MARINETTE — It may not have felt like spring, but the winter weather held off long enough for the Marinette High School baseball team to get a jump on its season.
The Marines opened the season against Green Bay Southwest at Pedersen Ballpark on Monday.
The game-time temperature was 40 degrees with a windchill of 33 degrees, and while the temperature steadily dropped throughout the contest, the Marinette bats were never able to heat up in a 9-3 loss.
“I wish we could have played a couple weeks ago when it was 65,” Marinette coach Mike Maedke quipped, “but it’s definitely better than being inside in the gym.”
The April 1 start to the season marked the team’s earliest opening day contest since 2019. Marinette fell to 4-6 in its last ten season-opening games.
Unfortunately for the Marines, Southwest’s Braxton Murphy kept the Marinette offense on ice, allowing just one unearned run on four hits and three walks while striking out eight in six innings of work.
“Obviously not the result we wanted,” Maedke said, “But we played a pretty good game. Tip your cap to Southwest. They hit the ball hard. They did everything as a team. Credit to our guys, they didn’t pack it in and battled all seven innings.”
Murphy also paced the Trojans at the plate with a pair of doubles among his three hits. His RBI single in the first was part of a three-run frame that immediately put Southwest in the driver’s seat.
Southwest added two more in the second with an RBI single from Jake Proski and a sac fly from Kaleb Langenberg to chase Justin Kruse from the contest after only two innings of work.
“Justin Kruse was our most consistent pitcher from last year, so we gave him the start,” Maedke said. “He missed a couple spots, and we missed a couple of defensive plays that could have helped him out and made it a totally different score. It was 5-1 when he left, but with a couple of catches here and there it could have been 3-1 or 2-1.”
The Marines got on the board in the bottom of the second when Cooper Smith walked and later scored on a GBSW error.
Marinette put together their only serious threat against Murphy in the bottom of the third. Levi Hanson led off with a double.
The Marines appeared to be in business after Chase MacGregor singled and stole second to put runners at second and third with only one out, but the rally fizzled when Weston Hanson hit into a double play with a sharp line drive to shortstop.
“That’s mental,” Maedke said. “’Freeze on a line’ drive is something you hear since little league. I don’t want to make excuses, but it’s early and mistakes will be made.”
After Kruse’s tough start, Maedke turned to freshmen Niklas Williams and Levi Hanson for the remaining five innings.
Williams contributed two solid innings on the bump, allowing just an unearned run on a hit and two walks. Hanson tossed the final three innings and allowed three runs, two earned on three hits while striking out six.
Hanson turned in a terrific high school debut, earning the start at shortstop, going 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles and a run scored, and striking out six in his three innings pitched.
“This was not our plan to pitch who we pitched,” Maedke said, “but with the weather that’s coming we ended up pivoting to two of our freshmen. Nik kind of ran into his wall, but he pitched great. Levi went three innings, squared up the ball twice, and played a good shortstop. I can’t be more impressed with their debuts and excited to see what we do in the next game.”
Southwest posted an unearned run in the fourth, one more in the sixth and two in the seventh to stretch its lead to 9-1.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Levi Hanson started a rally with his second double of the day.
MacGregor followed with an RBI single, marking his third hit of the contest. A walk from Max Williamson and a single from Weston Hanson kept the inning alive, but the Marines were only able to plate a pair and fell by a final score of 9-3.
Kruse was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on six hits, two walks and a hit batter in two innings pitched.
Murphy went six innings, allowing an unearned run on four hits and three walks while striking out eight to earn the win.
At the plate, Murphy was 3-for-4 with two doubles, two stolen bases and three RBI while the top four hitters in the Trojan lineup combined to go 10-for-15 with five RBI, nine stolen bases and seven runs scored.
Levi Hanson was 2-for-4 with two doubles, while MacGregor went 3-for-4 at the plate with a stolen base and an RBI.
Due up
Marinette: The Marines’ game against Freedom on Tuesday was postponed to Friday due to expected inclement weather. Marinette’s game against St. Thomas Aquinas Academy on Thursday could also be in doubt due to the weather.
Marinette is at Freedom on Saturday, with the first pitch scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
Green Bay Southwest 9 — Marinette 3
GB Southwest 320 101 2 — 9
Marinette 010 000 2 — 3
WP: Murphy 6 IP, 1R, 0 ER, 4H, 3 BB, 8K.
LP: Kruse 2 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, HBP, 2 K.
Leading Hitters (Marinette): L. Hanson 2-4, 2 2B, R; MacGregor 3-4, SB, RBI, R; W. Hanson 1-4. Sommerfeldt 1-4.
Leading Hitters (GB Southwest): Murphy 3-4, 2 2B, BB, 2 SB, 3 RBI, R; Proski 3-4, HBP, 3 SB, 3R; Richardson 3-4, BB, 3 SB, R, RBI; Langenberg 0-3, BB, SF, RBI, SB, 2R; Klatt 1-4, 2B.
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