U.P. Teams Have Mixed Success at State Tourney

GLADWIN, Mich.---The American Legion Baseball Class A State Tournament got off to a rough start on Thursday for the Upper Peninsula’s teams in this six-squad event.

The Escanaba Cubs dropped a 14-5 decision to Petoskey, while the Marquette Blues lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Hudson Post 180.

But the Gladstone Indians managed to save face for the U-P with a 4-0 win over Petoskey, before the host Gladwin Lightning posted a 4-1 decision over Hudson.

Escanaba and Petoskey played a tight see-saw game for four innings before things fell apart in the fifth and sixth innings for the Cubs.

It was a game that took 2 hours and 45 minutes to play. There were no 1-2-3 innings in the game, and both teams stranded lots of base runners.

Escanaba took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when David Falish singled, got bunted to second by Tyler Skufca, and scored on a single by Brandon Punzel.

In the third inning, the Royals got to Escanaba starting pitcher Devin Olsen. Two walks, a Doc Holliday single, an error, and a bases-loaded hit-by-the-pitch plated two runs.

But Escanaba regained the lead in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI double by Bailey Lamb and an RBI single by Olsen.

Escanaba would have had more runs that inning, but Sean Bissell hit a ground ball to first with the bases loaded. The Royals infielder went to first base, and then threw home to get Lamb. Escanaba argued that Lamb was safe because it was no longer a force-out situation, and Lamb clearly touched the plate well before being tagged.

The Cubs’ argument, however, fell on deaf ears.

Then, in the fourth inning, Petoskey tied the game on a Jared Beyers RBI single. The see-sawing continued in the bottom of the fourth when the Cubs again loaded the bases.

Nick Vandermissen drove in one run with a sacrafice fly, and the Cubs got another base runner when Lamb was safe on an error, but the Cubs left the bases loaded. Then came the fateful fifth inning.

Petoskey batted around in that inning, scoring six runs on four hits. Two Escanaba errors played a big part in the bad inning, and Olsen was knocked off the mound in favor of Lewis Ostrander.

The Cubs walked in three runs with the bases loaded, and Beyers had an RBI single.

The sixth inning wasn’t much better as Petoskey scored four runs off of Ostrander and Justin Popelka. Cole Paul and Beyers each had RBI hits (Beyers had three hits and two walks in the game). The teams traded unearned runs in the seventh inning, with Ostrander’s sacrafice fly plating the Cub run.

In the second game, Marquette and Hudson played a tight pitchers duel contest with very few scoring chances for either side. Marquette pitcher Trevor Bratonia matched Husdon’s Chris Thorsen nearly pitch for pitch for seven innings.

The defending Class A state champions, who have kids from seven different high schools in southern Michigan, scored what would be the game’s only run when Drew DeFay singled to drive home Hunter Borton.

Hudson would have had two more runs, but Marquette center fielder Ryan Walther made a running catch of a Griffin Wollett fly ball…snow-coning the ball as he ran from the outfield to the infield.

Marquette had its chance to score in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases on a Levi Underwood base hit, a walk, and an error. But Derek Stone’s fly ball was tracked down in center field.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Marquette had one last chance as Underwood led off with his third base hit of the game. He was the only Blues player to get a hit in this contest. Underwood was bunted to second, but Sam Leow bounced back to the pitcher to end the game, sending the Blues into the loser’s bracket.

In the third game, Gladstone ace Sam Pouliot locked horns with Petoskey’s David Waterson in a pitcher’s duel that saw just seven base hits by the two teams combined.

Gladstone took a 3-0 lead in the third inning without the benefit of a base hit. Jake Peterson was safe at first when his ground ball was misplayed by Waterson. Ben Schwalbach walked, and with two outs, Justin Jurek walked to load the bases.

Hunter Garling’s sharply-hit ball up the middle handcuffed the Petoskey second baseman, and the ball went into the outfield. Two runs scored on the play.

Moments later, Jurek came home to score on a wild pitch, and it was 3-0.

Gladstone’s first base hit was a Christian Groleau single in the fourth inning. Groleau, however, was caught trying to steal second base. In the fifth inning, Peterson walked and scored on a double by Jurek.

It was 4-0 in the sixth inning when Petoskey tried to mount a comeback. Holliday got a one-out single, and then with two out, Mitch Smielewski got a base hit. Then Pouliot walked Waterson. That loaded the bases, bringing the tying run to the plate.

Indians Manager Jim Groleau went to the mound and talked with Pouliot, who got a swinging strike three from Luke Schrage to end the scoring threat.

Gladstone still led, 4-0.

Jake Pearson led off the seventh inning with a double, and he went to third base on a wild pitch. Groleau asked his son, Christian, to squeeze Pearson home, but the pitch was not buntable, and Pearson was hung out to dry between third and home.

Fortunately, Pouliot didn’t need that extra run.

Pouliot struck out all three men he faced in the seventh inning. He tossed a complete-game four-hitter, striking out eight batters, including the final four men of the game.

Waterson allowed just three hits (doubles by Jurek and Pearson, and a single to Groleau), but he took the loss.

This double-elimination tournament continues on Friday at Gladwin’s Wilmot Field, which is sporting a brand-new electronic scoreboard.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos from all three of Friday's games.