The Marshalltown baseball team scored at least six runs in a game for the first time in two weeks, but it wasn’t enough for the Bobcats to offset all their self-inflicted damage.
Waterloo East capitalized on 14 free passes issued by Bobcat pitching in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader at the MHS diamond, and the Trojans turned it into a season sweep with wins of 11-6 and 9-2 in the Iowa Alliance Conference North Division finale.
East (12-17, 6-10) took an 8-0 lead in the first game, turning six free bases into five runs along the way. Three-straight hits exacerbated the situation as the Trojans sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning for a seven-run outburst.
A strong relief pitching performance by senior Tayven Dutton helped spark the Bobcats’ comeback in the form of a six-run rally in the bottom of the fourth.
Larrs Schoenfelder reached on an error before back-to-back walks to Madden Martin and Garrett Thede loaded the bases. Aiden Holmgren ripped an RBI single to left, and Jalen Logsdon cleared the bases with a double to right-center field. All five contributors are freshmen or eighth-graders.
Senior Sam Greazel followed up with an RBI single, but Greazel was picked off at first for the first out. Dutton drove a two-out double to left, Zander Stupp was hit by a pitch, and Schoenfelder’s second at-bat of the inning yielded an RBI single to bring the Bobcats within 8-6.
Marshalltown (6-25, 0-16) got four more hits over the next three innings, but relief pitcher Nolan Pfalzgraf eliminated the free bases that plagued Trojan starter Keegan Aitchison and silenced the Bobcat bats for the final three frames.
Stupp took the loss in his final start at home, allowing eight runs — six earned — on five hits and six total walks while striking out two. Dutton allowed two unearned runs on two hits and three walks, also striking out two.
In all, four MHS pitchers issued 11 walks and hit three batters, and seven of those Trojan baserunners eventually scored. The Bobcats also stranded 12 runners on base.
Holmgren went 3-for-4 to lead the MHS offense, while Greazel, Dutton, Schoenfelder and Logsdon had two hits apiece. Stupp added a single as the Bobcats outhit East 12-7.
“Offensively I thought we handled the bat OK and were able to put pressure on East when we needed to,” said MHS head coach Colton Hanke. “However, that only gets us so far as we continue to give up free passes. That is the biggest area that we are going to focus on heading into next week.”
Marshalltown’s offensive uprising was extinguished in Game 2 by East starter Caleb Peters, who struck out eight over six innings of two-hit ball. He allowed two runs — one earned — while walking two.
Greazel had two hits and a walk, scoring the Bobcats’ first run after a bunt single to open the bottom of the first. He scored on a groundout by Dutton, but Marshalltown’s offense didn’t threaten again until the sixth.
Logsdon led off the sixth by reaching on an error, eventually scoring on a Trojan error. The Bobcats loaded the bases with no outs but couldn’t get the ball out of the infield. Holmgren hit a one-out single in the seventh and back-to-back walks loaded the bases again, but the same result followed and Marshalltown suffered its 22nd consecutive loss in Alliance North play.
MHS will try to end its 12-game losing skid with Monday’s regular-season finale at Nevada. The 7:30 p.m. game will be played at the SCORE Recreation Complex.