MARSHALL, Minn. – After having its six-game winning streak on Friday (June 20) with a 2-1 walk-off loss at Raymond, the Marshall A’s moved back into the win column on Sunday (June 22) with a come-from-behind 12-11 victory in 10 innings over the Willmar Rails at Legion Field.
The win pushes Marshall’s record to 9-4 on the season with a home game on Wednesday night upcoming versus Granite Falls.
Cody Wichmann drilled a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th for the game-winning hit scoring Coby Brownlee, who walked to start the rally.
Josh Kraft had a monster game for the A’, finishing 4 for 5 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Talan Plante and Ryan Schwagel each had three hits with Plante scoring three times, while Schwagel added three RBIs.
Marshall trailed 9-4 in the fifth inning after the Rails scored five runs in the fifth to chase A’s starter Jake Eben. The A’s started the comeback with Schwagel drilling a 2-run home run while Wichmann scored another run with a ground-rule double to make the score 9-7 after five innings. The A’s added another run in the sixth, but the Rails scored two runs in the seventh to build an 11-8 advantage.
In the home half of the eighth, Kraft and Schwagel hit singles before Brownlee drilled a run-scoring hit to cut the deficit to 11-9. AJ Toulouse came through with a clutch two-out RBI single to trim the lead Rails’ lead to 11-10 after eight.
In the ninth, Plante drilled a 1-2 pitch for a lead off double to put the tying run on base. Following a pop out and line out, Schwagel came through with a game-tying RBI single to send the game into extra innings.
Logan Tomasek, the third Marshall pitcher of the game, fired a 1-2-3 top of the 10th to set-up the A’s game-winning rally. Brownlee worked a walk to start the frame and moved to second on a bunt single by Andrew Stelter. Following a wild pitch, Toulouse was intentionally walked to load the bases. Wichmann followed moments later with a line single to right-center field to sent the local fans home happy.
The A’s cracked out 17 hits as Toulouse and Wichmann (both two hits) joined Plante, Kraft and Schwagel with multi-hit games. Connor Neubeck, Brownlee and Stelter each finished with one hit.
Eben started and lasted 4 1/3 innings with six strikeouts, while allowing nine runs (seven earned). Owen Kesteloot fired a strong 2 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and allowing two unearned runs. Tomasek earned the victory tossing three shutout frames and allowing two hits and one run.
Marshall has a busy week starting on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. home game versus Granite Falls at Legion Field. Following a road game versus Bird Island on Friday night, the A’s return home on Sunday for ‘Hall of Fame’ Night with a 5 p.m. game versus the Milroy Yankees. The newest addition to the Marshall Baseball Hall of Fame will be long-time supporter of Marshall baseball, Greg ‘Shaker’ Shaikowski. #StraightAs