“They [New Ulm] actually beat me last year, so this was kind of personal for me. I had some revenge coming their way,” Alcorn said. “I think they thought they got us [in Marshall’s 18-8 loss to New Ulm earlier in the season], and we knew that that wasn’t our game. We knew that we would come back and we would get them this time, so it’s huge.”

Alcorn pitched all seven innings in the win, striking out nine batters while limiting the Eagles to four singles and a walk. Through the Eagles’ first 16 games of the season, they’ve now been held to one or fewer runs four times.

Marshall claimed its first lead of the day in the second inning and never let go. Noah Pieper and Ethan Weedman led off the inning with consecutive walks, and Eli Weedman singled to load the bases. Andrew Lee drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single into left field and Andrew Stelter followed with another to center field.

Levi Maeyaert hit a shallow pop up just behind third base, but New Ulm lost track of the ball as it fell to the grass. No infield fly was called, giving New Ulm the opportunity to make the throw home for an out. While the throw was on time, the umpire ruled that the catcher’s foot was off of home plate, allowing Eli Weedman to score on the play.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Tyler Kraft (18) flips a bat to teammate Andrew Lee before going up to bat during a Big South Conference baseball game against New Ulm, Monday in Marshall.

Trae Bailey also drove in another run on a ground out to make the score 4-0 after the frame.

Eli Weedman had a team-leading two hits on the day and Lee finished with a pair of RBIs. Pieper and Stelter also finished with a single and a walk, and Chase Alcorn walked twice.

Zach Hubbard led off the third with a single, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an Owen Castleman single. Yet, that was the last offense that the Eagles mustered on the day as the Tigers’ pitching and defense shut them down from there.

Hubbard and Castleman each singled twice on the day to account for the Eagles’ only hits.

Castleman was also charged with the loss on the mound. He gave up four earned runs on four walks and five hits over 2 1/3 innings, and Dirk Haynes gave up another pair of earned runs over 2 1/3. Hunter Larson held Marshall without a hit, walk or run over the final two innings but the New Ulm bats weren’t able to string together some hits to reward his effort.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall second baseman Eli Weedman makes the 'Safe' signal with his arms after scoring a run during the Tigers' Big South Conference baseball game against New Ulm, Monday in Marshall.

Tyler Kraft reached on an error and Ethan Weedman singled with one out in the third, setting up an RBI single by Eli Weedman and a sacrifice bunt by Lee to push across another pair of runs. The Tigers capped off the game’s scoring an inning later when, after a Chase Alcorn walk and a Trae Bailey single, a passed ball allowed one run to score and a single from Pieper drove in another.

Marshall improves to 17-3 on the season, and their 7-1 record against 2AAA opponents has them in pole position for the top seed in the postseason, ahead of New Ulm’s 5-3 and Mankato West’s 3-2. Marshall head coach Chace Pollock said that the importance of Monday’s game for the seeding wasn’t something that the team talked about much ahead of it, just trying to stay true to their everyday approach.

The Tigers now prepare for the Big South Conference championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m., with the location of the game yet to be determined. Luverne currently leads the Big South Conference-Gold Division by a half-game over Fairmont.

“Right now, we’re just focusing on taking it one day at a time at practice. We haven’t seen much of Luverne, but it’s going to be a good game,” Eli Alcorn said. “They’re a good team, so we’re going to have to play like we have all year and I think we should be fine.”

BOX SCORE

BATTING

A. Stelter: 1-3, BB, RBI, 2 SO; L. Maeyaert: 0-4, RBI; C. Alcorn: 0-2, 2 BB, R, SB; T. Bailey: 1-3, RBI, R, SB; T. Kraft: 0-3, R; N. Pieper: 1-2, BB, RBI, R, SO; Et. Weedman: 1-1, BB, HBP, 2 R; El. Weedman: 2-3, RBI, R; A. Lee: 1-3, 2 RBI, R.

PITCHING

E. Alcorn: W, 7 IP, 4 H, R, ER, 3 BB, 9 SO.