Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall pitcher Josh Kraft throws a pitch during a non-league matchup against Hadley, Wednesday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — With the game on the line, Connor Neubeck came up big in the clutch for the Marshall A’s in their non-league game against the Hadley Buttermakers on Wednesday night. The A’s trailed by a pair of runs heading into the bottom of the eighth, but Neubeck hit the go-ahead grand slam to send Marshall fans home happy with a 6-4 win.

“If I could ever put money on Neubeck hitting a home run, it would’ve been right there,” Marshall centerfielder AJ Toulouse said.

Hadley retired each of the first two Marshall batters of the season, but facing an 0-2 count, Toulouse was hit by a pitch to bring the tying run to the plate for Marshall. Cody Wichmann was hit by another pitch to keep the rally going, and Andrew Stelter drew a walk to load the bases for Neubeck. The Buttermakers made a pitching change, but Neubeck sent the ball sailing over the right field fence to give Marshall a 6-4 lead.

“It’s probably the best feeling in baseball. Late game, score some runs, get your team up, I don’t think there’s any better feeling than that,” Neubeck said.

Neubeck accounted for three of Marshall’s eight hits in the game, as well as five of its six RBIs. Liam Kruse also contributed a double, a single and the team’s other RBI, and Wichmann and Stelter each walked twice to reach base a pair of times for the A’s.

“You always feel confident with anyone in our lineup,” Marshall manager Zach Olson said. “We just got back from Belle Plaine where we had situations like that, where we didn’t execute in the clutch. Well, you get one of your best hitters up to the plate, it’s like, let’s see what you can do, bud. And sure enough, he puts a ball 370 [feet] out there, and hits the heck out of the ball.”

Hadley took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Austin Irlbeck reached base on a Marshall error and scored on a two-out single by Jacob Olson. The Buttermakers also tacked on another run with two outs in the top of the eighth, when Abe Paulzine walked and went home on an Irlbeck single for a 4-2 lead.

Tyler Wichmann picked up the win for Marshall in relief, giving up one earned run on three hits and a pair of walks over two innings. Josh Kraft threw the first four innings for the A’s, surrendering a pair of earned runs on two hits and three walks, while Logan Terfehr held Hadley to one unearned run on three hits over three innings.

Trevin Prins put together another strong outing on the mound for Hadley despite falling shy of the win. He limited Marshall to a pair of earned runs on seven hits and five walks, striking out five batters before exiting the game with the lead. Owen Gillette took the loss in relief, giving up three earned runs while getting two outs, and Skyler Feikema gave up one earned run on one hit while getting one out.

“I liked the fact that we played good defense tonight. We had no errors in the game, and that’s been one of our problems this year,” Hadley manager Myron Bennett said. “Today we didn’t have any. [We were a] pitch away there, two strikes on the guy with two outs, and hits the guy and it kind of just snowballed from there. Then the good hitter’s up with the bases loaded, sometimes that’s going to happen, he hit it well.”

Tucker Sorenson and Irlbeck were each hit by a pitch on the game’s first two at-bats, and Max Zwart hit a sacrifice fly to score Sorenson. Yet, Marshall answered in the bottom of the frame when Cody Wichmann walked and scored on a Neubeck single into center field.

Hadley and Marshall traded runs again in the third. Paulzine singled and scored on a Zwart sacrifice fly, but the A’s got the run right back when Stelter walked and scored on Kruse’s double with two outs.

Marshall improves to 5-5 and next goes on the road to take on Raymond on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The game was still in progress at the time of print.

Hadley falls to 8-5 and next goes on the road to take on Lakefield on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s been a solid start for us. We’ve lost a couple of non-league games… but I’m really happy with the way we’ve been playing,” Bennett said. “Like I said tonight, when we had no errors, that was the one thing that hurt us all year.”

BOX SCORE

MARSHALL

BATTING

C. Wichmann: 0-2, 2 BB, HBP, 2 R, SO; A. Stelter: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 R; C. Neubeck: 3-4 (HR), 5 RBI, R; J. Kraft: 1-5; L. Kruse: 2-4 (2B), RBI. R. Schwagel: 0-3, BB; C. Jacobson: 1-3, SO; T. Wichmann: 0-3, BB, SO; A. Toulouse: 1-3 (2B), HBP, R, SO.

PITCHING

J. Kraft: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO; L. Terfehr: 3 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB, 4 SO; T. Wichmann: W, 2 IP, 3 H, R, ER, BB.

HADLEY

BATTING

T. Sorenson: 2-3, BB, HBP, 2 R; A. Irlbeck: 1-3, BB, HBP, RBI, SO; De. Kluis: 1-3; M. Zwart: 2-3, 2 RBI, SO; J. Olson: 1-4, BB, RBI; T. Prins: 0-2, BB, 2 SO; A. Paulzine: 1-2, 2 BB, 2 R, SB, SO.

PITCHING

T. Prins: 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO; O. Gillette: 0.2 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, BB, SO; S. Feikema: 0.1 IP, H, R, ER, SO.