Photos by Jake McNeill: Marshall outfielder Connor Neubeck hits a pitch during a Corn Belt League baseball game against the Bird Island Bullfrogs at Legion Field in Marshall on Sunday.

MARSHALL — Connor Neubeck’s pair of home runs and a late rally from the Marshall A’s weren’t enough to steal a Corn Belt League victory against Bird Island on Sunday as the Bullfrogs’ early offensive production gave them an 11-9 win over Marshall.

The A’s trailed 11-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth when a Logan Tomasek double and a Wesley Sarsland walk put runners on first and second. A pair of strikeouts put two away, but Neubeck hit a three-run bomb to center field for his second homer of the day, cutting the deficit to two runs. Still, a pop out in the next at-bat halted the momentum and ended the game in favor of Bird Island.

“It felt great. I thought we kind of had a chance to come back and win it after they took their pitcher out,” Neubeck said. “Didn’t end up working out, but it was a fun game.”

Neubeck’s first long ball of the day was a solo homer to lead off the fifth. The A’s also put runners on the corners with a Stelter single and a Schwagel walk with two outs, and a passed ball allowed Andrew Stelter to score and bring Marshall within three runs, 6-3.

The two-homer performance was Neubeck’s first in an A’s uniform. He finished the day with three hits and four RBIs while AJ Toulouse and Tomasek each added another pair of hits, both of which were doubles for Tomasek. Neubeck is the only A with a home run through five games and has hit for a 1.318 OPS to date this season.

“I felt like I was seeing the ball pretty well and, honestly, they just kept throwing me fastballs,” Neubeck said with a laugh. “It was an interesting approach, but I’ll take fastballs.”

Zeke Walton scored the go-ahead run for the Bullfrogs in the top of the second when he doubled, advanced to third on a passed ball and went home on a Jonah Walton single. An inning later, Braeden Tersteeg drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a Logan Swann ground out to double the Bullfrog lead. 

Ashton Blomberg got the start on the mound for Marshall, throwing the game’s first five innings. He was generally effective at preventing base hits, but Bird Island capitalized on his wild pitches to generate runs. He finished his four-inning start giving up five unearned runs and one earned run on six hits and a walk with a pair of strikeouts. 

Shawn Dollerschell led off the fourth inning with a grounder to third, but an off-line throw by Logan Tomasek allowed him to reach base. He got to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch before Zeke Walton drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field. 

“Defense gave away like seven runs. If we just play clean, we beat them by four probably, but yeah, that’s all it really is,” Neubeck said.

The rally continued as Daylen Weber dropped a single into no-man’s land in right field. He stole second before Jonah Walton hit a grounder to second base. Ryan Schwagel dove to stop it from reaching the outfield, but a throwing error resulted in Weber rounding third and touching home plate. Tersteeg followed up with a single and Swann doubled into deep center field for a 6-0 advantage. 

The A’s broke up Bird Island pitcher Zach Gass’ shutout bid in the bottom of the fourth when Coby Brownlee and Schwagel hit consecutive singles. A strikeout and a fielder’s choice put the runners into scoring position with two outs, and AJ Toulouse dropped a fly ball single down the right field line to score Brownlee. 

Tomasek relieved Blomberg on the mound to start the sixth but couldn’t find a rhythm. He hit leadoff batter Jonah Walton and walked Ethan Schlueter and Tersteeg. Swann then singled in two runs and James Woelfel hit a sacrifice fly to give Bird Island a six-run cushion. 

From there, Tomasek settled down on the mound. He shut out the Bullfrogs for his next three innings on the mound before a Marshall error in the ninth resulted in a pair of Bird Island runs. Tomasek finished his outing with three earned and two unearned runs allowed over five innings, giving up four hits and four walks with a pair of strikeouts. 

Marshall made a game of it in the bottom of the eighth when AJ Toulouse and Connor Neubeck singled to put two runners on. With two outs, Talan Plane hit a two-run single and Brownlee followed up with an RBI double to cut the deficit to 9-6. 

Gass threw the first six innings in his start for Bird Island, giving up a pair of earned runs and another unearned run on six hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. In relief, Woelfel gave up six earned runs on seven hits and a walk over 2 2/3 innings of work while Tersteeg got the one-out save.

Marshall falls to 2-3 with the loss and will look to get back to .500 when it hosts Wabasso on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.