MILROY, Minn. – The Marshall A’s had its season come to a close on Aug. 12 suffering a gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to the Raymond Rockets in an elimination game at the Region 4C Tournament at Yankee Field.
Raymond took advantage of a hit by pitch, two walks and a clutch two-out, two-run single to build a 2-0 lead in the second inning. The score remained 2-0 until the seventh when the A’s plated an unearned run. Conner Neubeck started the rally smacking a ball into the left-center field gap that was dropped by the center fielder. Following a pair of outs, Logan Tomasek reached on a fielding error to plate Neubeck and put the A’s on the board.
The Rockets used two walks and a balk to score another run and push the lead to 3-1 after seven innings. Once again, Marshall had an answer, with A.J. Toulouse drilling a lead-off single to open the eighth and was followed by a sharp single by Chase Douglas. Following two strikeouts by Raymond ace pitcher, Cole Christianson, Neubeck hammered an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Raymond once again used a two-out rally to score another run using a two-out walk, a wild pitch and an RBI single to extend the margin to 4-2.
In the ninth, the A’s had one last chance and nearly rallied to tie the game. With one out, Tomasek and Ryan VanMoer singled to put the tying run on base. Following a strikeout, Douglas delivered with an RBI single to put the tying run to third and the go-ahead run at first. The rally came to a close however with a pop up to end the game.
Mitchell Bouwman started on the mound for the A’s and fired 6 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts, while walking five and allowing two hits. Matt Hmielewski allowed one run and one hit with one strikeout in 1 2/3 innings.
Marshall out-hit Raymond 7-3, with Douglas finishing with a pair of hits, while Hmielewski, Neubeck, Tomasek, Toulouse and VanMoer each added one.
Marshall out-hit all three of its opponents in the region tournament, including smacking 14 hits in a 7-1 victory over Paynesville on Aug. 6.
The A’s finished the season with an impressive record of 17-10, which included taking home the championship at the eight-team Belle Plaine TigerTown Classic, advancing to the final weekend of the region playoffs, several big regular season victories, including a walk-off win over Raymond and four wins over teams that qualified for the Class C State Tournament.
The A’s had three pitchers drafted by teams from Region 4C to the state tournament. Hunter Wienhoff was selected by Regal, while Bouwman and Charlie Jacobson will play for Bird Island. Good luck boys! Strikes and outs!
The official A’s team awards will be announced in September, once the ‘A’s Judgement/Kangaroo court committee’ meets in a secret location. Many, many hours will be spent determining team awards.
The Marshall Baseball Association (MBA) would like to thank all our incredible sponsors and fans for a tremendous 2023 season of support. Our sponsors help keep admission to all A’s home games FREE each and every season.
The MBA gives a huge salute to field manager, Ryan Schwagel, for all his hard-work during the ENTIRE calendar year to get the team ready for play each season and every game.
A final big thanks to our players, which includes wives, girlfriends and parents, for their dedication in playing the great game of ‘townball’. The Marshall A’s continue to build something special and we can’t wait until 2024! #StraightAs