Photo courtesy of PhotoWorks The 2025 Marshall baseball team includes Eli Alcorn, Samuel Thor, Carter Prins, Cooper Mensink, Liam Kruse, Levi Maeyaert, Brody Wixon, Logan Miller, Deagen Maurice, Josh Kraft, Chase Alcorn, Owen Kesteloot, Shep Jensen, Clayton Jones, Jesse Vierstraete, Tyson Louwagie, Andrew Stelter, Logan Phillippe, Carson Kopitski, Braxton Koster, Eli Weedman and Leyton Wherry. The team is coached by Chace Pollock with assistant coaches Mitch Maxwell, Michael Weiss, Brad Bahlmann, Blake Schwartz and Paul Blanchard.

MARSHALL — Coming just one win shy of a section championship appearance last year, the Marshall baseball team returns a strong staff of pitching arms in 2025 with the hope of making another deep postseason run.

Liam Kruse returns as the ace of the pitching staff. He posted a perfect 6-0 record in eight starts last season, compiling a 0.45 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He also struck out 52 batters with 25 walks over 46 2/3 innings.

Owen Kesteloot, Josh Kraft and Chase Alcorn also each pitched more than 20 innings for the Tigers last year. Kesteloot posted a 1.54 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP, Alcorn logged a 2.33 ERA and 1.24 WHIP while Kraft clocked in at 3.15 and 1.55.

“We had a lot of kids come in this spring that are varsity-ready. It just doesn’t happen our of nowhere, these kids have put in a lot of time over their lives and in the offseason,” Marshall head coach Chace Pollock said. “At this point, it just kind of runs itself. We just happen to have a large crop of guys that we feel comfortable with on the mound and have put in a lot of time for that moment.”

The Tigers compiled a 20-6 record last season, earning the No. 3 seed in the Section 2AAA tournament. The Tigers bounced No. 6 New Ulm 5-1 before falling to No. 2 Mankato East 5-0 in the championship bracket. Still, Marshall battled its way to a pair of elimination bracket wins before eventually falling to top-seeded Mankato West in the elimination championship game. The 7-4 loss left them one win shy of a section championship appearance.

“We played well in the playoffs, just not well enough to win,” Pollock said. “But there are a lot of guys on that roster that are here with us this year. Hopefully, they understand pitching and defense win games, and those are two things we feel really good about with this team. As we start to get going into our season, hopefully, a lot of those things work themselves out, but it was fun. Anytime you can get to the end of the section and have a chance to get to the section championship, it’s a good year.”

On paper, this year’s Marshall team is particularly experienced. The team consists of 10 seniors and 12 juniors with no underclassmen. The value of that experience is that there isn’t much that can surprise this team, Pollock said, noting that the gap between facing B-squad pitchers who can only throw one or two pitches for a strike compared to varsity pitchers who can sometimes throw three pitches for a strike takes some time to adjust to.

“Just having seen that, being through it, knowing what our approach is at the plate and then executing is important and it’s hard to do,” Pollock said. “It’s hard to talk about it and throw them out in a game and expect them to do it. You’ve just got to learn through failure sometimes, and that’s what a lot of these guys did last year.”

Pollock noted that the Tigers batted for a .241 average as a group last season, but that they’re hitting .343 as of Monday this season. He added that finding the right lineup with a group that has plenty of talented players can be challenging, but that settling in and tailoring the lineup over the next 20 games to be playoff-ready will be key.

Josh Kraft led the team offensively last year with a .320 batting average and a .901 OPS. Right behind him, Andrew Stelter and Liam Kruse hit for a .833 and .816 OPS, respectively.

Beyond just results, Pollock said the team’s goals this year revolve around growth and making the most of its practice sessions. He added that being a good teammate is also among the points of emphasis for the group.

At the time of print, the Marshall Tigers are 4-0 on the season with three of their four wins coming via mercy rule. The lone exception was a 4-2 win over Class 4A Moorhead, which they won 4-2 in their home opener at Legion Field on Friday.