From left, Halen McCullom and Jack Pond of Marquette yell to their teammates as Baraga-Lake of the Clouds’ Jerry Majuria slides into second base during a Little League District 11 baseball tournament game played in Negaunee on Monday evening. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

“We hit the ball a lot and you know that makes the game.” — Halen McCollum, Marquette Little League Majors all–star player

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NEGAUNEE — When Marquette player Desmond Gleason was asked to comment on his team’s game on Monday night, he simply stated “Marquette takes big dubs.”

That pretty much summed up his team’s performance, as the Marquette Little League all-stars indeed earned a big “W” with a four-inning 20-0 victory over Baraga-Lake of the Clouds in the District 11 Majors tournament at Bernie Rivers Memorial Field in Negaunee.

Marquette, playing out of the consolation bracket after losing over the weekend, cranked out 14 hits. After scoring just one run in the first two innings, the team tacked on 19 more over the final two frames to seal a mercy-rule victory and stay alive in the double-elimination tournament.

Marquette head coach Joey Gleason said a slow start was quickly erased with a combination of offense and several miscues by Baraga-LOTC.

“We started out slow, which I expected us to start out a little bit quicker,” he said. “All in all, they came around, slowed down, started becoming really good teammates and the next thing you know, the runs started piling in and the mistakes (from Baraga-LOTC) started happening.

“It’s similar to what happened to us (Sunday), a couple of mistakes can make or break a game by a long way.”

Marquette fell to Negaunee 10-4 on Sunday to drop into the consolation bracket. In its tourney opener on Saturday, Marquette defeated Penokee Range of the Ironwood area 11-1.

Penokee Range fell to Portage Lake 6-5 in Monday night’s second game, meaning that Marquette and Portage Lake square off at 5 p.m. today back in Negaunee for a chance to stay alive.

Marquette’s first run Monday came in the top of the first inning after Hayden Trepanier reached on a bunt single. Trepanier came around to score after stealing second, then capitalizing on multiple Baraga-LOTC errors and miscommunication that allowed him to round third and come home.

Marquette starting pitcher Kyle Moyer began his outing with a walk to Baraga-LOTC leadoff man Kale Kaarto, but held the rest of the lineup at bay, striking out the next three hitters to end the inning. Kaarto was left stranded on third after a stolen base and passed ball.

Moyer did his job on the rubber and was pulled after one inning in favor of Ian Sheltrow, who went the final three innings for Marquette.

Marquette broke the game open in the third as seven of the 11 players who stepped up to the plate came around to score, including Jake Toyrow who touched home plate twice in the inning after being hit home by Moyer.

After Sheltrow managed a quick bottom half of the third facing just five Baraga-LOTC hitters, Marquette picked up right where it left off and batted around again with eight of 10 scoring.

Sheltrow ended the game with a strikeout of Kolyn Sweeney to record his fifth strikeout of the game. Sheltrow finished with three walks while allowing just one hit.

Moyer finished his day on the mound with three strikeouts and one walk without allowing a hit and was credited with the win.

Easton Foucault took the loss on the mound for Baraga-LOTC, going three innings while allowing nine runs, 10 hits and five walks as he fanned three.

Sheltrow, Toyrow, Halen McCollum, Alex Brennan and Jack Pond each finished with two RBIs for Marquette.

McCollum was satisfied with his team’s all-around performance, but particularly on offense.

“We did well, we had some hits into the outfield, we made nice grounders,” he said. “We hit the ball a lot and you know that makes the game. We didn’t make any errors and we can’t let the guys advance.”

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.