By Nate Tykwinski
The Marshall A's bid for their first state championship fell short on Sunday afternoon when they were eliminated in the first round of the 2010 State Tournament by the Sauk Rapids Cyclones. The A's dug an early 8-0 deficit and were unable to comeback, losing 10-5. Jared Pick (5-2) took the loss for the A's, giving up six runs in 1 2/3 innings while walking five.
Sauk Rapids got on the board first, scoring a run in the bottom of the first on an infield single. Pick would escape further damage however, getting a soft lineout to second base to leave the bases loaded.
Pick wasn't as fortunate in the bottom of the second as the Cyclones put together a five run inning to knock Pick out of the game. A's manager Sean Culhane handed the ball to Matt Paulsen with two outs in the bottom of the second.
Sauk Rapids scored two more in the third inning off Paulsen, highlighted by an RBI double to the right center gap.
Down 8-0 in the fourth, the A's battled back. Nate Koppi led off with a double. Derek West followed with an infield single. Koppi was able to score from second with the throw to first got past the Cyclone first baseman, cutting the A's deficit to 8-1.
Tyler Fayden drew a walk, and then Aaron Lindstrom singled to load the bases with nobody out. Bryan Nikkel got West in with an RBI groundout. Cody Trumm reached on an error, scoring Fayden to put the score at 8-3.
Dereck Salisbury singled home Lindstrom and Derek Rignell followed with an RBI single of his own to score Trumm. The A's rally stalled though when Salisbury was called out on a close play trying to advance first to third and then Chace Pollock grounded out to end the inning.
With the score now at 8-5, the A's threatened to cut the lead even more in the fifth. West singled with one out, and Fayden walked to put runners on first and second. But a pair of strikeouts ended the A's scoring chances.
Sauk Rapids added two big insurance runs in the seventh off Paulsen to put the score at 10-5.
The A's were unable to mount any late inning miracle comebacks as their season came to an end. The A's finished their season with a 25-12 record.
For more information on the 2010 Minnesota State Amateur Baseball tournament, visit the official tournament website at www.mnstateamateurbaseball10.com.
