball Tournament game against Worthington at Mueller Park in New Ulm on Tuesday. The Mudcats defeated Worthington 8-2.

NEW ULM — The second-seeded Marshall Mudcats took a little while to get their offense going Wednesday, but a four-run sixth inning broke open a tight game to avoid an upset and take down No. 7-seeded Worthington 8-2 in the first round of the DI Sub-State 2 Legion Baseball Tournament at Mueller Park.

The win moves Marshall on in the winners bracket to play at 2 p.m. Thursday back at Mueller Park against No. 3 Mankato National. Worthington fell to elimination play and will play Northfield at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Mueller Park.

Despite grabbing a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning and adding a run in the third, Marshall’s bats were kept in check by Worthington starting pitcher Chase Byrne for much of his 5 2/3 innings of work.

However, a four-hit sixth inning that scored four runs was just what the Mudcats needed to put things away.

“Perfect world in any game, you’d love to just come out swinging and put the ball in the gap and score a bunch of runs,” Marshall head coach Mitch Maxwell said. “I hate to sound like a stuck record, but it’s a round ball and a round bat, but we’ll take runs whenever we can get them.

“It was nice to see that at the end so we can do some things on the mound that we hoped that we’d be able to do. Credit to our guys who stayed nose to the grindstone. They were never too high, never too low, just sticking with it and happy to come out of here with a win.”

Marshall finished outhitting Worthington 9-5 in the game, led by a pair of three-hit performances from Eli Weedman and Josh Kraft. Weedman ended up going 3 for 4 with three doubles, an RBI and three runs scored, while Kraft was 3 for 4 with a triple, a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Levi Maeyaert also was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs for Marshall.

Wilson Mahlberg was 2 for 3 to lead the Worthington bats, while Dominic Pavelo was 2 for 4.

Owen Kesteloot got the start for Marshall and win in three innings of work, allowing three hits and no walks for no runs while striking out four. He was relieved in the fourth by Logan Phillipe, one of three arms Marshall used out of the bullpen.

“The plan coming into it was if we could get some runs and Kesteloot could do a nice job on the mound, which he did, and we felt comfortable enough with where we were that we were going to use a few guys today,” Maxwell said. “We were able to do that, which keeps everybody alive for the next round.”

Photo by Travis Rosenau: Marshall’s Eli Weedman runs home to score a run during a first-round Sub-State 2 American Legion Baseball Tournament game against Worthington at Mueller Park in New Ulm on Tuesday. The Mudcats defeated Worthington 8-2.

Phillipe ended up completing two innings and allowing one hit and two walks for two unearned runs. The unearned runs came in the fifth to pull Worthington within a run at 3-2 after an error scored both Worthington runs.

Logan Miller pitched two innings in relief also for Marshall, not allowing any hits, walks or runs while striking out one, while Weedman pitched the seventh and allowed one hit while striking out one. Weedman’s only hit allowed quickly turned into two outs after he fielded a grounder back to him and threw to second baseman Kesteloot, who then threw to first baseman JR Vierstraete to complete the double play.

Marshall took its first lead in the bottom of the first after a walk by Andrew Stelter, a double by Weedman and an RBI single by Kraft. After a groundout, a sac fly off the bat of Liam Kruse made it 2-0.

Marshall took its 3-0 lead in the third when Maeyaert doubled in Weedman, who doubled to lead off. After Worthington got its two runs in the fifth on an error, Marshall got a run back in the bottom of the inning on a fielder’s choice that scored Kraft, who tripled to lead off the inning.

Then the floodgates opened for Marshall in the sixth at the expense of Worthington reliever Dalton Larson. After Byrne got the first two outs on strikeouts, he allowed a walk to Stelter before being relieved by Larson.

Doubles by Weedman and Kraft followed to make it a 6-2 game before RBI singles by Maeyaert and Kruse made it 8-2.