OTTAWA – A team can only keep a lineup as deep as Marquette Academy’s silent for so long.

After managing only one hit off Seneca ace Matt Cruise in a 1-0 loss Tuesday, the Crusaders exacted a small measure of revenge Thursday by scoring four runs in the first inning – the key blow a two-run, opposite-field single by freshman Sam Mitre – and adding eight more in the next two innings to capture a 12-0 victory in a Tri-County Conference contest at Masinelli Field.

Logan Nelson fired a one-hit shutout at the Irish, striking out eight and allowing only two base runners over the five-inning win, while Mitre was going 3 for 3 with two doubles and four RBIs. Julian Alexander clubbed a bases-loaded triple in a six-run third inning, and Brady Ewers chipped in two more RBIs as part of MA’s 10-hit attack against three Seneca pitchers.

The game, the Cru’s first after losing team RBI leader Beau Ewers for the season with a broken thumb in a 5-4 loss Wednesday at Joliet Catholic, snaps the two-game skid and puts Marquette’s record at 16-2 overall and a first-place 5-1 in the Tri-County. Seneca falls to 9-3, 6-2 in the TCC.

“Over the last 14 innings, we’d seen some elite pitching, so the ball looked big for us today,” MA coach Todd Hopkins said. “It was nice how we bounced back after Beau’s injury. I feel terrible for him, but the kids didn’t pout about it, they just played.

“Logan was awesome today: 55 pitches in five innings, which is pretty efficient. He had a few strikeouts as well, and we made plays behind him. Together, those things put us back on the winning side of it.

“[The losses] weren’t a wake-up call. The kid from Seneca was awesome, and Joliet Catholic, I’d like to see the 2A team that beats them, because they’re legit, though we gave them all they wanted.

“We played the game today, we’re moving on, and we’ll figure it out from here.”

Against Irish starter Paxton Giertz, Alexander led off the first with a single, Carson Zellers was hit by a pitch, and Nelson tapped a bunt single to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Alexander before Mitre lined an opposite-field single down the right-field line to plate two. Brady Ewers then singled him in.

In the second, Mitre followed reliever Tyler Sulzberger’s walks to Alexander and Nelson with a two-base hit to left to make it 6-0.

“Those runs in the first were big for us,” Mitre said. “I’ve been having a little bit of trouble the last few games, so I was happy to help us with that hit. After the pitching we’ve seen the last two, today it seemed a little bit slower and easier to see. Hopefully, this will get our minds back into it and get us back on track.”

The clinching third inning began with an error on Hayden McKenna’s bouncer, a walk to Taylor Waldron and a run-scoring single by Primo Pattelli. Charlie Mullen then walked to fill the bases and chase Sulzberger in favor of Calvin Maierhofer, who was touched for Alexander’s bases-clearing triple to right-center. A Zellers RBI hit, another Mitre double and an outfield error added the final two runs of the rally.

Nelson remained tough on the mound. After walking Bryce Roe in the first inning, he retired nine straight before Sulzberger looped a single to left with two outs in the fourth.

“Marquette, their lineup 1 through 9 can swing it, and they had a pitcher on the mound who knew exactly what he was doing, and we couldn’t string hits together against him,” Seneca coach Tim Brungard said. “In 90% of at-bats, we started guys out with ball one, and against a team like this, you have to get ahead better. They’re a well-coached team, a very talented team, and they flat out beat us today.

“Now we have to control our own destiny with two against Midland next week, Roanoke-Benson the week after, then two with Dwight. We have to try and win all six and see what happens.”