ST. PETER — After going 2-0 in Pool A play at the Gopher State Tournament, the Marshall VFW Orange baseball team fell short in the 15AAA championship bracket over the weekend. Marshall Saturday with a 5-4 win over Minnetonka in its final pool-play game and started bracket play with a 7-0 win over Northrop. Yet, Moorhead Black bested Marshall 9-3 in the quarterfinals.

Marshall 5, Minnetonka 4

Marshall withstood a late rally from Minnetonka to close out pool play with a win on Saturday morning.

Marshall scored the game’s first run in the top of the second when Andrew Lee reached on an error, advanced to second on an Easton Greenwood single and scored on a Noah Frazee double. Still, Minnetonka got three consecutive singles with two outs in the third to tie the game right back up.

With two outs in the fifth, Marshall went ahead for good. Ethan Boeck and Jackson Sirovy were hit by consecutive pitches and Boeck scored on a passed ball to make it a 2-1 game.

After Ethan Weedman was hit by a pitch and Tyler Kraft singled to load the bases, Cannon Craigmile hit a two-run double to make the score 4-1.

Weedman held Minnetonka to one run on four hits and a walk over the first 2 2/3 innings on the mound. In relief, Frazee earned the win after allowing two runs on a hit and five walks over 3 2/3 innings.

Craigmile recorded the save after allowing one run while getting the final two outs.

Cody Rauch led off the seventh with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on an error and scored on a Kraft ground out. The insurance run proved necessary after Minnetonka scored three runs in the bottom of the frame, leaving them one run shy of forcing extra innings.

Moorhead Black 9, Marshall 3

A barrage of runs from Moorhead Black in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings was too much for Marshall to overcome in a 9-3 loss in the Gopher State Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday.

Marshall struck first once again, with Noah Frazee drawing a leadoff walk before scoring on an Ethan Boeck single. Still, Moorhead retired each of the next three batters before responding with the tying run in the bottom of the first inning.

Both teams went scoreless over the next two innings before Moorhead surged ahead with a pair of fourth-inning runs. Marshall got one back in the top of the fifth when Trae Bailey walked, advanced to third on a ground out and an error and scored on an Easton Greenwood sacrifice bunt. Still, Moorhead added another three runs in the bottom of the frame to keep Marshall at arm’s length.

Jackson Sirovy allowed three earned runs and two unearned over four innings on the mound. He struck out five batters while allowing five hits in the loss.

Cole Raley allowed one earned run and two unearned over 1 1/3 hitless frames of relief while Kael Frana allowed another unearned run on a pair of hits while getting the final two outs in the sixth.

Raley singled and Tyler Kraft doubled to put runners on second and third for Craigmile’s RBi single in the sixth. Yet, with runners on the corners, Moorhead got a fly out and a ground out to end the inning before once again scoring three runs in the bottom of the frame. Frazee came back with one last double in the seventh but Moorhead retired each of the other three batters in the inning to secure the win.

Marshall is now 20-10 on the season and will take on Chaska in the VFW District II winner’s bracket semifinals on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.