NEVER SAY DIE! Late Eskymo Rally Wins District

PETOSKEY---They were dead in the water.

The Escanaba Eskymos were trailing the Petoskey Northmen, 3-0, with just three outs to work with in the Division Two district championship game on Saturday.

Their catcher was suffering with a case of the flu, their senior pitcher was in the dugout suffering from heat exhaustion.

But the Eskymos pulled together and then pulled a miracle. Escanaba scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning, and then rolled to an improbable 5-3 victory.

That win followed a 19-3 an earlier win over Cheboygan in the district semifinals.

"It speaks to the character of these kids," Escanaba Manager Kirk Schwalbach said.

"They never quit. Our bats are coming around, we're starting to hit the ball. The kids maintained their focus. We had good swings, and we were put the ball in play."

The Eskymo players, especially the seniors, were overwhelmed with emotion.

Eskymos Celebrate Come-Back Win!

"I can't even explain it," senior first baseman Bailey Lamb said. "Coming down from 3-0 in the last inning and we pulled it out! God, that's awesome!"

Escanaba had been handcuffed by Petoskey ace Jordan Swiss, who provoked nine fly outs and held the Eskymos to just three base hits. But in the seventh inning, the Eskymos staged one of the biggest comebacks in the school's playoff history.

Escanaba junior Corey McInerney.

Senior Bailey Lamb got the rally started with a base hit. Then Tyler Hardwick, filling in for Devin Olsen, who left the game because of heat exhaustion, came through with a hit of his own.

Jack Valentine followed with an RBI single to put his team on the board.

Then Hunter LaMarch smacked a base hit to left field, and the Eskymos were within a run, and still had two runners on with nobody out.

Corey McInerney tried to bunt the runners along, but hit it back to Swiss, and the Northmen pitcher got the out at third.

That brought up Kleiman, who had struggled at the plate recently, but broke the slump with two hits and three runs batted in against Cheboygan. He fouled off a couple of Swiss pitches, then turned on one, sending it down the left field line. It landed on the foul line, or in this case, the "fair line".

Ben Kleiman two-run hit in 7th Inning

Two runs scored, and Escanaba had a 4-3 lead.

"I didn't want to go out without hitting the ball," Kleiman said. "I hit it and I thought it was gonna be an out because it was so high. But it ended up falling, and it happened to be fair, and that's a plus!"

"He's had so many situations this year where that ball lands two inches foul and it doesn't work out," Schwalbach said. "It landed right on the line. I was happy for him."

Ben Kleiman two-run hit in 7th Inning

"He's a senior. I know that he would have felt horrible if he didn't make something happen at the end of the game and we lose 3-2. I was really happy with Ben."

Tyler Skufca then followed with an RBI single, Escanaba's seventh hit of the inning.

With a 5-3 lead, Schwalbach looked to Kleiman to finish the game on the mound. But Kleiman's arm was hurting, and so Schwalbach asked Skufca to step up. Skufca had already filled in for catcher Sean Bissell, who was so sick that he couldn't take the field.

Petoskey junior pitcher Jordan Swiss.

So, Skufca caught both games...putting on the catcher's gear for the first time sinbe his Little League days.

He allowed a passed ball in the fourth inning on a strikeout that gave Petoskey a 1-0 lead, but Skufca was otherwise solid behind the plate.

"I was excited," Skufca said. "I haven't caught for a few years. There's a first time for everything in high school baseball. That was my first time catching. The pitchers kept the ball out of the dirt, for the most part. It took some getting used to."

Well, now, Schwalbach wanted Skufca to pitch those final three outs. And Skufca made things interesting by hitting the first man he faced. But then, facing the top of the Northmen order, he got a pop up, fly ball, and ground out. Celebration time!

Lewis Ostrander hit; Punk out at plate

Escanaba had ten base hits against Swiss, a junior right-hander who is being recruited by NCAA Division Two college teams. Swiss struck out just two Eskymo batters.

"I don't think that he (Swiss) threw as hard as Sam (Pouliot, of Gladstone) or Justin Jurek," Schwalbach said. "But that's why we play against those guys. That's why we play the quality schedule that we do. What an exciting win. I'm so proud of the boys."

Lewis Ostrander hit; Hunter LaMarch Out at Plate

"He (Swiss) had a tight curveball," Lamb said. "It snapped down pretty well. I think the heat must have gotten to him at the end because he started slowing down a bit. We really locked in, and ended up getting the job done."

For the Eskymos, Olsen started the semifinal game and threw three scoreless innings. When Escanaba built an 11-0 lead in that game, Schwalbach pulled Olsen to save the right-hander's innings for the Petoskey game.

Escanaba Eskymo Senior Devin Olsen.

Olsen also threw three scoreless innings against Petoskey, keeping that game at 0-0.

But when Olsen batted in the top of the fourth inning, it was obvious that he wasn't doing so well. When he started pitching in the bottom of the fourth inning, Olsen hit the first man he faced. That's when Schwalbach replaced him with Kleiman.

"I was getting really, really hot," Olsen said. "After the third inning, I came in and I was all dizzy, and I went up to bat and I really couldn't see the ball."

"Then I hit that batter right away, and I was like, 'crap, this is not gonna go over well'. I'm glad he took me out then, because if it kept going, they could've gotten a couple of runs."

Petoskey (17-8-1) had taken a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by Aiden Holliday, and an RBI single by Parker Monley. But Kleiman picked Monley off of first to end that inning, and then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth inning.

Lewis Ostrander Hit By Pitch

That set up the dramatic ending. Kleiman earned the win on the mound, while Skufca got the save. Swiss took the loss, allowing five runs on ten hits.

Earlier in the day, Petoskey beat Sault Ste. Marie, 7-1. Then the Eskymos topped Cheboygan, 19-3. Escanaba scored nine runs in the second inning and added eight more in the fourth inning to end the game on the four-inning 15-run mercy rule.

Hunter LaMarch RBI single in 7th Inning

In that game, Kleiman had two hits and three RBI. Skufca had a double, triple, and three runs batted in. Lamb had a pair of RBI singles. Valentine had two hits and two runs batted in. LaMarch's two-run double ended the game in the fourth inning.

Escanaba (16-10) advances to the regional tournament next Saturday in Cadillac. The Eskymos will face Newaygo at 10:00 in the morning in the semifinals.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Mike Dagenais, and listen to audio replays and interviews.

Senior Ben Kleiman drives home the go-ahead run Saturday afternoon in Petoskey. (Mike Dagenais photo)

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

4/11	5:30 PM	at Appleton North Lightning	3 - 7 (L)	0-1

4/18	4:00 PM	at Bay City Central Wolves	6 - 4 (W)	1-1

4/18	6:00 PM	at Bay City Central Wolves	2 - 8 (L)	1-2

4/19	11:00 AM	at Essexville-Garber Dukes	7 - 16 (L)	1-3

4/19	1:00 PM	at Essexville-Garber Dukes	3 - 14 (L)	1-4

4/25	6:00 PM	at Kenosha Tremper High School	9 - 2 (W)	2-4

4/26	10:00 AM	at Waupun, Wis.	6 - 4 (W)	3-4

4/26	6:30 PM	at Fox Valley Lutheran High School	4 - 7 (L)	3-5

5/3	12:30 PM	Menominee Red Wave Legion	10 - 0 (W)	4-5

5/3	5:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	0 - 7 (L)	4-6

5/7	5:30 PM	at Marquette Redmen	10 - 4 (W)	5-6

5/8	4:30 PM	at Gladstone Braves	0 - 1 (L)	5-7

5/11	1:00 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	5 - 4 (W)	6-7

5/11	3:15 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	11 - 2 (W)	7-7

5/13	6:30 PM	at Kingsford Legion Blues	15 - 0 (W)	8-7

5/16	5:00 PM	Alpena Wildcats	7 - 2 (W)	9-7

5/16	7:00 PM	Alpena Wildcats	6 - 2 (W)	10-7

5/17	12:30 PM	Houghton Gremlins	7 - 2 (W)	11-7

5/17	5:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	6 - 7 (L)	11-8

5/22	4:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	10 - 0 (W)	12-8

5/24	12:00 PM	Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox	9 - 0 (W)	13-8

5/24	2:30 PM	Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox	10 - 3 (W)	14-8

5/26	6:00 PM	Gladstone Braves	1 - 3 (L)	14-9

5/29	4:30 PM	Marinette Marines	5 - 7 (L)	14-10

5/31	12:30 PM	at Cheboygan Chiefs	19 - 3 (W)	15-10

5/31	3:00 PM	at Petoskey Northmen	5 - 3 (W)	16-10

6/7	10:00 AM	Newaygo High School	6 - 1 (W)	17-10

6/7	3:00 PM	Gladwin	1 - 4 (L)	17-11