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Braves Top Stephenson; North Central Splits DH
 DAGGETT, Mich.---The Gladstone Braves fought off a hard-throwing Stephenson Eagles pitcher and posted a 7-4 baseball victory Thursday night in Daggett. Stephenson starter Matt Hanson threw with a lot of velocity, but he had trouble with walks and the Braves eventually got to him to win their fifth game of the week. "He was throwing in the low 80's," Gladstone Manager Don Lauscher said. "Man, could this kid chuck it. He was throwing the hardest that we've seen anywhere this year." Gladstone had just four base hits, but the Braves made the most of them. Sam Pouliot had an RBI single in the first inning, then Christian Tackman had a two-run single in the second inning. Justin Jurek added a two-run double in the fifth inning. Gladstone senior Christian Groleau tossed five innings to earn the win. He gave up three hits, struck out six batters, and walked only two. Freshman Ben Schwalbach came in to pitch the sixth inning, and three Braves errors led to three unearned Eagles runs. "That's the big problem we have right now," Lauscher said of the sometimes-leaky defense. "I told the kids that if we have one bad inning come district time, that's what's gonna do us in. We need to clean that up, big time." Drake Draze pitched a scoreless seventh inning to preserve the Braves victory. Gladstone improved to 22-2 on the season, and the Braves are ranked #2 in the state in Division Three in the latest Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association poll. Gladstone hosts Marquette in a doubleheader on Friday. Game time is 4:00. The games will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. NORTH CENTRAL SPLITS TWINBILL IN MARQUETTE---The North Central High School baseball team split a doubleheader Thursday against the Marquette Blues American Legion team. The Marquette Blues won the first game in extra innings, 9-8, and the Jets won the nightcap, 7-4. In the opener, North Central had 14 hits, but a balk in the bottom of the seventh inning scored the tying run for Marquette forced an extra inning. And the Blues got a run off of Jets pitcher Bobby Kleiman in the eighth inning to take the win. Dawson Bilski and Seth Polfus both had three hits in the opener. Tyler Polfus and Kleiman each had two hits. Andy Estrada contributed a two-run single, while Tyler Bentley and Tyler Bray also chipped in base hits for the Jets. On the mound, Bray, Estrada, and Kleiman combined to strike out five batters, walk six, and allow eight hits. The second game went just five innings because it got dark, and the Jets posted the 7-4 win. Tyler Polfus pitched all five innings, striking out three, walking four batters, and allowing four base hits. North Central had four hits, with Estrada driving home two with a single. He also scored twice. The other hits were by Al Kleiman, Bobby Kleiman, and Eric Prestay. Prestay's hit drove in a North Central run. |
