The Marion baseball team swept a doubleheader Tuesday from Remington by identical 10-0 scores, where dominance on the mound fueled the Warriors’ success.
“We’ve done a better job the second half of the season of really dictating the way that the games are going to go, from the mound, from the get-go, and it’s really helped our defense to settle in and make plays behind them,” coach Roger Schroeder said.
In Game 1, Chase Stringer (4-0) threw a two-hit shutout in a run-rule game that ended after six innings. Stringer walked five batters and struck out five.
The Warriors scored in every inning but the fourth, plating one run in each of the first and second innings before blowing the game open with a three-hit, five-run bottom of the third inning.
The Warriors loaded the bases and brought 11 batters to the plate. Luke Lanning hit a sacrifice fly, Evann Heidebrecht drove in a run with a single, Cole Srajer worked a bases-loaded walk, and Sam Zinn was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score a run.
Cooper Carpenter drove in a run with a fifth-inning double, and the Warriors completed the run-rule win with a one-hit, two-run bottom of the sixth, in which Carpenter hit an RBI single.
Carpenter was 3-for-3 at-bat and had two RBIs.
Marion won Game 2 in five innings, with Sam Zinn (4-1) throwing a one-hit shutout. Zinn walked one Bronco and struck out five. He faced three batters more than the minimum.
Marion enjoyed a big second inning to take control. Leading 1-0, the Warriors used six hits and an error to push across seven runs in the second inning. Cole Srajer hit an RBI single, then Zinn drove in two runs with a single. Corbin Wheeler followed with an RBI double. Garrett Hoffner drove in a run with a single. Marion brought 12 batters to the plate before the inning ended.
Marion used an error to score a run without a hit in the third inning, and the Warriors completed the run-rule win when Wheeler hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth.
Wheeler was 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs. Jacob Vondenkamp was 2-for-2.
“We dictated the pace really well,” Schroeder said. “Both Chase and Sam threw pretty well. Chase danced between some raindrops a little bit with issuing some walks, but really was pretty good, only giving up the two hits in six innings.
“(Sam) really didn’t have much going on behind him. (Remington) had three base-runners—the walk, the hit and we made an error. Other than that, he was able to throw the ball well. In five innings he threw 69 pitches, so he was efficient with what he was doing.”
Coming—Marion (9-1, 14-2) was scheduled to conclude Heart of America league play by hosting Bennington Tuesday. Two wins would secure at least a share of the league title. The Warriors will play at Canton-Galva Friday.
