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LEGION BASEBALL: Watertown edges Marshall, 5-4

Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Tyler Maeyaert connects for a base hit during their game against Watertown (S.D.) on Monday. Marshall fell to Watertown 5-4.

MARSHALL — After earning a come-from-behind victory against Benson on Thursday, the Marshall Legion baseball team looked to keep the momentum going when it faced Watertown (S.D.). It was a tight battle, but Marshall came up just short in a 5-4 loss in nine innings on Monday at Legion Field. The two teams were originally scheduled to play a doubleheader today, but it was changed to a nine-inning contest on Monday.

Marshall manager Mitchell Maxwell felt they did a good job of answering Watertown each time and lauded reliever Jacob Eben for keeping them in the game on the mound, but they just didn’t have enough to come away with a win.

“The way we’ve kind of learned to play Marshall baseball is scrappy and that’s what we saw. We battled back and forth, but we had an answer,” Maxwell said. “I thought Jacob did a great job on the mound; we had Charlie [Jacobson] on a pitch limit because he’ll open the Princeton tournament this weekend so he reached his limit and Jake came in and great credit to him, he pitched 6 2/3 innings and kept us in the game.”

Watertown jumped out to an early lead, getting a one-out walk before an RBI double made it 1-0 in the opening inning. They would then add a run in the top half of the third on a sacrifice fly to push their lead to 2-0, but Marshall had an answer. After Seth Radtke got hit by a pitch to lead things off, Chase Douglas and Tyler Maeyaert followed that up with back-to-back RBI base hits to tie things up at 2-2. Marshall would then get consecutive walks from Connor Neubeck and Jacobson to load the bases with no outs, but Watertown was able to escape the jam with three straight strikeouts to end the frame and keep it tied after three.

Neither side found scoring in the fourth, but the deadlocked score didn’t last long, with Watertown capitalizing on a pair of two-out doubles to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth. A couple of innings later, they added to their advantage, again with two outs on back-to-back RBI singles to go up 5-2, but Marshall once again had a timely response.

After Douglas connected on a leadoff double, Maeyaert lined an RBI single. Neubeck then followed it up on the ensuing at-bat with a single before Jacobson reached on a fielder’s choice and AJ Toulouse brought in a run on an RBI groundout to bring Marshall to within one at 5-4 after seven.

After a scoreless eighth, Watertown had another chance to get on the board in the top of the ninth, putting baserunners in scoring position with two outs, but Marshall reliever Zach Allen was able to get a flyout to maintain the one-run margin. But Marshall wasn’t able to get a baserunner aboard in its final at-bat, as Watertown held on for the 5-4 victory.

Douglas led Marshall with three hits and an RBI while Maeyaert added two hits and two RBI, Neubeck had a hit and Toulouse had an RBI.

“Chase has always done a good job for us providing a spark. You saw it in the game against Benson when he was 3 for 4 and then here he had another double and put the ball in play,” Maxwell said. “Tyler also did a nice job at the plate, he came through with a clutch hit to help us out and he’s a sophomore and will be a junior next year and he’s done a nice job playing Legion baseball this summer. The top of our lineup did a nice job and the bottom battled.”

Eben took the loss on the mound, going 6 2/3 innings in relief while allowing three runs on eight hits and struck out seven. Jacobson earned the start, going two innings while allowing two runs on one hit and struck out five.

Up next

Marshall (7-5) will compete in the Princeton tournament this weekend. Maxwell said their key takeaway is to keep playing their game and limit their mistakes while capitalizing on their opponent’s mistakes at the same time.

“Just playing Marshall baseball and then limiting mistakes. That’s one thing we talked about after the game, when you play good teams it seems like every single little thing matters and on the flip side that’s how we’ve made a living,” Maxwell said. “We’ve made a living off of waiting for teams to make mistakes and taking advantage of that, pitching well and playing good defense. We did that here and almost did it to the tune of a win and it ended up being a one-run loss, so we need to limit our mistakes and take advantage of other teams’ mistakes and hopefully as we move into the playoffs that’s what wins us ballgames.”

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