Gladstone Runs Out of Magic In State Semifinals

EAST LANSING---They had pulled out so many wins, so many times, that you had to think that they would find a way to do it one more time. But the magic ended for the Gladstone High School baseball team on Friday as the boys lost to the Decatur Raiders, 2-1, in eight innings, in the Division Three State Semifinals at Michigan State University.

Braves senior Christian Groleau was safe.

Gladstone senior Sam Pouliot pitched his heart out, matching Decatur ace Cody Huston with scoreless inning after scoreless inning.

But a couple of defensive lapses ended up costing the Braves, along with their inability to get the big base hit.

"It's kind of bittersweet right now because they were not a better team than us," Gladstone Manager Don Lauscher said. "It's unfortunate that we never got to show how good we were to the people down here. It was just one of those days, I guess."

Gladstone was held to just one base hit...a single by Justin Jurek in the third inning.

Pouliot scattered eight base hits over 7 2/3 innings of work, and he made the big pitches when he had to. Lauscher says the lack of offense was surprising.

"Everyone was on their back foot," Lauscher said. "They had real short arc on their bats, and they were just popping everything up. I mean, the infield, every time we hit the ball on the ground, it seemed like they struggled (three Decatur errors)."

Tommy Bailey pre-game interview.

"But it was pop up after pop up," Lauscher continued. "And what really killed us today is the top of the order didn't do anything. I mean, Gus (Jurek) did, but those are the guys that we were really counting on, and it just didn't happen today."

Decatur (24-6) finally scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, and it was an unearned run. Noah Rufo hit a weak grounder to Jurek at second. Jurek, playing in the field for the first time in several weeks, threw short to first base.

Two plays later, Joby Kawaski ripped a double to left field. Left fielder Drake Draze double pumped and threw late to the cut-off man, who's throw was just late at home plate.

Gladstone (29-5) managed to tie the game in the top of the seventh inning, doing what they did in close playoff wins over Negaunee, Travese City St. Francis, Boyne City, and Muskegon Oakridge.

In this case, with one out, Christian Groleau had a great at-bat and worked Huston fofr a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Then, Groleau stole second base.

It was the senior's second steal of the game, and on the play, the ball was thrown into center field. Groleau ended up at third base.

Sam Pouliot ties the game in 7th

Then Pouliot, another senior, smoked one up the middle that glanced off of Huston's glove. The ball deflected to second base, and they got Pouliot at first. The run scored, however, and Gladstone was back in it.

Then Pouliot got nasty. He struck out all three batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh inning, and so the game stayed tied at 1-1, and it was extra innings.

In the top of the eighth inning, it appeared that, with two out, Jurek hit a double. But the Raiders protested that Jurek missed first base on the play. The umpire agreed, and Jurek was called out to end the inning. Lauscher says that was a bad call.

Justin Jurek at second base in the 8th Inning. Umps ruled that he missed 1st.

"He did not (miss first base)," Lauscher said. "That's what Peyton (Jurek, first base coach) and Gus were both yelling. But that's the way things are down here. They'll make a scene like that, swear up and down that he missed."

"He was right on the crown of the base. That is a set play (on Decatur's part). But that's not won and lost it for us."

Then, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Carter Smith led off with a single for the Raiders. Kawaski bunted him to second, and then Pouliot got Cole Southworth to bounce out for the second out. With first base open, Lauscher chose to intentionally walk clean-up hitter Matt Botti, setting up a force at any base (except for home).

Huston hit a fly ball to left field that freshman Jack Stephenson came in on, and then tried to race back, but he lost the ball. It landed for a walk-off win for Decatur. While Stephenson was crushed, Lauscher noted that Stephenson had stepped up many times during the season, and that the lack of hitting was the reason for the loss.

Don Lauscher post-game interview

"It seemed that he didn't see it off the bat very well," Lauscher said. "And again, Drake (Draze) was struggling at the bat, so we all just said, let's make a change and maybe Jack could put the bat on the ball."

"That's why we did it. Ultimately, I will take the blame for that," Lauscher said. "Coaches make good moves, coaches make bad moves. But why we lost is we didn't hit the ball. You can't win games when you can't get the bunts down. You can't win games with just one hit. All the little things that we talked about since March 10th, we didn't do today."

CLICK HERE to see the statistics from the game, courtesy of the MHSAA.

Sam Pouliot strike out ends 7th Inning

Despite the loss, Lauscher was pleased with the way his team played this season.

"It was a great season," he said. "We went way beyond our expectations. At the end of the day, I just thank the kids for working as hard as they did. They're not satisfied, obviously. They wanted to take it all the way."

"All in all, it was a great season."

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Lucas LaCosse, and to hear radio replays and interviews.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

4/18	4:00 PM	at Reed City High School	12 - 2 (W)	1-0

4/18	6:00 PM	at Reed City High School	9 - 0 (W)	2-0

4/19	11:00 AM	at Kingsley Stags	5 - 1 (W)	3-0

4/19	1:30 PM	at Kingsley Stags	6 - 7 (L)	3-1

4/22	4:30 PM	Negaunee Miners	6 - 4 (W)	4-1

4/23	4:30 PM	Norway Knights	5 - 1 (W)	5-1

4/26	2:00 PM	at Charlevoix Rayders	8 - 4 (W)	6-1

4/26	4:00 PM	at Charlevoix Rayders	9 - 6 (W)	7-1

4/28	4:00 PM	Superior Central Cougars	22 - 4 (W)	8-1

4/28	6:00 PM	Superior Central Cougars	12 - 1 (W)	9-1

5/5	4:00 PM	at Norway Knights	13 - 0 (W)	10-1

5/5	6:00 PM	at Norway Knights	4 - 1 (W)	11-1

5/8	4:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	1 - 0 (W)	12-1

5/9	4:30 PM	at Oconto Falls Panthers	6 - 4 (W)	13-1

5/10	11:00 AM	Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox	7 - 3 (W)	14-1

5/14	4:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	16 - 6 (W)	15-1

5/14	6:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	4 - 2 (W)	16-1

5/15	5:30 PM	Stephenson Eagles	15 - 5 (W)	17-1

5/17	12:00 PM	at Green Bay Notre Dame	1 - 11 (L)	17-2

5/19	4:00 PM	at Superior Central Cougars	15 - 0 (W)	18-2

5/19	6:30 PM	at Superior Central Cougars	14 - 3 (W)	19-2

5/20	4:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	11 - 3 (W)	20-2

5/20	6:30 PM	Houghton Gremlins	7 - 3 (W)	21-2

5/22	5:30 PM	at Stephenson Eagles	7 - 4 (W)	22-2

5/23	4:30 PM	Marquette Redmen	2 - 3 (L)	22-3

5/23	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	12 - 4 (W)	23-3

5/26	6:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	3 - 1 (W)	24-3

5/27	6:30 PM	at Green Bay Preble	3 - 6 (L)	24-4

5/30	1:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	4 - 2 (W)	25-4

5/30	7:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	10 - 0 (W)	26-4

6/7	10:00 AM	at Traverse City St. Francis	10 - 2 (W)	27-4

6/7	4:00 PM	Boyne City	5 - 2 (W)	28-4

6/10	12:00 PM	Muskegon Oakridge	3 - 2 (W)	29-4

6/13	2:30 PM	Decatur Raiders	1 - 2 (L)	29-5