by Max Mercy

PROCTOR -- Duluth Marshall defeated Proctor, 13-1, in a Lake Superior Conference baseball game on Tuesday. The game ended after five innings due to the 10-run rule.

The Hilltoppers scored four runs in the second inning to begin the scoring. Cole Maccoux and Carter Sullivan led off with singles and Alex Busick's sacrifice bunt put them on second and third with one out. Charlie Kleinschmidt's RBI groundout sent Maccoux home for the first run. Proctor had just about worked out of a bases-loaded jam but an errant throw on a strikeout with two outs allowed two more runs to score. Peter Hanson followed with a two-run single.

Marshall went ahead 12-0 with an eight-run fourth. Kleinschmidt doubled with one out and Maddux Baggs's single with two outs sent him to third. Baggs reached second on the play as the outfield throw missed its cut man. Hanson reached on an error. One run scored on the play. A walk loaded the bases and another walk drove in a run. An error allowed in another run. A walk produced another run. Busich then hit a two-run double and Kleinschmidt followed with a two-run single.

Proctor scored a run in the bottom of the fourth when Blake Koski singled with one out and scored on an RBI double by Jordan Linder with two outs.

Baggs scored the game's final run in the fifth when Sullivan beat out an infield single with the bases loaded and two outs.

Winning pitcher Derrick Winn allowed one run on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts in four innings. Brett Benson tossed a three-up-and-three-down fifth inning with two strikeouts.

Mason Flick (3-2 W-L, 0.86 ERA) started for the Rails and picked up the loss. He allowed 12 runs (one earned) on eight hits, four walks, and a hit batsman. He had one strikeout. Ethan Bakke pitched one inning in relief and allowed one run on three hits and a hit batsman.

Baggs, Hanson, Sullivan, and Kleinschmidt each had two hits for Marshall. Kleinschmidt had three RBI and Hanson, Sullivan, and Busick had two RBI apiece. Baggs scored three runs and Maccoux and Sullivan had two runs each.

Koski was 2-for-2 with a run and Linder was 2-for-2 with an RBI for the Rails.

Proctor, now 8-4, is next in action on Friday at the Mike Bugliosi Wood Bat Classic in Hibbing. The Rails square off against Cloquet at 4:30 p.m. at Hibbing's historic Al Nyberg Field. On Saturday, Proctor plays at 3:00 against Superior and at 5:30 against Hibbing.