Strong start to season continues for Marquette

OTTAWA – The Marquette baseball team continued its strong start to the season in Monday’s game against Newark at Masinelli Field.

The Crusaders scored two runs in each of the first two innings against the Norsemen, then erupted for 11 runs in the third and eventually recorded a 15-0 win in four innings to improve to 5-0.

Marquette recorded 12 hits – including a 4 for 4, four RBI day from leadoff man Alec Novotney – and reached base on six walks against five Newark pitchers, while in four innings Cru starter Grant Dose allowed just two hits, struck out three and threw 27 of his 37 pitches for strikes.

“Our batters took care of their business, and Grant threw the ball well, 37 pitches in four innings, he was pretty impressive,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “We’ve done a good job of doing the things we needed to do through these first five games.

“These guys are collectively physically stronger than last season. It has shown with the at-bats we’ve had and on the mound. We’ve had a nice start to the season.”

Marquette – which now has outscored its opponents 61-1 and outhit them 56-11 – scored a pair of runs off Newark starter Kiptyn Bleuer on an RBI triple by Griffin Dobberstein and a run-scoring groundout by Keaton Davis.

In the Crusaders' second off the Norsemen’s Toby Steffen, Dose lined a leadoff single and later scored on a base hit by Payton Gutierrez, who came around to score on a triple by Novotney.

The hosts sent 14 batters to the plate in the third, with Novotney driving in three runs, Anthony Couch and Gutierrez two each and Dobberstein, Dose and Caden Durdan one apiece.

Dose, who was making his second appearance of the young season and first start, closed out the game in the fourth with a pair of flyouts and a fielder’s choice.

“Most of my pitches were just fastballs,” Dose said. ”I just wanted to throw strikes and let my defense do the rest. This team prides itself on defense, so when you take the mound you know they are going to make plays behind you. The guys did a great job for me today.

“I struggled with my changeup on Saturday. It just wasn’t working for me. But today I was able to find it and was able to get a couple strikeouts with it.

“The way we’ve been hitting so far this season, I think any of us that start games are a little extra relaxed because we know we’re more often than not going to get run support. Having that confidence in our hitters makes it easier to pitch more aggressively, knowing they are going to have your back.”

Newark’s two hits, both singles, came from Payton Wills in the first and Bleuer in the third.

“We had played really good baseball so far this season until today,” Newark coach Josh Cooper said. ”We have four games still this week, so today was going to be by committee as far as the pitching staff goes. We wanted to get many guys in to pitch.

“We’ve played all 2A teams and now Marquette, who is the defending 1A champ, and competed in all the games prior to today. Games like this happen, you just have to move on, learn from mistakes and work to get better the next time out.”

Marquette will play Thursday at Marmion Academy. Newark (1-3) is scheduled to host Aurora Christian on Wednesday.