Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall Black's Liam Kruse slides into third base during the fourth inning of the team's game against Mankato in a junior legion tournament at American Legion Field on Friday night.

MARSHALL – The Marshall Junior Legion Black 17U team bounced back from a 9-6 extra-innings loss to Alexandria on Friday morning with a 3-2 comeback win over Mankato in the second round of a tournament at American Legion Field.

Going into the bottom of the seventh against Mankato, Marshall trailed 2-1. Still, they didn’t hang their heads and kept battling. Brody Wixon led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a bunt that Cooper Mensink was just shy of beating out at first. From there, Carter Prins reached on an error and Logan Miller was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. After a pop out, the game came down to Ethan Bly. 

Bly hit a grounder to shortstop and beat out the throw at first, driving in Wixon to tie the game and give Josh Kraft the opportunity to get the win. 

Josh Kraft came out on the mound and threw six innings with an astounding 13 strikeouts for Marshall. He held Mankato to two runs on six hits and a pair of walks.

In what was something of an anticlimactic finish for a tight game, Kraft pushed the winning run across the plate after being hit by a pitch.

Marshall first scored in the fifth inning. Miller reached on a line-drive single to left field and advanced to second on an errant throw to first by the pitcher. With no outs, Prins followed up with another single to eft field, putting runners on the corners, and Samuel Thor hit a sacrifice fly to center to cut Mankato’s lead down to 2-1.

Thor’s fly ball was followed with a fly-out and the outfielder’s throw beat Prins back to second to end the inning. 

Mankato scored both of its runs on a series of outfield singles in the fourth inning.

Marshall nearly answered in the bottom of the frame with a run of its own. Liam Kruse hit a fly ball to deep left field. The ball bounced off the ground, high off the foul pole and back into play. The left fielder called for a timeout, believing the ball was a ground rule double, as Kruse continued to run and slide into third. While the ball never left the field of play, the timeout was mistakenly granted and Kruse had to return to second. 

Wixon was credited with the win on the mound for Marshall after relieving Kraft for the seventh inning. Wixon held Mankato hitless and scoreless with a walk and a strikeout.

Marshall dropped its early game against Alexandria Red in 11 innings. The game was tied at 5-5 through seven innings, but some stout defense prevented either team from pulling away.

Alexandria seemed to have scored the winning run in the top of the 10th on an RBI double, but Marshall responded in the bottom of the frame. Kraft reached on a single and, after stealing second and third, scored on a Dagan Maurice single to center field to force an 11th inning.

Marshall’s luck ran out in the 11th, though, when four singles and an error allowed Alexandria to take a 7-6 lead before a single batter got out. After Alexandria extended its lead to 9-6, Marshall ended the inning on a double play.

Marshall scored five runs in the first two innings of the game before its offense sputtered out. Thor walked to lead off the first before consecutive doubles by Kraft and Kruse gave Marshall a 2-1 lead. Maurice then singled to extend Marshall’s lead to 3-1. 

In the second inning, Thor doubled to center to score Mensink — who reached on a single — and scored himself on a passed ball, making the Marshall lead 5-2.

Owen Kesteloot pitched three innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts, before being relieved by Miller.

Miller pitched the remaining eight innings, allowing five earned runs on nine hits with five strikeouts.

The Marshall Junior Legion Black team will resume play today at 9 a.m.