The Marion High School baseball team had a long, tough Wamac Conference doubleheader against Dyersville Beckman Thursday night at Marion.

The Indians jumped to an early lead in the first game, but squandered opportunities and fell 11-6 in nine innings. In the second game, Marion scrambled to find pitchers and got shelled, 14-4.

The Indians got off to a good start when rightfielder Dusty Albaugh had a two-run single in the first inning of the opener. Later, Beckman shortstop Ian Ross hit a two-run home run to tie the game.

Marion rallied from one-run deficits in the seventh and eighth innings to stay alive, but Beckman scored five runs in the ninth for the 11-6 victory.

“We had several opportunities to win the game, but with baserunning mistakes and defensive mistakes, we beat ourselves in the first game,” Marion Coach Steve Fish said.

The Indians knew they were going to have a shallow pitching staff coming into the season, and it caught up with them in the first conference matchup. With Tyler Hedtke and Cale Cannoy finished after pitching in the first contest, the Indians were left with a stable of young and inexperienced pitchers to carry them through the second game.

“We knew it was going to be interesting because we didn’t have any pitching, so we had to throw some freshmen out there,” Fish said. “Long term, this will be a good experience for us, but right now, at 11:30 at night and 40 degrees, it wasn’t much fun.”

The Marion offense sputtered in the second game as well. After getting eight hits in the first game, Marion couldn’t get a hit until the fourth inning against Beckman in the second contest.

“I think our swings got long,” Fish said. “Our approach with runners on base, the pressure is not on us but we put too much pressure on ourselves.”

Although the conference opener was difficult for the Indians, they are hopeful they can fix things and still have a successful season.

“We have got some good kids, and we’ve got some kids facing their first live pitching because of soccer and track so they are very rusty in their reaction,” Fish said. “I’m not trying to make excuses, but we are just a little ways away.”

GAME 1

BECKMAN (11)
Robbie Anstoetter, lf, 5 1 0 0, Connor Golden, cf, 5 1 1 1, Nate Steger, 3b, 2 3 1 4, Lucas Jacque, dh, 6 0 1 0, Ian Ross, ss, 6 1 2 2, Sam Willenbring, c, 5 2 4 0, Rob Hermsen, 2b, 5 1 2 0, Ty Troutman, rf, 3 1 1 0, Adam Noethe, 3 0 1 0, Tyler Rahe, ph, 1 0 0 0, Levi Lawrence, ph, 0 1 0 0, Mitchel Lueck, 1b, 0 0 0 0. Totals 39 11 13 10.

MARION (6)
Kasey Semler, 2b, 4 3 2 0, Mitch Wagner, 3b, 2 1 0 0, Zach Nielsen, ss, 5 1 4 2, Andrew Charipar, cf, 5 0 0 1, Dusty Albaugh, rf, 4 1 1 2, Addison Johnson, c, 3 0 0 0, Trev Biery, 1b, 4 0 1 1, Byron Fish, lf, 3 0 0 0, Cale Connoy, p, 4 0 0 0. Totals 32 6 8 6.

Beckman  010 120 115 - 11 13 2
Marion  210 100 110 - 6 8 4

Adam Noethe, Nate Steger (7) and Sam Willenbring. Hedtke, Cannoy (5), Davila (9), Connelly (9) and Johnson. W – Steger L – Connelly.
2B - Nielsen (2), Willenbring (2). HR - Ross, Steger. SB - Semler, Albaugh, Troutman.

GAME 2

BECKMAN (14)
Robbie Anstoetter, lf, 1 2 1 0, Connor Golden, cf, 3 3 1 0, Nate Steger, 3b, 3 2 0 0, Lucas Jacque, dh, 3 2 3 2, Ian Ross, ss, 2 0 1 2, Rob Hermsen, 2b, 5 1 1 2, Ty Troutman, rf, 3 2 0 0, Levi Lawrence 3 1 0 0, Mitch Kruse 0 0 0 0, Kirby Kendrick 0 1 0 0, Mitchell Lueck 0 1 0 0, Ryan Decker 0 0 0 0. Totals 23 14 7 6.

MARION (4)
Kasey Semler 2 0 0 0, Mitch Wagner 3 1 1 0, Zach Nielsen 4 0 2 1, Andrew Charipar 4 0 1 0, Dusty Albaugh 4 0 0 0, Trev Biery 2 1 0 0, Addison Johnson 2 1 0 0, Byron Fish 3 0 0 0, Cale Cannoy 2 1 0 0. Totals 26 4 4 1.

Beckman 050 431 1 – 14 7 1
Marion 030 010 0 – 4 3 6

Ian Ross, Levi Lawrence (2) and Mitch Kruse. Nick Connelly, Christian Stekl (2), Jeremy Schnieders (5), Joshua Davila (5), Quinn Cannoy (6) and Addison Johnson. W - Lawrence. L - Connelly.
2B - Golden, Jacque, Hermsen. 3B - Nielsen. SB - Anstoetter.