Photo by Jake Olson: Marshall's Chase Alcorn struts off the mound after escaping a first-inning jam against Fairmont during Thursday night's contest at Herb Wolf Field.

FAIRMONT – A seventh-inning leadoff triple from Marshall’s Andrew Stelter was the story of Thursday afternoon’s contest at Herb Wolf Field. The shot to the wall gave his offense the spark they needed, with an ensuing sacrifice flyout by Eli Weedman to left field breaking the one-score deadlock that had lasted the previous three innings.

The Tigers used patience at the plate to finish out the frame, drawing a handful of walks from Fairmont pitcher Mac Larson that ultimately put the finishing touches on a 3-1 season-opening victory over the Cardinals.

“It was a great game. Fairmont played really well, we played really well and this game could have gone either way,” Marshall head coach Chase Pollock said. “But it all came down to that last inning there, where we were able to tack on a couple of insurance runs. Andrew Stelter, our leader, started out with a triple and that was big for us.”

Both Pollock and Cardinal head coach Don Waletich got great starts from their pitching staff in this cold, and sometimes snowy, baseball game. Chase Alcorn anchored the mound initially for the Tigers, throwing just over five innings while allowing one run and striking out six batters to keep the Fairmont lineup at bay.

Noah Heckman is one of several sophomore arms Waletich will lean on this season, and showed great signs of maturity during his four innings of work. After allowing a run in the opening frame, Heckman was smooth sailing the rest of the way, surrendering just one hit and tallying five strikeouts.

“It’s very encouraging,” Waletich said. “We have a couple of solid sophomores to step up and throw strikes for us, and it’s only going to help us that much more. I thought it was really good.”

The aforementioned first inning was the strongest offensive output Marshall had all game, and, ironically, was sparked by a triple. Following an infield single from Stelter, Tiger’s four-hole hitter, Trae Bailey, charged a hit into deep center field to put his team on the board.

Fairmont tried to answer during their turn at the plate but failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Nolyn Goerndt, Joseph Hackett and Jensen Livesay each reached base via walk or hit by pitch, but Alcorn settled down with three consecutive strikeouts to break free of the jam.

That trend continued throughout the game for the Cardinals. Waletich credited the Marshall pitching staff for preventing his offense from doing any major damage, and he knows this early challenge from the Tiger arms will only help in the long run.

“It’s great to start with that,” Waletich said. “It’s a good team to go against. We just enjoy playing these kinds of games, and we will be better for it.”

The Cardinal offense took advantage of runners on base two innings later following a single and a walk from Goerndt and Livesay. Joseph Crissinger delivered with a double placed in the right-center gap, bringing home Goerndt to tie things even at one.

Noah Pieper took the baton from Alcorn in the middle of the fifth inning to give the Tigers a lights-out performance on the mound. This set up Marshall for the game-winning runs they found in the last frame. Pieper closed things off after Crissinger sent a fly-ball to the center field warning track for the final out.

“It was a lot of first game stuff for us, but I’m proud of the way we battled,” Pollock said.