Travelers thumped by Warrensburg

Third baseman Josh Toliver made a nice catch and throw for the second out of the first inning, but the Travelers then ran into trouble made worse by defensive mistakes. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

When a baseball team is as offensively-challenged as the Marshall Travelers, small mistakes loom large.

The first inning of Saturday's home doubleheader against Warrensburg American Legion Post 131 demonstrated the Travelers' difficulties, although was hardly critical during six-inning losses of 15-4 and 13-0.

The visitors scored twice in the top of the opening frame on a single by Cliff Cox and Andrew Grover's double, but in both cases runners were put into scoring position by Marshall miscues: a botched run-down on a pickoff attempt and a missed cut-off man on Cox' single.

The Travelers came into the contest with a .218 team batting average -- which wasn't helped by Thursday's losses to Macon, 12-1 and 13-1 -- so having a runner thrown out for rounding second base too far on a perfect bunt was costly error for a club with no margin for them.

Andrew St. Pierre was a one-man wrecking crew for the Legion team, blasting a two-run homer in the second inning and scoring following singles in the fifth and sixth.

Warrensburg scored at least two runs in each of the six innings, getting three in the third when Zach Richcreek hit a two-run double and came in on Brandon Leavy's single. Shayne Luehrs tripled in a run and scored during the four-run fifth.

Marshall held off an even earlier elimination with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Aaron Skinner walked and scored on an error and Brock Musick had an RBI single, coming in Josh Toliver's double.

However, St. Pierre took over on the mound in the sixth and retired the Travelers in order, striking out two, then strayed on the hill for a one-out shutout in the nightcap -- which he started with a double, which was followed by a Luehrs two-bagger as Warrensburg (12-1) built a 3-1 lead.

Luehrs tripled in a run and scored on Chris Pryor's single in the second, but right-hander Jacob Phillips proved to be the only Marshall pitcher who could even temporarily contain Post 131 -- tossing two scoreless frames during a stretch in which he retired seven of eight batters.

However, the Travelers didn't get a hit off of St. Pierre until the fifth inning, when Jordan Pannell singled -- and then was promptly picked off first base.

Ben Owens doubled in a run for Warrensburg as it tallied three times in the third. St. Pierre and Luehrs repeated their first-inning feat with back-to-back doubles in the five-run sixth.

Marshall (2-8) committed 12 errors for 10 unearned runs during the day to see its losing streak reach six games. The Travelers are scheduled to host Sedalia on Tuesday.