Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Parker Schmitt slides into home plate to score a run during their game against Alexandria Red on Thursday. Marshall fell to Alexandria Red 6-5 and Alexandria Black 5-4 in nine innings.

MARSHALL — After taking down Worthington in the district playoff opener on Wednesday, the top-seeded Marshall Junior Legion baseball team squared off against fourth-seeded Alexandria Red in the next round on Thursday. It was a back-and-forth affair, but Alexandria Red was able to escape with a 6-5 victory, sending Marshall Black to the elimination bracket.

Later that afternoon, Marshall took on third-seeded Alexandria Black, who had defeated seventh-seeded Hutchinson 11-1 in six innings in the prior game. With both teams’ seasons on the line, Marshall and Alexandria Black dueled into extra innings, but it was Alexandria Black who kept its season alive with a 5-4 victory in nine innings at Legion Field.

Despite the final results, Marshall coach Chace Pollock was proud of the way his group competed throughout the afternoon and fought until the very end.

“I’m proud of the guys and proud of the way we played. You play good teams here and this district is very tough and you’ve got to play well or you’re going home. We lost two one-run games and that’s the end of our season,” Pollock said. “Give Alex Black credit, that’s its third game of the tournament and the arm that we saw here, it’s an embarrassment of riches there. But I’m also proud of our guys; Parker Schmitt threw really well for us and our bats started to come back alive, but that’s just the way baseball goes.”

Alexandria

Black 5,

Marshall Black 4

(9 innings)

After falling just short to Alexandria Red in the first game of the day, Marshall faced the other team from Alexandria in the tournament. But after eight innings and things still deadlocked at 3-3, both teams were in need of a spark. Alexandria Black saw two quick outs to start the ninth, but would get a single before a wild pitch and a walk put runners on the corners. An RBI single and a wild pitch brought in two runs to put Alexandria Black up 5-3, but Marshall still had one final at-bat.

Zach Leibfried led things off with a double before Tyler Maeyaert reached on an infield single to put a pair of baserunners aboard with no outs for Marshall. Jon Gruhot then brought in a run on an RBI groundout, but Marshall couldn’t get any closer, as Alexandria Black got two quick outs to seal the one-run victory.

Marshall got out to a quick lead to start the nightcap, as Gruhot connected on a double and Ezra Maurice smacked an RBI single to make it 1-0 after one. After a scoreless second, Alexandria Black battled back, getting a one-out single before another single, a double steal and an error plated two runs. Alexandria Black wasn’t done there, though, capitalizing on three base hits to add another run and push its lead to 3-1 after four.

Marshall wouldn’t go down without a fight, though, and used a pair of one-out singles by Leibfried and Maeyaert and a walk from Gruhot to load the bases in the bottom of the fifth before Maurice lined a two-run double to tie things up at 3-3.

A couple of innings later, Marshall had a chance to break the tie in the seventh, as Maurice and Talan Plante both connected on a single, but a lineout ended the threat for Marshall and forced the game into extra innings. Both teams then went 1-2-3 in the eighth, setting the stage for the ninth-inning dramatics.

Maurice led Marshall with four hits and three RBI while Leibfried and Maeyaert each added two hits, Gruhot had a hit and an RBI and Plante and Andrew Wallen each had a hit.

Plante took the loss in relief, going 2 1/3 innings while allowing two runs on two hits and struck out two. Schmitt earned the start, going 6 2/3 innings while allowing three runs on seven hits and struck out one.

Alexandria Red 6, Marshall Black 5

In the opener against Alexandria Red, neither team found scoring in the opening inning, but Alexandria Red quickly ended that in the top of the second, using a trio of singles to plate a run and take a 1-0 lead. They then had an opportunity to extend that advantage in the next trip to the plate, getting a single before a base hit to the center field fence appeared to be an inside-the-park two-run home run, but the ball was found within the ivy, resulting in just a ground-rule double and keeping the runners at second and third with two outs. Marshall’s Wallen then escaped the jam with a groundout, keeping Alexandria Red off of the board.

After not being able to capitalize in the bottom of the second with runners on the corners, Marshall pieced together a rally in the bottom half of the fourth. Schmitt and Lincoln Graven got aboard with a walk and a hit by pitch, respectively, before Wallen got them on the board with a sacrifice fly. On the ensuing at-bat, Coby Brownlee connected on an RBI single to put Marshall in front at 2-1 after four.

Alexandria Red had an answer, though, getting a one-out single in the fifth before an RBI double tied things up at 2-2. They weren’t done there, using a trio of walks to load the bases with two outs in the sixth before a fielder’s choice, a wild pitch and an RBI single plated four runs and gave them a 6-2 lead.

Marshall kept fighting, however, as Maurice led off the bottom of the frame with a single before Graven and Wallen both got hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Brownlee then stepped up and smacked a two-run single before Leibfried reached on an error to make it 6-5, but Alexandria Red was able to escape a bases-loaded jam with a flyout.

Marshall had another opportunity to force extras in the bottom of the seventh when Graven got hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Alexandria Red got a flyout to extinguish the threat and seal the victory.

Brownlee led Marshall with three hits and three RBI while Maeyaert and Maurice each had a hit and Leibfried and Wallen each had an RBI.

Maeyaert took the loss on the mound, going 2/3 of an inning while allowing four runs on two hits. Wallen earned the start, going five innings while allowing two runs on seven hits and struck out seven.

Up next

With the loss, Marshall’s season comes to an end at 19-6-2. Going into next year, Pollock said they’ll need to rely on this group a lot at the varsity level and it was fun to get to coach them this summer.

“There were only 11 of us and a lot of these guys are going to have to help us next year on varsity and it was fun to coach them and see them and we’ve got a good idea of what we’ve got going forward,” Pollock said.