Rolloff racks up 11 Ks,

Jr. Legion tops Marshall

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Baseball can be a forgiving game.

Thursday night, the New Ulm Junior Legion lost 11-4 to Sioux Falls as they committed five errors, three base-running mistakes and their pitchers walked five hitters.

Friday night, they were a different team.

Mark Rolloff struck out 11 Marshall hitters while allowing only four hits as the Junior Legion rebounded with a bang by toppling Marshall 8-2 in the Junior Upper Midwest Classic at Johnson Park.

The right-handed Rolloff was aided by a 10-hit attack paced by two hits each from Derik Johnson and Mitch Palmer. Palmer had a double with Josh Thorson and Keith McClellan each tripling in the contest.

Mark VanMeveren took the loss for Marshall, going 3 2-3 innings and yielding eight hits that produced eight runs.

Chris Schroeder doubled for Marshall.

"I think that we came in with a little more focus tonight," commented coach LeRoy Flor. "Don't ask me why. I can't explain, but I thought that we executed better. We played better defense (one error compared to five Thursday) and our pitcher threw a lot of strikes."

And that was as big of a key as any as Rolloff controlled Marshall hitters all night.

"We had a tough outing last night," said Rolloff. "But I knew that if I came out and just threw strikes, my defense would work for me."

Flor said he was "concerned" about how his team would come out against Marshall and when the first two Marshall hitters of the game reached via a walk and an error to put runners on first and third with no outs, one had to wonder.

But Blake Thorson threw out Tom Kost (who had reached on an error) trying to steal second and Rolloff struck out the next two hitters to leave Marshall with a goose-egg in the first inning.

"When you strike a guy out, it makes you feel really good," said Rolloff. "And when you get three, four or five strike outs, you really start to feel good."

New Ulm took a cue from that to score two quick runs in the first inning. Keith McClellan reached on an error and took second on a passed ball.

Johnson's one-out single put runners on first and third with one out before a balk by Mark VanMeveren plated McClellan. A Mitch Palmer ground out and a double steal lifted New Ulm to a 2-0 lead.

But unlike Thursday when Post 132 scored two runs to take a 2-0 lead against Sioux Falls, S.D., Rolloff and New Ulm did not lose the lead. They increased it.

Rolloff set down nine straight hitters going into the bottom of the fourth when the Junior Legion added six runs to their lead.

Andy Budahn reached on an error and swiped second. Adam Hoscheit's single to center scored Budahn for a 3-0 lead. A Tyson Anderson single put runners on first and second for McClellan, who unloaded a triple to deep center field to score two more runs and a 5-0 New Ulm lead.

"Keith is quick and a good hitter for us from that lead-off spot," Flor said.

McClellan scored one pitch later on a perfect suicide squeeze bunt by Nate Carroll to build the lead to 6-0.

Johnson continued the offensive onslaught with a base hit to center and stole second. He came home with the fifth run of the inning on a Palmer double. Reliever Tom Gregg was greeted by an RBI triple to center by Thorson for an 8-0 lead.

"We got back up after last night," said Palmer. "We have a 100 percent turnaround in our attitude. We are getting along a lot better. We are starting to click now."

Marshall ended Rolloff's no-hit bid (and the shutout) in the sixth inning when Chase Pollack blooped a single down the right field line. That broke a string of 15 straight hitters set down by Rolloff.

Chris Schroeder followed with a double. A Tom Kost RBI single and a fielder's choice plated the two Marshall runs.

"He (Rolloff) was very focused tonight," Flor said. "And I think that we just starting to play together."

MARSHALL 000 002 0--2 4 2

NU JUNIOR LEGION 200 600 x--8 10 1

WP: Rolloff. LP: VanMeveren. 2B: Palmer (NU), Schroeder (M). 3B: McClellan (NU), Thorson (NU).