Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Ryan VanMoer delivers a pitch during their game against Willmar Friday. The Mudcats defeated Willmar 14-11, but fell to Cold Spring later in the afternoon 12-2 in five innings.

HUTCHINSON – The Marshall Legion baseball team battled back to keep its season alive with a come-from-behind 14-11 victory over Willmar, but saw its season come to an end with a 12-2 loss to Cold Spring in five innings during Day Three of the Legion playoffs Friday afternoon.

Against Willmar in the opener, Marshall found themselves down early, as Willmar scored three runs thanks to a pair of RBI singles and a double steal to take a quick 3-0 lead after the first inning. Willmar continued the hot hitting in the second, getting an RBI double, RBI triple and two-run homer on consecutive batters to push their lead to 7-0.

Marshall didn’t go away, however, as they scored four runs in the top of the third to cut into the deficit. After Kaleb Bossuyt and Brock Boerboom reached on back-to-back singles to start the inning, Nick Klaith connected on an RBI single to give Marshall its first run of the game. Mason Penske then stepped up and hit a two-run double before Jake Hess hit an RBI single on the next at bat to cut it to 7-4.

The Mudcats then carried their streaky hitting in the next inning. After Alex Thompson drew a leadoff walk, Boerboom smacked a deep shot to left field that fell into the ivy-clad fence for a ground-rule double. Brandon Labat then drew another walk to load the bases, before a wild pitch made it 7-5. Cody Greve hit a sacrifice fly to bring Marshall to within one before Klaith hit an RBI single to tie game at 7-7.

Willmar had a couple of chances to score in the bottom half of the fourth, but Marshall made a couple of key defensive plays, including a double play and a diving stop by Penske to save a run from being scored to get the Mudcats out of the jam.

Marshall then used a sacrifice bunt by Thompson and an RBI double by Bossuyt to retake the lead at 9-7 in the top half of the fifth. Willmar would load the bases with one out in the bottom half of the frame, and scored three runs on an error and a sacrifice fly to take the lead at 10-9.

After a scoreless sixth, Marshall started off the seventh with a leadoff walk from Hess. VanMoer then reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second with no out, and Thompson advanced the runners on a sac bunt.

Bossuyt then stepped up and hit a bloop single to bring in the tying run before Boerboom was walked to load the bases. Labat came up and connected on a opposite field single to bring in a pair of runs, giving Marshall the lead. Klaith then drew another walk to load the bases before Penske reached on an error, scoring two runs in the process and pushing Marshall’s lead to 14-10.

Willmar managed to cut the deficit to 14-11, but couldn’t get any closer as Marshall advanced in the tournament with the three-run victory.

Marshall coach Mitch Maxwell was proud of his team’s never-say-die attitude and how the senior leadership helped keep their team composed throughout the comeback.

“You’ve got to give credit to the seniors, they’re a great group of guys. They’re never going to say die and never panic. They stay calm and collected; I think that speaks to their experience,” Maxwell said. “You take a look at the box score you’re going to see seniors there. Of course we got contributions from other places but it starts with our seniors. It goes all the way down the line. For example, Joey Blanchard pulled up with an injury on Thursday and if you listen to him on the bench in there, he’s jacked up and cheering guys on. Everybody, it didn’t matter who it was on the bench or in the lineup, did a nice job.”

Bossuyt led the way with three hits and a couple of RBIs while Penske added four RBIs and Labat chipped in a base hit and two more RBIs.

Labat said the key on the offensive end was getting timely hits and taking advantage of what Willmar was giving them.

“We just had timely hits,” Labat said. “They gave us stuff to hit and we didn’t overdo anything; just hit what they gave us and we were able to capitalize on it.”

VanMoer earned the win in relief for Marshall, going 5.1 innings while allowing 12 hits and nine runs while striking out two.

Maxwell said VanMoer stepped up in a position he normally never plays, and helped provide the boost they needed.

“Ryan’s not a pitcher but he’s an athlete,” Maxwell said. “He came in and did a nice job of doing what he needed to do to grind out a win.”

Marshall then squared off against Cold Spring, who had lost to Waconia earlier in the day. The Mudcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but couldn’t generate enough offense as Cold Spring used a pair of six-run innings to earn a 12-2 victory and draw Marshall’s season to a close.

Hess and VanMoer picked the up the RBIs for Marshall. Klaith took the loss on the hill, going one inning while allowing three runs on four hits.

Game 1

Marshall 14, Willmar 11

Marshall 004 320 5 — 14 14 2

Willmar 340 030 1 — 11 16 3

HITTING: Marshall (Bossuyt 3 H, 2 RBI; Penske 1 H, 4 RBI; Labat 1 H, 2 RBI).

PITCHING (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Marshall (Klaith 1.2-4-4-4-3-1; VanMoer 5.1-12-9-9-2-2).

Game 2

Cold Spring 12, Marshall 2 (5 innings)

Marshall 200 00 — 2 1 1

Cold Spring 066 0x — 12 13 3

HITTING: Marshall (Hess 1-2, RBI; VanMoer RBI).

PITCHING (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Marshall (Klaith 1.0-4-3-3-1-0; Greve 1.1-4-6-3-3-0; Bossuyt 1.2-5-3-3-2-0).