Blustery conditions made a normally routine infield pop fly anything but for Kingsford junior pitcher Andres Finley Tuesday afternoon at Lodal Park. The Flivvers upended Marquette 6-2 in conference action. (Ron Deuter photo)

KINGSFORD — After allowing a run in each of the first and second innings, Kingsford kept Marquette off the scoreboard for the final four frames and secured a 6-2 conference victory in varsity baseball Tuesday at Lodal Park in what was another chilly and windy afternoon for a ballgame.

“It was scary at times,” Flivvers head coach Joe Kriegl said. “We have to do a better job of keeping the lead runner off the basepath. The first batter is getting on way too much. But we battled back. We did some really good things.”

Junior Gavin Trevillian earned the victory on the mound for Kingsford, throwing five innings with seven strikeouts. He scattered five hits and walked four. The Flivver defense came up big in the fourth and fifth innings with double plays to keep Marquette off the board.

“Great effort. Gavin threw a lot of pitches,” Kriegl said. “He fought through a lot of stuff. The strike zone was tight today.”

The Flivvers matched Marquette’s opening run in the first and answered again in the second, scoring twice with two outs to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Junior Gavin Grondin singled and stole second to start the push. He came around to score when junior Garrett Brown sent a grounder to short that was mishandled. After junior Jack Kriegl reached first on a hit by pitch, junior Andres Finley found a hole on the right side to bring in Brown.

Kingsford added insurance in the fifth with three more runs. Singles by Kriegl and Finley got the rally brewing. Trevillian then dropped a bunt out in front of home and the throw sailed by Marquette’s first baseman allowing both Kriegl and Finley to score.

Junior Nolan Hendrickson reached on a fielder’s choice and wound up scoring on another bad throw by Marquette.

“Great baserunning, we made them throw the ball a couple of times and got some big runs there,” Kriegl said.

Finley took the bump for the final inning. Battling the stiff breeze blowing out toward left, Finley was unable to get the leadoff man who popped one up sky high just off the mound. But Finley recovered with a strikeout of the next batter, and the Flivvers cut down the lead runner on a fielder’s choice before a grounder to short ended the contest.

“It’s always fun to get a conference win,” Kriegl said. “Marquette always has a great program. An exciting win, a big win.”

Marquette junior Jake Toyras, who had two of his team’s five hits, including a double, lead off the fourth with a single and moved to second. Trevillian fanned the next hitter and then snagged a liner up the middle and fired to second for the double up Toyras.

In the fifth Marquette’s lead off man reached on a walk. An error put runners on first and second with one out before the next hitter sent a pop fly to shallow center. Brown raced out from shortstop, stretched out his glove and made a dazzling over the shoulder grab with his back facing the infield. He spun around and chucked toward first for another double play.

Kingsford had six hits in the win, all singles. In addition to the two hits by Finley and knocks by Kriegl and Grondin, The Flivvers had hits from Hendrickson and sophomore Jacob Deuter.

Tuesday’s action was a doubleheader. The second contest, a five-inning non-conference affair, saw Marquette’s JV squad take on Kingsford’s younger lineup. Marquette won 14-7, with seven of the visitor’s runs coming in the fourth inning.

Freshman Bradley Bottesi, Kriegl and Deuter led the Kingsford offense with two hits each, Deuter stroking two doubles to left center. Freshman Devin Miller also added a single.

Kingsford hosts Gladstone in a doubleheader on Monday.