The Marshalltown baseball team got one last chance to prepare for the postseason with Monday’s non-conference finale against Nevada.

If nothing else, the Bobcats learned they’re still willing to put up a fight.

Nevada scored first and never trailed as Marshalltown gave chase in a 6-5 Cub victory on Monday night at the MHS diamond.

Nevada (13-13) scored twice in both the first and second innings to help overcome the Bobcats’ persistence in their last home game of the season. Marshalltown (6-25) takes a 10-game losing streak into Friday’s Class 4A Substate 3 opener at sixth-ranked Johnston (22-10) despite Monday’s relentless pursuit of victory.

It marked only the sixth game decided by four runs or fewer for the Bobcats this season, and the second such win eluded them time and time again on Monday night.

Five Marshalltown errors helped Nevada notch four unearned runs, leading to the team’s eventual demise. No one mistake was more costly than the others, but the sum total was more than the Bobcats could overcome.

“I think the little things just add up with us,” said MHS head coach Colton Hanke. “I thought defensively making plays we did OK, but it was just the little things that take it one notch higher to where we could have really only given up one run in the inning or zero, but it’s just the little things that build up and we’re not going to score a lot of runs so we’ve got to make sure that we execute what we have.”

Nevada’s first two runs came with two outs in the top of the first as MHS sophomore pitcher Aiden Holmgren hit Kole Beving with his first pitch. With DMACC recruit Drake Hinson at the plate, Beving stole second and then took third, too, scoring when the throw sailed down the left-field line.

Hinson reached on an error, stole second and then scored on Reed Kelly’s subsequent single.

Nevada’s two earned runs came in the second on three hits, but the Bobcats evaded further damage when catcher Santiago Mora threw out Owen Olson trying to steal after his RBI single.

Marshalltown, meanwhile, battled back with the bats, scoring once in the second and twice in the third to get within 4-3. In the second, Luke Stalzer reached with a two-out walk, stole second and scored on Bennett Ricken’s bloop single.

Stalzer led off the fourth with a walk, too, and again stole second before scoring on Ricken’s second hit of the game. Eighth-grader Cayden Mares put down a bunt that the Cubs misplayed, plating Ricken to make it 4-3.

Nevada relief pitcher Beving wriggled out of the jam, however, against the top of the Bobcat batting order, and the Cubs chased home an insurance run in the top of the fifth. Olson singled and Beving reached on an error against freshman pitcher Dane Hoogensen, and MHS intentionally walked Hinson to load the bases. Jack Spence hit a sacrifice fly to shallow left-center field and Olson scored without a play.

The Bobcats got back to within one in the home half of the fifth as Madden Martin led off with a walk and moved around on Quinn McLeod’s misplayed grounder, eventually scoring on a botched double steal.

Nevada’s lead again cut to one, the Cubs threatened in the sixth as Colton Pedersen walked and advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt by sophomore Garrett Thede. The ‘Cats got out of the jam when freshman catcher Larrs Schoenfelder recovered a passed ball and flipped to Thede in time to retire Pedersen as the final out of the sixth.

In the seventh, Nevada capitalized on Marshalltown’s fifth error of the night as Kelly’s two-out single drove home Beving, who again reached via error, to make it a 6-4 game.

Freshman Jalen Logsdon ripped a leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh, stealing third before scoring on Martin’s groundout, but that’s where the Bobcat comeback ended.

Holmgren took the loss, allowing four runs but only two earned on five hits and two hit batsmen while striking out three. Hoogensen gave up an unearned run in his inning of relief, and Thede did the same in his two frames. Bobcat pitchers issued just four total walks in the narrow loss.

Hinson pitched three innings for the win and Beving went the final four, both striking out seven batters while walking a combined six in the win.

“Despite some little things, overall we competed well,” Hanke said. “Hinson can throw it, there’s no question about that, but that’s the type of velocity that we’ll probably see Friday night (against Johnston). So this gave us a taste going into that, and hopefully our confidence went up a little bit because we were able to claw back into the game when we were down in a hole early on.

“I feel good after tonight in terms of how we competed.”