SACRED HEART, Minn. — The Marshall A’s used a dominate relief appearance by Mitchell Bouwman and used a two-out rally in the ninth inning to earn a 6-5 victory over Sacred Heart in the 2024 season opener. Charlie Jacobson and Bouwman combined to toss a no-hitter with Bouwman striking out 17 batters.
Charlie Jacobson started for the A’s, but was relieved with one out and the bases loaded in the first inning with the A’s trailing 3-1. Bouwman struck out the first batter he faced, but a walk pushed the Saints lead to 4-1.
The A’s would score single runs in the second and third inning taking advantage of Saints’ errors and wild pitches, but still trailed 5-3 after three innings.
Trailing 5-3 with two outs in the ninth, Cody Wichmann reached on an infield single and was followed by a walk to Conner Neubeck. Zach Olson came through moments later with a bloop single to left-center field allowing Wichmann to score, while Neubeck hustled all the way from first to beat the tag at the plate and tie the game at 5-5. Manager Ryan Schwagel completed the comeback with a clutch RBI single to score Olson and push Marshall in the lead at 6-5.
Bouwman (1-0) retired the Saints in order in the night, recording two strikeouts, to secure the win. Bouwman walked three and finished with 17 strikeouts. Wichmann, Olson, Schwagel and Zach Olsen had the four hits for the potent A’s offense.
Marshall now returns home on Friday, May 24, to face Willmar with first pitch at 7:30 p.m.
MARSHALL A'S (6) AT SACRED HEART SAINTS (5) MARSHALL A'S AB R H BI SACRED HEART SAINTS AB R H BI Peyton Grant 3 1 0 0 Isaac Strommer 4 1 0 0 Cody Wichmann 4 1 1 0 Trent Novotny 3 1 0 1 Connor Neubeck 3 2 0 0 Brady Snell 2 1 0 0 Zach Olson 5 1 1 2 Jose Ortiz 3 1 0 0 Ryan Schwagel 4 0 1 1 Landon Tanner 4 1 0 0 Wes Sarsland 5 0 0 0 Dreyer Homan 3 0 0 1 Logan Tomasek 4 0 0 0 Jack Howard 3 0 0 1 Zach Olsen 3 1 1 0 Jean Carlos Morales 2 0 0 0 Cooper Mensink 3 0 0 0 Jeremy Hinderks 2 0 0 0 Logan Terfehr 1 0 0 0 Ayden Gustafson 3 0 0 1 TOTALS 35 6 4 3 TOTALS 29 5 0 4 MARSHALL A'S 111 000 003 -- 6 SACRED HEART SAINTS 410 000 000 -- 5 LOB--MARSHALL A'S 9, SACRED HEART SAINTS 5. ERR--Cooper Mensink, Peyton Grant, Brady Snell, Isaac Strommer (4). HBP--Trent Novotny, Jose Ortiz. SB--Peyton Grant (2). MARSHALL A'S IP H R ER BB SO HR Charlie Jacobson 0.33 0 4 0 3 0 0 Mitchell Bouwman (W) 8.67 0 1 0 3 17 0 SACRED HEART SAINTS Jack Howard 7.00 1 3 0 6 7 0 Brady Snell (L) 2.00 3 3 3 1 5 0