Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall designated hitter Hunter Wienhoff rounds third base in the seventh inning of the A's 5-2 loss to Bird Island in their final home game of the season on Sunday afternoon.

MARSHALL — While the Marshall A’s had already clinched their Region 4C tournament berth coming into their final game of the regular season, that didn’t stop them from putting up a fight in front of their home crowd against Bird Island Sunday afternoon. Despite a valiant ninth-inning comeback effort, the Bullfrogs came away with a 5-2 win.

With two outs and a three-run deficient in the bottom of the ninth, Ryan VanMoer came up to bat for the A’s. He drew a walk, as did AJ Toulouse and Chase Douglas in the following at-bats. That brought the go-ahead run, Peyton Grant, to the plate. He battled his way to a full count and then battled some more, fouling off each of the next four pitches. Yet, the 10th pitch of the at-bat went for a game-ending strikeout.

“Just battling, that’s one heck of an at-bat from Peyton in that situation. Bases loaded, two outs. Bottom line, that’s what you dream about,” Marshall manager Ryan Schwagel said. “I mean, he battled and came up short today, but I’m sure he’ll get it in the playoffs.”

A third-inning barrage of runs was the difference in the game for Bird Island. Riley Dikken drew a leadoff walk and Braeden Tersteeg doubled to deep left field to put runners on second and third. A strikeout put Marshall an out away from ending the inning, but James Woelfel singled to straightaway center field to drive in the two runners. From there, Aiden Elfering doubled to right-center field to give the Bullfrogs a 3-1 lead.

“They just hit the ball. They put the ball in play and hit one over the left fielder’s head, we can’t do nothing about it,” Schwagel said. “They’re a good team. They’re a two seed for a reason and give them credit.”

Chase Douglas hit a double in the first Marshall at-bat of the game and advanced to third on Matt Hmielewski’s fielder’s choice. Connor Neubeck then sent a fly ball to right field and Douglas used his speed to capitalize for a 1-0 A’s lead.

Logan Tomasek started for the A’s and, aside from a third-inning hiccup, pitched scoreless baseball. He allowed five hits and a pair of walks over five innings and struck out five batters.

Hunter Wienhoff put the A’s within one run in the seventh inning. After reaching base on a leadoff single, he advanced to second on Jordan Mernaugh’s sacrifice bunt.

During the following at-bat, he appeared caught in a jam between second and third. Yet, the throw from the Bird Island catcher to second base was high, allowing Wienhoff to sprint for third and round the corner toward home. He beat out the throw as he slid across home for a run and cut the Bird Island lead to 3-2.

Mitchell Bouwman threw two scoreless innings of relief for the A’s, holding Bird Island to a single while striking out two batters.

The Bullfrogs appeared poised to score again in the eighth inning. Elfering walked to start the inning, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Another walk put runners on the corners with one out when Zeke Walton hit a fly to dead center field. The fly ball’s depth looked to be deep enough for an easy tag-up for the Bullfrogs, but AJ Toulouse put everything he had into the throw, unleashing a bullet from center field to home plate that allowed for the inning-ending tag that kept Marshall within a run.

Hmielewski pitched the final two innings for Marshall. He allowed two runs — neither of which were earned — and held Bird Island hitless. Yet, five walks and some errors resulted in a pair of unearned runs.

Riley Dikken started the ninth inning with a walk for Bird Island. He advanced to second on a ground out. From there, Trent Athmann walked and a ground ball put the runners on second and third. Woelfel walked to load the bases before another passed ball allowed Dikken and Athmann to score and put Bird Island up 5-2.

Dylan Gass pitched seven innings for Bird Island, limiting Marshall to one earned run and five hits. He walked just one batter and struck out four.

Marshall (15-8) will next play in the Region 4C Tournament on Aug. 5 against the top seed from the County Line League. The game will be played at 10 a.m. in Milroy

“Just getting my guys health and taking some time to relax after a long summer. Just hoping we’re healthy going into the playoffs,” Schwagel said of the team’s game plan to get ready over the next two weeks.