Independent file photo: Marshall pitcher Liam Kruse throws from the mound during the Big South Conference baseball championship game on May 17 at Legion Field in Marshall. Kruse was named the Independent’s 2025 Baseball Player of the Year on Saturday after posting an 0.32 ERA and 0.76 WHIP over 43 1/3 innings as a pitcher this year, as well as a 1.024 OPS over 88 plate appearances as a batter.

MARSHALL — Coming off a dominant junior season, Marshall’s Liam Kruse continued to showcase his abilities as one of the premier prep pitchers in southwest Minnesota in his senior season. He limited opposing teams to a total of two earned runs over the course of the entire season while on the mound and was a force at the plate himself, earning the title of the Independent’s 2025 Baseball Player of the Year.

As a junior, Kruse was already established as an ace-caliber pitcher. His 46 2/3 innings pitched in 2024 were more than double the next closest pitcher, his 0.45 ERA led the team, and his 1.13 WHIP was second only to Owen Kesteloot’s 1.10.

In the offseason, Kruse said his focus was to remain consistent and not change too much other than increasing his strength and continuing to train hard. Kruse worked on his mechanics with Mike Nesseth in Windom, a former Major League Baseball draft pick who reached the Triple-A level in the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 2015, and was consistent with his bullpen sessions and batting practice over the course of the winter to prepare for the spring.

With the work Kruse put in over the offseason, it was no surprise that he continued to execute on the mound from the start of the spring 2025 season. He got his ERA down another tick to 0.32 and nearly matched his strikeout total from the previous season, finishing with 51 after ending 2024 with 52 strikeouts. Still, perhaps one of the most impressive parts of his improvement was his ability to limit free bases. 

“From the first game, we definitely tried to work on whatever mistakes we ended up making because that’s just part of the game,” Kruse said. “[We’re] just getting better at what we need to get better at, and that’s pretty much how we stay consistent as a pitching rotation.”

Pitching has been a strength for the Tigers as a whole in recent years, and that was no different this time around. In addition to Kruse, Marshall also had Kesteloot and Alcorn crack 30 innings on the year, with Kesteloot posting a 1.82 ERA. Logan Miller and Josh Kraft also gave the Tigers depth with 19 1/3 innings for a 2.53 ERA for Miller and a 0.68 ERA over 10 1/3 frames for Kraft. 

On the offensive side of the plate, Kruse was one of three Tigers with an OPS over 1.000 with at least 60 at-bats. 

“We definitely had high hopes. Coach [Chace] Pollock was hoping that we were at least going to make the state tournament,” Kruse said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out like that, but even though we did graduate [10 seniors], expectations were still high, if not higher, this year.”

Marshall came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. The Tigers opened the season on a six-game win streak, including four wins via mercy rule and two shutouts. They only let up more than two runs once during that stretch, with that game being a 14-4 win over Belle Plaine in six innings.

Over that early, undefeated stretch, Kruse threw 10 innings without allowing an earned run and limited opponents to five hits. He only got stronger from there. Of the eight walks he allowed on the season, four came in one game, a 6-0 win over Hutchinson.

“That was probably the most fun part of watching him pitch was just how he got more focused and tougher when guys got on base,” Liam’s dad, Brad Kruse, said, noting that Liam’s WHIP dropped down to 0.76 by reducing his walk total from 25 as a junior to eight as a senior.

Brad said that Liam started playing catch and hitting off the tee at three years old. While Liam always had good hand-eye coordination, Brad said that he started to notice Liam’s arm strength when he was around six to eight years old.

“A lot of that, you don’t really see until they’re probably even into their teenage years.. But you could tell that he could throw a ball and he could definitely hit it well, so it was pretty early on,” Brad said.

Liam said he was always more pitching-oriented, recalling watching Twins aces like Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios. Kruse now enjoys the electric closing performances of Jhoan Duran, whose fastball clocks in at 100 miles per hour.

“The fastball is definitely my primary pitch, but for me, the biggest part is just being able to locate every pitch where I want it,” Kruse said. “Like first pitch, I just want to get in for a strike, but not down the middle, so they’re going to be looking for it and then I can just attack on it. But when I’m up in counts, I want to be able to spot my breaking ball or changeup wherever I know they’re going to swing at it. Or they’re going to take it and we’re set up for the next pitch anyway.”

One of Kruse’s top performances as a Tiger came in his junior season against perennial powerhouse Mankato East. The Cougars went on to win the section that year, but Kruse shut them down when the teams met during the regular season. The Marshall ace struck out 10 batters while limiting the Cougars to two hits and four walks in a complete-game shutout, leading Marshall to a 2-0 win.

“That was a big win against a really tough team,” Brad said. “I think that was a moment where you kind of realize as a parent, at least for us, we try not to pump him up too much or try to act like he’s the best player out there. But when you watch him do really well like that, you’re kind of like, hmm, maybe they are pretty good.”

Brad added that he also recalled Liam’s game-winning home run in the ninth inning of a 4-3 win over Alexandria as one of his top moments from his son’s playing days for Marshall, with that home run being Liam’s only long-ball of his junior year. Brad added that, as a youth baseball coach for Liam from age 10 to 14, it’s been fun to watch Liam and his teammates grow up and progress over the years.

As a senior, Kruse also put together a stellar performance against the Cougars, who went on to win the section again. Kruse pitched five innings for Marshall, limiting Mankato East to one earned run. Yet, the Cougars capitalized on five Marshall errors for five unearned runs as the Tigers lost 6-1.

While Kruse’s pitching is perhaps the most notable part of his game, he was no slouch as a batter either. His .477 on-base percentage was second only to Chase Alcorn’s .561 among qualified batters, and his 1.024 OPS ranked second only to Alcorn’s 1.272. The numbers were both significant improvements from his already solid .408 on-base percentage and .816 OPS as a junior.

The jump largely came from improved patience at the plate, Kruse said. In particular, he noted his ability to avoid strikeouts, seeing his total of 19 as a batter last year drop down to 12 this season.

“When I was down 0-1, 0-2, I was basically just trying to put the ball in play and hopefully find a hole,” Kruse said. “I think that approach, just being down in the count but still having to put the ball in play somewhere, helped a lot.”

Marshall fell shy of matching its win total from the previous season, going from 20-6 to a strong 18-6. While Marshall wasn’t able to advance deep into the section tournament, losing to Mankato West in the quarterfinals and Albert Lea in the elimination bracket, they still came away with some meaningful wins. 

Among the team’s many victories, Kruse cited the Tigers’ 10-0 win over Fairmont to repeat as Big South Conference champions as among his favorites. Kruse pitched all five innings of the victory, limiting Fairmont to one hit in the third inning during the outing. The only other baserunner for the Cardinals in the game came on an error in the top of the fifth, and Kruse struck out six batters.

The game stood out to Kruse because he said he felt it was a game in which he contributed to the team’s success on both sides of the plate. He hit an RBI double in the fifth to draw first blood in an eight-run half-inning to close out the win, and he also drew a pair of walks.

Although the Tigers’ loss to Albert Lea marked the end of Kruse’s prep career, he’ll continue his time as a student-athlete at the Division II level in the fall with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs’ website commended him in his roster bio for his excellence as an athlete and as a student, noting that he placed in the top 10 of his freshman, sophomore and junior year classes for GPA.

“I’ve told him many times, you’ve had some good luck and good pitching these last two years, but he’s going on to pitch at UMD and I’m like, you’re not going to have a point-five ERA in college,” Brad said with a laugh. “But it was pretty cool to see how that played out, because a lot of it was the way he’s pitched.”

“I’m looking forward to it a lot, mostly because I’ll be getting an opportunity right away to pitch,” Liam said, noting that he’s still unsure to what degree he’ll be able to play on the offensive side of the plate. “Starting fall ball, they’ll be giving me chances to show what I can do, and hopefully that will go well enough to be starting come spring season.”