MARSHALL, Minn. – The Marshall A’s moved their winning streak to four in a row with a dramatic 3-2 walk-off non-league victory over the Hadley Buttermakers on Wednesday, June 19, at Legion Field.
The win pushes Marshall’s record to 8-2 overall. The ballclub is scheduled to play another non-league game on Friday at Brookings, before returning home on Sunday for a Corn Belt League home game versus Sacred Heart starting at 5 p.m.
Playing a young roster all night long, it was the youngsters who came through to produce the game-tying and game-winning run. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Ashton Blomberg started the frame reaching on an error and moments later moved to third on a failed pick-off attempt. Following a walk to Liam Kruse and a hit by pitch to Coby Brownlee, high school senior-to-be Owen Kesteloot drilled a two-run single to left field to give the A’s the dramatic victory.
The A’s snapped a scoreless game in the seventh behind a two-out rally. Brownlee was hit by a pitch with two outs and moved to second following a walk to Kesteloot. Peyton Grant came through with a clutch run-scoring double to give Marshall a 1-0 lead.
The lead didn’t last long as Hadley scored two runs in the eighth, before Marshall rallied in the ninth.
Jake Eben started on the mound for the A’s and threw seven solid innings, allowing just four hits with four strikeouts and one walk. Karson Rowe, who entered the game in the eighth inning with a 1-0 lead, pitched the final two innings and allowed two runs on three hits with one strikeout to earn the win.
Grant, Blomberg, Brownlee, Kesteloot and Braxton Koster each collected a hit in the win, while Brownlee was hit by a pitch three times. Liam Kruse, Blomberg and Brownlee each scored one run.
HADLEY BUTTERMAKERS AB R H BI MARSHALL ATHLETICS AB R H BI
Tucker Sorenson 5 0 0 0 Peyton Grant 3 0 1 1
Mike Preuss 4 0 1 0 Talan Plante 4 0 0 0
Derek Kluis 4 1 2 0 Cody Wichmann 4 0 0 0
Brent Hokeness 4 1 3 0 Connor Neubeck 4 0 0 0
Jacob Olson 4 0 1 1 Wesley Sarsland 2 0 0 0
Lincoln Graven 2 0 0 0 Cooper Mensink 1 0 0 0
Eric Wieneke 3 0 0 0 Andrew Cowden 2 0 0 0
Austin Irlbeck 1 0 0 0 Ashton Blomberg 2 1 1 0
Skyler Feikema 4 0 0 0 Zach Olsen 2 0 0 0
Alex Petersen 2 0 0 0 Liam Kruse 1 1 0 0
Coby Brownlee 1 1 1 0
Braxton Koster 2 0 1 0
Owen Kesteloot 1 0 1 2
TOTALS 33 2 7 1 TOTALS 29 3 5 3
HADLEY BUTTERMAKERS 000 000 020 -- 2
MARSHALL ATHLETICS 000 000 102 -- 3
LOB--HADLEY BUTTERMAKERS 8, MARSHALL ATHLETICS 9. ERR--Abe
Paulzine, Skyler Feikema, Cody Wichmann, Jake Eben.
2B--Brent Hokeness (2), Peyton Grant. HBP--Lincoln Graven
(2), Coby Brownlee (3). SB--Coby Brownlee, Liam Kruse.
HADLEY BUTTERMAKERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Abe Paulzine 7.00 4 1 1 3 4 0
Skyler Feikema (L) 1.00 1 2 1 1 1 0
MARSHALL ATHLETICS
Jake Eben 7.00 4 0 0 1 4 0
Karson Rowe (W) 2.00 3 2 2 1 1 0