Marshall rallies

past New Ulm in

seeding contest

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Baseball is a nine-inning contest. And in order to have a chance at winning, you have to play all nine innings.

Wednesday night, New Ulm Kaiserhoff played only six solid innings, and it cost them. Marshall erased a 4-3 New Ulm lead with three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings before adding two more runs in the ninth to top Kaiserhoff 11-5 in a Section 4B seeding game.

Jon Kuelz picked up the pitching win for Marshall (26-2), going eight innings and allowing five runs. He struck out eight.

Ryan Wellmann was tagged for the loss, allowing six runs while striking out nine and allowing 10 hits.

The trio of Joe Westpahl, Landon Erickson and Derrick Jenniges each had three hits with Jenniges driving in three runs. Westpahl and Erickson each plated two runs.

Aaron Dolan, Brady Ranweiler and Tom Steinbach each had two hits with Ranweiler and Steinbach both driving in two runs. Steinbach had a double and a solo home run.

"We played two-thirds of a game again and it seems like we have had trouble with that all through the season," said Kaiserhoff manager Brady Ranweiler. "We stick close with the good teams for a while and then we have some mental blocks, do some things that cost us runs."

Kaiserhoff (13-7) held a precarious 4-3 lead going into the seventh due in large part to Wellmann's ability to work out of early-inning jams. He had permitted only three A's runs and left eight Marshall runners on base.

But in the seventh inning, Marshall broke loose after it appeared that Wellmann would again hex Marshall.

Westpahl singled to start the inning but Wellmann recorded his eighth and ninth strike outs for the first two outs. Landon Erickson followed with a single and Wellmann walked Tyson Kassell to load the bases.

Jenniges then gave Marshall a lead they would hold the rest of the way when he sliced an 0-1 Wellmann offering into center field for a two-run single. Trent Sukalski followed with a sinking fly ball to left-center that center-fielder Ryan Ellwein got his glove on, but the ball popped out allowing Kassell to score for a 6-4 lead.

"It seemed to snowball from there," commented Ranweiler. "We have a lot of young guys and when things start to go bad it is hard to stop. Once momentum starts to swing in baseball, something big has to happen to change it back in the other direction."

But instead, momentum swung more toward Marshall.

The A's added another three runs in the eighth off reliever Al Flor as he walked Matt Tiggas and Dave Tapper with one out They both scored on RBI singles by Erickson and Kassell with Erickson later scoring on a double steal.

Steinbach brought in New Ulm's fifth and final run in the bottom of the eighth when he hammered a solo home run to left.

But Westpahl's two-run double in the ninth made it 11-5 and sealed Kaiserhoff's doom.

Marshall took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on succesive singles by Rob Bruner and Brandon Rokke to start the game. After Wellmann fanned Westpahl, Tiggas singled to right to score Bruner as Wellmann got out of further damage as he did in the second when Marshall threatened, putting two runners on base before the right-hander fanned the final two outs.

New Ulm, which will host Austin Friday night, tied the game in the bottom of the second on back-to-back doubles by Landon Rathmann and Steinbach, and then took a 2-1 lead in the third inning when Ellwein doubled and scored on Ranweiler's two-out single.

Marshall knotted the game in the fifth on an Erickson RBI single.

But in the bottom of the fifth, Kaiserhoff put up their only crooked number in the game when they scored two runs using three Marshall errors to recapture the lead at 4-2.

Marshall pulled to within 4-3 in the sixth when Jenniges singled, went to second on a wild pitch before an error and a fielder's choice plated the third A's run.

"We have not played our best baseball yet," said Ranweiler. "If we can bring that together right at the end of the season, and if I was Marshall or Mankato, I would not want to be playing us."

MARSHALL 100 011 332--11 15 3

KAISERHOFF 011 020 010-- 5 9 5

WP: Kuelz. LP: Wellmann.