Photo by Jake McNeill Marshall pitcher Cody Wichmann throws from the mound during the second inning of a baseball game against the Raymond Rockets at American Legion Field in Marshall on Friday night. The Rockets defeated the A’s 1-0.

MARSHALL — The Marshall A’s five-game win streak came to an end on Friday night as Raymond outlasted Marshall in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel in Corn Belt League play.

“We just didn’t have enough guys on base. Credit to [John] Sawatzky, he threw strikes and got us off balance,” Marshall manager Ryan Schwagel said. “We only had five hits and only two free passes, so we didn’t have runners on to do anything, tip your cap to them.”

The last time Marshall hosted Raymond on July 1, 2023, Logan Tomasek came up with a walk-off single to hand the Rockets their first loss of the season, 3-2. This year, however, the Rockets have beaten the A’s in both of their regular-season matchups after defeating Marshall 12-8 on May 31.

Raymond scored the game’s first run in the top of the sixth. Caleb Ditmarson got on base with a leadoff double deep toward the right-field wall and an infield error in the next at-bat put runners on the corners with one out. John Sawatzky then lined a ball to Peyton Grant at short, who couldn’t hold on to the hot shot. The ball landed in front of him and, as he deliberated whether to tag second base for a force out or throw home to hold the runner, the runner took advantage and ran home for the go-ahead run. 

In addition to the go-ahead hit, Sawatzky also pitched a complete-game shutout for the Rockets. He struck out 10 batters on the day while limiting Marshall to five hits and a walk.

Cody Wichmann put Marshall in a position to win through 6 2/3 innings on the mound. He had held the Rockets to six hits and one run with 10 strikeouts when he was relieved with men on the corners in the top of the seventh. From there, Mitchell Bouwmann battled through a series of foul balls to get the inning-ending strikeout. 

Bouwman shut out the Rockets for the full 2 1/3 frames he pitches, limiting them to one hit and a walk while striking out five of the eight batters he faced. The one walk he allowed in the top of the ninth didn’t stay on base for long; Marshall catcher Talan Plante received a pitch from Bouwman and lasered it over to first for a pick-off.

“Our defense and our pitchers bearing down with guys in scoring position, Mitchell coming in in a big spot and getting a strikeout there to keep us at one-nothing, hats off to our pitchers,” Schwagel said, adding that he felt Wichmann and Bouwman were both effective in their ability to pitch for contact and get ground balls.

Raymond threatened to score the game’s first run in the top of the second when they loaded the bases with one out. Yet, Grant fielded a hard grounder at short, stepped on the bag at second and gunned it over to first for the inning-ending double play. 

Marshall put a runner on third base three times in the first four innings but never got a run across. 

Chase Douglas singled in the first and third frames but was held up at third both times, with the third-inning opportunity coming to an end after Raymond turned a 6-4-3 double-play. He also got into scoring position with no outs in the eighth after singling for the third time on the day and stealing second for the second time on the day, but three straight strikeouts looking ended the frame.

In addition to Douglas’ three hits, Wes Sarsland and Coby Brownlee each singled on the day while Ashton Blomberg had a pair of line drives into left field that just couldn’t quite make it past the outfielder for a base hit.

Marshall, now 9-3 on the season, will look to bounce back when it heads to Granite Falls on Sunday for a 5 p.m. matchup with the Kilowatts. The A’s defeated Granite Falls 9-1 when they hosted them on June 2 with Wichmann picking up the win in the game.

“We just have to get our bats hot,” Schwagel said of the matchup. “We know we’ve got the pitching, we’ve got the defense, just get our bats hot.”