Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota left fielder Ben Skorczewski slides into home plate ahead of the tag after taking advantage of a passed ball during a baseball game against the Marshall A’s at K.P. Kompelien Field on Tuesday night. The Mudhens defeated the A’s 5-2.

MINNEOTA — After a slow start to the season, the Minneota Mudhens have found their rhythm as of late. They hosted the Marshall A’s on Tuesday night and rallied ahead in the fifth inning to claim a 5-2 win in non-league play, claiming their fourth win in their last five games.

“First half of the season, the pitching was there but defensively, we were making some errors that we typically wouldn’t make and we’re cleaning those things up and making good defensive plays,” Minneota manager Tyson Sonnenburg said. “The pitching has been there all year for us, so we’ll just keep riding that now that the bats have come along. I’m happy with where we’re at. I think there are always things to improve on but, moving forward, I think we’re in a good position right now.”

Marshall and Minneota remained deadlocked in a scoreless tie for the first four innings before both teams worked their way back across home plate. 

Chase Douglas singled with one out in the fifth and stole second to get in scoring position. From there, an AJ Toulouse single and a Cody Wichmann line drive to short sent Douglas home for the game’s first run.

The A’s didn’t remain on top for long, however. Marshall pitcher Dillon Loft struck out the first Mudhen batter in the bottom of the fifth but Josh Schuelke singled and Brock Buysse was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Peyton Gillund capitalized on the opportunity with a two-run, go-ahead double, and then scored himself when Ben Skorczewski and Austin Buysse reached on consecutive errors, making the score 3-1.

Gillund and Skorczewski are two of the Mudhens’ younger players, at 19 and 21 years old respectively. Still, on a team that has often relied on veterans, the young duo came up big with Gillund recording two hits and two RBIs while Skorczewski finished with a game-high three hits.

“It’s huge for us to not have to rely on a couple of veterans,” Sonnenburg said. “For those young guys to come through in big situations, it’s huge for their confidence. It’s huge for this team and it’s something we’re going to need moving forward.”

Loft made his second career start for the A’s on Tuesday, his first since he made his pitching debut against the Minneota Mudhens last year at K.P. Kompelien Field. While he recorded the loss, he had a solid day on the mound, limiting Minneota to two earned runs on four hits and a walk over five innings. He also struck out a pair of batters.

“He just filled out the strike zone really efficiently and let our defense work,” Marshall manager and catcher Ryan Schwagel said. “We’re just having fun out there. The main point of this game is having some fun, getting some at-bats, getting some different guys on the mound. Ultimately came out on the wrong end of it but ultimately it doesn’t matter.”

While Marshall was unable to plate enough runs to get the win, their bats returned to form after the team struggled to get hits in their last two losses to Raymond and Granite Falls. The A’s finished the game with 11 hits to Minneota’s 7, including two doubles from Wichmann and Douglas.

Danny Hennen was once again a workhorse on the mound for Minneota, tossing 125 pitches over the full nine innings in the win. He struck out seven batters on the day while allowing a pair of walks.

The A’s cut the deficit to one run in the top of the eighth. Ryan Schwagel hit a leadoff single and was promptly replaced at first by courtesy runner David Rodriguez. Rodriguez advanced to second as Talan Plante beat out a perfectly laid bunt and the two runners advanced to scoring position on an Andrew Cowden sacrifice bunt. Kesteloot then took advantage of an error to score Rodriguez but a fly out and a strikeout prevented Marshall from capitalizing any further.

The Mudhens put the game away in the bottom of the frame. Skorczewski singled and Austin Buysse walked to start the inning but a strikeout and a fly out put two down. Still, Aj Myhre reached on an error to put runners on the corners, Skorczewski capitalized on a passed ball to score one run and Danny Hennen singled into left field to drive in another for a 5-2 Minneota lead.

Marshall had one last chance to force extras in the bottom of the frame. Cody Wichmann singled with one out and a fly out to center put two away. He tried to steal his way into scoring position but a well-aimed throw by Minneota catcher Tate Walerius and a timely tag by second baseman Jack Lacek caught the steal to end the game.

Logan Terfehr pitched two shutout innings of relief for Marshall while Owen Kesteloot pitched the ninth. Terfehr held the Mudhens without a baserunner, striking out four of the six batters he faced on a total of 22 pitches. Kesteloot also struck out a pair of batters but the two hits and the walk he allowed turned into a pair of unearned runs.

Douglas, Plante and Charlie Jacobson led Marshall offensively with two hits each. Jacobson also was hit by a pitch to reach safely in each of his three plate appearances before being replaced by Terfehr in the seventh and Plante also drew a walk in the second inning. 

Minneota improves to 9-6 on the season with the win. Since being held to three or fewer wins in each of their last four games, the Mudhens have now scored five or more runs in five of their last six games. They’ve been held to fewer than five runs just twice since the opening skid.

“I think this is kind of us getting back into it, kind of slowing things down a bit,” Sonnenburg said. “Just seeing a couple more pitches, having better at-bats and honestly just coming through with runners in scoring position. We were not able to do that early in the season, we’d left double-digit guys on base every game and it was just frustrating. Last few games, we finally started kind of coming through in those situations.”

The Mudhens will look to pick up their fourth consecutive win when they head out on the road for a matchup against Moris on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Marshall drops to 9-5 with the loss and will look to end their three-game skid when they host the Milroy Yankees on Sunday at 5 p.m.

“We’re just having fun and relaxing a little bit after a long weekend like that [against Raymond and Granite Falls],” Schwagel said of Tuesday’s game. “It was a couple of tough losses but just go out and have some fun, get some good at-bats. For the most part, we did, just made a few too many errors and that was the difference in the game.”