Marquette rolls to 10-0 TCC win over RB/LW

OTTAWA – Marquette continued its winning ways in Tuesday’s Tri-County Conference game against Roanoke-Benson/Lowpoint-Washburn at Masinelli Field.

After retiring the Rockets in order in the top of the first inning, the Crusaders scored three runs with two outs in bottom half. Marquette added a run in the second, three in the third, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to close out a 10-0 10-run rule victory in six innings.

The win pushed Marquette to 13-1 overall and 5-0 in TCC play. RB/LW dropped to 8-4 and 4-3.

Junior starting pitcher Alec Novotney was dominant in his five innings of work allowing just a fourth-inning single to the Rockets’ Josh Kennell while striking out 10 batters, including five looking. The Crusaders ace, with a solid mix of fastballs and off-speed pitches, threw 42 of his 63 pitches for strikes.

“Alec had very good command and demeanor today on the mound,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “You can tell when he’s on the mound, the other kids are comfortable and confident. We’ve been letting him go a little deeper in each game this season, and as the weather and temperatures get better and warmer he’ll go longer.”

A pair of Rockets’ two-out errors and a two-run single by Jaxsen Higgins on the first pitch he saw from Rockets’ starter Henry Koehler (4 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) gave Marquette a 3-0 lead.

“I normally take the first pitch,” said Higgins, who finished with three of the Crusaders’ 11 hits. “Doing that just helps me relax, but today I got a couple of really good first-pitch fastballs right down the middle that I just couldn’t pass up. Then in my third at-bat I got a slider right over the plate and was able to take it the other way.

“My process at the plate wasn’t much different than normal, other than today I was looking to put the ball in play early in the count if the pitch was right.

Novotney’s RBI groundout after an Easton Debernardi triple made it 4-0 in the second, and a two-run single by Payton Guttierez and run-scoring grounder by Griffin Dobberstein pushed the lead to 7-0 after three. In the fifth off Kennell (1⅔ IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) in relief, a wild pitch and Anthony Couch RBI single made it 9-0.

After Higgins (1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K) pitched the top of the sixth, Gutierrez and Novotney both singled and Doberstein walked to load the bases before Sam Mitre was hit by a pitch – for the third time in the game – to bring in the clinching run.

After the three hits by Higgins, Novotney, Gutierrez and Keaton Davis each had two, while Mitre and Dobberstein walked twice.

“Sam has been hit by a lot of pitches this year (12), but it’s like I preach to the kids, it’s not always about getting a hit more so than finding a way to get on base,” Hopkins said. “He took one for the team there in the first inning, then the next four guys put the ball in play and all of a sudden we’ve put three runs up.

“We had a few guys put some really good at-bats together and hit the ball hard, and Alec and Jaxsen both pitched well.

“It was an overall good game for us.”

The teams meet again at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Roanoke.