By Thomas Duzan
On Tuesday the Marshall Lions were back in action, off the dramatic win at home in the previous game. For this game they played host to the Effingham-St. Anthony Bulldogs out at Hornbrook Field. St. Anthony is of course a perennial power when it comes to baseball and displayed why in this game. Marshall did make a bit of noise late but it was merely a dent in what was a victory for the Bulldogs by the score of 9-1.
It was Reed Ramey’s turn in the pitching rotation to get the start on the mound for the Lions. He ran into trouble almost immediately when the game’s leadoff hitter, Curtis Tingley, nearly hit a home run but the fly ball went off the fence, and it resulted in a triple. The next batter, Blake Verdeyen, brought him in to score on an RBI double.
From there Aiden Lauritzen was hit by a pitch and soon after took second base. Ramey was able to work out of the jam with limited damage as he then got Henry Brent and Alex Mayer to pop out, and Rogan Allen to fly out.
The Lions went down without much noise in the bottom of the first. Branson Maskell lined out to left field on a solid shot that found a glove, then Gavan Propst struck out and Garrett Pugh grounded out to send the game to the second with St. Anthony up 1-0.
The top of the second would be the inning that in essence determined the game. Will Bierman started with a walk, then Xander Beals grounded out. Following a single for Ben McDonald, a runner advanced to third and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly for Tingley. Walks were then issued to Verdeyen and Lauritzen.
They both came in to score when Brent hit a line drive to center field, but the ball was dropped enabling two runs to come across. All nine batters came up to score four times.
Ramey started the bottom of the second with a strikeout, but then Liam Keim got the first Lion hit of the game with a single. He wouldn’t get any further than that as Eli Thompson struck out and Tucker Osborn grounded into a fielder’s choice to send the game to the third now at 5-0 in favor of St. Anthony.
Keim then came on to pitch in relief in the top of the third and worked a scoreless inning. He got Bierman to pop out. He surrendered a walk to Beals, but Beals was later thrown out looking to steal second. McDonald lined out to center to complete the first of two scoreless innings for the Bulldogs.
Ayden Houpt and Shane Tarble both drew walks to start the bottom of the inning, but Houpt was later thrown out looking to take second which negated the scoring threat. Maskell got on with a single, but a baserunning miscue on a line out for Propst caused him to be doubled off and the inning to end. So the game went to the fourth still 5-0 in favor of St. Anthony.
The top of the fourth started with Tingley striking out, but the ball got away to the point of Tingley reaching first on a dropped third strike. Verdeyen then got on with a single and both came in to score two batters later on a two-run RBI single for Brent. Following a walk to Mayer, Keim was replaced on the mound with Pugh. He got the last out when he got Allen to pop out.
The Lions went down in order in the bottom half of the fourth. Pugh popped out, Ramey flew out and Keim grounded out to send the game to the fifth now at 7-0 Bulldogs.
Pugh went back out and worked a scoreless top of the fifth. He did give up a leadoff hit to Bierman and walked Tingley but left them stranded on base when Verdeyen grounded out for the third out. Marshall went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth to send it to the sixth still trailing 7-0.
Two came across for St. Anthony in the sixth when Brent reached on an error which scored Lauritzen, and an RBI groundout for Allen. It was in the Marshall half of the sixth when they finally broke through and got on the board. Tarble led off with a walk, then Maskell grounded into a fielder’s choice. After a strikeout of Propst, Pugh got on with a single.
Up next came Ramey, who hit a deep fly ball to right field that nearly carried out for a homer, but instead hit the fence for a long single. Maskell, however, was able to come in to score on that hit. That made the score 9-1 going to the seventh.
Tarble came in to pitch the seventh, the fourth pitcher of the day and worked a scoreless inning. A couple of hitters got on with walks, but he got out of the mess when he got Brent to ground into a slickly-turned 6-4-3 double play. Marshall went down in order in the bottom of the seventh to bring the game to an end and give St. Anthony the 9-1 final score win.