Photo by Ari Selvey: The Marshall 15U VFW Orange baseball team celebrates with its substate championship trophy after picking up back-to-back wins over New Ulm in the District 2 final in Sleepy Eye on Monday to return to the state tournament for the second year in a row.

SLEEPY EYE — Needing two wins to repeat its trip to the VFW State Tournament, Marshall VFW Orange came away with 12-3 and 5-2 victories over New Ulm VFW Silver in the District 2 VFW Tournament Monday at Sleepy Eye Ballpark. 

“I think we came out with an underdog mentality,” Marshall head coach Charlie Jacobson said. “It was more of, we don’t have any pressure on us, we don’t have to beat them once; they’ve got to beat us twice, so the pressure’s on them once they lose that first game. We saw it in the first game, the pressure was on them, our guys were playing loose. That was nice to see. 

Marshall VFW got some experience in the state tournament last year after finishing as runners-up to Elk River twice in what was Marshall’s first state tournament appearance since 2013. Both of Marshall’s two losses in last year’s tournament came against Elk River.

“We came through the winner’s bracket last year in Mankato, made it easier on ourselves last year than we did this year,” Jacobson said. “Always fun to come back, beat a good team to go to state.”

New Ulm head coach Jeff Ferrell said the team did not play up to their usual standards in the doubleheader, especially in the first game.

“[Marshall’s] pitchers threw very well,” Ferrell said. “We didn’t start off the first game very great. We couldn’t catch a cold in a hailstorm. Had a hard time throwing strikes and putting the ball into play. It was tough. Other than that, we’re just trying to forget it.”

In the Game 1 win, Marshall had five hits and drew 14 walks to force the second, deciding finals game. Grady Wajer led Marshall at the plate in the 12-3 win by going 2 for 4 with an RBI, while Rocco Rignell had a double, two walks and three runs scored. Carson Mensink was 1 for 2 with three walks and two runs scored also for Marshall.

Rignell got the complete-game win on the mound, allowing three hits and four walks for three earned runs while striking out four.

Silver was led at the plate in Game 1 by Parker Ranweiler, who was 1 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored, while Miles Castleman was 1 for 2 with a walk and two RBIs. Ranweiler took the loss on the mound in 2 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and six walks for eight runs, two earned, while striking out one.

Orange took a 2-0 lead in the first when Rignell and Carter Phillippe each scored on passed balls. 

Marshall added four more runs in the second. After Brendan Price was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Jaxsen Bednarek, a passed ball scored Rignell again before an error in the outfield scored Price and Mensink for a 6-0 lead.

Marshall took an 8-0 lead in the third on an RBI single by Wajer and a passed ball that scored Bednarek. Marshall continued to benefit on passed balls when Gavin Williams and Isaac Roberts both scored on passed balls.

New Ulm got its first run of the game on a groundout by Miles Castleman that scored Ranweiler. In the bottom of the sixth, a double steal scored Owen Castleman and put Ranweiler on second, who was then singled in by Miles Castleman. Marshall got those runs back in the seventh, however, on a bases-loaded walk by Price and an RBI single by Jack Bly.

Bennett Graven earned the win in Game 2 for Marshall, striking out two and allowing two runs on four hits in a complete game. At the plate, Price was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Bly had a hit and an RBI. Graven had an RBI and a run scored, and Bednarek had a hit and a run scored.

Miles Castleman took the loss for New Ulm, striking out four while allowing five runs, four earned, on five hits in six innings. At the plate, Kaden Stueber had a hit and an RBI, while Tanner Kissner and Owen Castleman each had a hit and a run scored.

New Ulm improved its play in the second game, but a five-run third inning gave Marshall all it needed to pull off the sweep.

“The second game, I thought our kids competed really well,” Ferrell said. “Miles threw well. The inning where they scored the five runs, it was a couple walks and a hit there and an error, it was just all of a sudden, boom, they were up 5-2. That’s a tough inning, and he threw so well. We just didn’t play well and when you don’t play well, you’re not going to win. That’s baseball. We competed, and I’m just proud the kids that came out in the second game. Especially after the first game. It was tough.”

New Ulm started off the second game much better than the first with a leadoff single by Owen Castleman. A wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt from Stueber put Owen Castleman on third, then a sacrifice fly from Ranweiler scored the first run of the game. New Ulm added a second run in the third inning, with a single by Kissner, a sacrifice bunt from Owen Castleman and another wild pitch led to a score as Stueber grounded out for a 2-0 lead. 

Marshall loaded the bases in the third inning as Wajer was hit by a pitch and Bednarek and Mensink singled. Graven was hit by another pitch to score a run, then Price singled to score two more runs. Bly singled to score Mensink, then a walk and an error put into play by Roberts scored two more runs for a 5-2 Marshall lead. 

The defenses tightened up as 11 consecutive outs were recorded after that, broken up by a single from Price in the fifth inning. Stueber singled in the top of the sixth to get a base runner on for New Ulm, but two outs ended the inning without advancing past second base. Graven orchestrated a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to end the game as Marshall rushed the field to celebrate.

In order to continue to see success in the state tournament, Jacobson said the team’s pitchers will have to continue to go deep into games like they did on Monday.

“I think it’s going to take good pitching from everybody,” he said. “Our starters went deep all weekend, which is what we need. We didn’t use three or four guys to pitch all weekend, which, usually we need everybody. So our starters going five, six innings every night out, defense needs to play solid, and offensively it’s just winning pitches one by one, coming out ready to compete, you against the pitcher, you’re going to win every at-bat.”

Marshall’s seeding and schedule for the 2025 VFW state tournament will be announced later in the week.