Marshall baseball team has been picking up steam this past week with several decisive wins. Tuesday, May 21 the team traveled to I-8 competitor Hastings and swept the doubleheader.
In game one, Lincoln Fuller led off with a double and smart base stealing. Aidan Miller followed with a walk and Jaden Spence loaded the bases with an earned walk. Cole Osterwalder had hoped to bring them in, but earned a walk, scoring Fuller, and leaving the bases loaded. It was Max Gillum who had the first double RBI, on a hit (run on error); Miller and Spence scored. Landon Lewis hit a three-base-single to bring in two more runs. The Redhawks were well on their way with a five-run advantage.
The Saxons weren’t going down without a fight, though, putting three runs on the board in the bottom of the first. Springport 5 Hastings 3.
Colin Stealy, Fuller and Miller scored in the second inning. Stealy had made it around the bases on errors, and Gillum’s single brought in the other two runs, bumping the score up to 8-3.
Osterwalder struck out all three Saxon batters in a row; then in the third, three up and three down repeated itself.
Osterwalder and Gillum walked in the fourth, then Lewis hit them in with a single. Austin Miller moved Lewis along with a sacrifice bunt. Then Stealy followed with a single, and an RBI. Fuller and Aidan Miller were hit by pitches to earn a base. Another two Marshall runs scored to close the game out.
After five innings, Marshall won, 13-3. Osterwalder pitched the distance, striking out eight.
Game two started off much the same way, with Fuller and Aidan Miller scoring. Miller’s double had brought in Fuller. Spence laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Miller and Nick Ryan popped a sacrifice fly to bring in Miller. Marshall was up 2-0, but in the bottom of the first, Hastings managed to tie it up.
Aidan Miller earned a walk in the second inning. Spence singled, Ryan followed up with a single, and an RBI to put Marshall up by one.
Hastings took advantage of Redhawk errors in the third to tie the game at three.
Fuller took the lead-off bat in the fourth inning and earned three bases on Saxon errors. Aidan Miller hit a sacrifice fly to break the tie, as Fuller scored.
After an uneventful fifth inning, Fuller picked up the bat again, and got to first base on a dropped third strike. Miller’s hit (run on error) put two Redhawks on base for Spence to hit home with a double.
Another uneventful seventh inning left the final score at Marshall 6 Hastings 3. Gillum struck out 10 to lead the Redhawk defense.
The Redhawks traveled to Bronson for the Polish Baseball Classic last Saturday and played the host team for game one.
Lincoln Fuller scored the first run of the game after a walk to first and scored on Nick Ryan’s double in the first inning. Bronson fired back with three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead.
Nick Ryan smashed his second homer in as many games to score Cole Osterwalder and himself, tying the game up at three apiece.
The Vikings responded with one run in the bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, a single by Joe Dolly and subsequent base stealing put him in position to score off Colin Stealy’s single.
Three quick Viking outs and Aidan Miller was up to bat for Marshall. He singled, as did Ryan and Lewis. Lewis earned the RBI for Miller’s score. Dolly followed with a single to bring in Ryan. At this point, Bronson switched pitchers, but Landen Burger smacked a two RBI, two base single. Final score, Marshall 8 Bronson 4
Lewis was brought in to close the game up for Stealy. Lewis pitched to just three batters. Stealy faced 27 batters in six innings, striking out five.
Game two was a tough one as the team faced the Clinton Redwolves. Clinton had defeated Bronson as well, 14-10 in six innings to get to this game.
Stealy scored the lone run of the game on a passed ball. Fuller and Lewis shared the pitching in the 1-8 loss to the Redwolves.
Thursday the team took on Pennfield in a game that was postponed due to weather. It was not a high scoring doubleheader, with good pitching and excellent fielding from both teams. However, Marshall proved to be successful in scoring.
Dolly and Ryan shared the honors for the sweep, along with the pitchers Cole Osterwalder and Max Gillum. In game one, Dolly scored both runs. Dolly’s first score was from Miller’s single, then later scored on Fuller’s advance to first base – on a dropped third strike. Final score Marshall 2 Bronson 0
Osterwalder earned the shutout after facing 26 batters and striking out four.
Game two featured a little more action for the Redhawks. Marshall was limited to seven hits, but that was all that was needed. Singles by Miller, Fuller, Dolly, Ryan and Landon Lewis kept the momentum going, as well as doubles by Osterwalder and Stealy. Stealy’s double was what Dolly needed to score the first run. Osterwalder’s double was immediately followed by Ryan’s homerun which took the score to 3-0 which would prove to be the final, under the excellent defense from both teams.
Gillum pitched game two’s shutout, facing 26 batters and striking out 11.
The five wins this week moved the Redhawks up to 11-16 overall. They will travel to Battle Creek’s Harper Creek for the opening round of post season play on Tuesday.
