Braves Battle Past Vikings For Doubleheader Sweep

CADILLAC---The Gladstone Braves battled from behind to take two baseball games from the Cadillac Vikings Friday night in Lower Michigan.

Gladstone trailed by a run in the sixth inning of Friday's opener, but the Braves rallied to win in the eighth inning, 7-4. And then in the nightcap, the Braves spotted the Vikings a 3-0 lead before coming back to post a 6-3 victory.

That game was called after five innings of play because there are no lights on the Cadillac High School baseball field.

The wins were big for a young Braves team that was pounded last Saturday in Appleton.

"You start off the season rough like that, especially after seeing so much success last year, it can really break a team down," said captain Justin Jurek, one of only two seniors on this Braves team. "But bouncing back like we did, with 14 freshmen and sophomoes, is definately a big confidence booster for everyone."

In the first game, Jurek drove home Peterson with base hits in both the first and third innings, giving the Braves an early lead.

Hunter Garling pitched well in the first four innings, allowing just two hits and striking out seven Cadillac batters. But in the fifth inning, Garling got tired and gave up three hits and two sacrafice flies to allow the Vikings to take a 4-3 lead.

There was a dropped infield pop-up that also played a big role in that Cadillac rally. But in the sixth inning, Gladstone retied the game at 4-4 when freshman Braeden Lamberg came through with a two-out RBI single to bring home Ben Schwalbach.

Justin Jurek RBI hit makes it 1-0.

Lamberg came to the mound to replace Garling, after Garling tossed five innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits.

Garling struck out seven batters and walked just one. Lamberg needed to get five outs in the bottom of the sixth inning because of some shoddy defense behind him.

With the bases loaded and one out, Lamberg struck out Cadillac's Dustin Powell and he got Maddux Hoaglund to ground out. It was a brief sigh of relief for the Braves. In the bottom of the seventh, Cadillac had two on and one out, but Lamberg struck out Ethan Myers and Ty Pugh (on an appeal to the infield umpire), to end that threat.

"I was just thinking 'throw strikes and get the game done'," Lamberg said, matter-of-factly. "I was nervous, somewhat, but it got the team going. It was really between me and Justin (Jurek). He really called the pitches for me. I relied on the curveball."

In the eighth inning, the Braves had two out and no baserunners after A.J. Lundberg lofted one to center field that was caught.

It turned out that in the Braves' substitutions, Lundberg wasn't supposed to bat. Jake Wacholtz was.

After a lengthy delay, it was decided that Lundberg batted out of order, and Wacholtz got "credit" for Lundberg's fly out. So, Lundberg came back to the plate, this time, for himself. And he roped one to the left field fence for a double.

The next two Braves hitters walked, loading the bases for Peterson. And "Rizzo" came through with a two-run single to give Gladstone a 6-4 lead.

Jake Peterson clutch hit in extra innings

"I was kind of struggling," Peterson said. "I got hit my first at-bat, and my next two weren't very good. I kind of hit little nubbers, and Coach just told me to go back to my natural swing, and wait for a pitch that I could drive. He threw one, low, bottom of the zone, and I thought I could make a good swing on it. And I drove it up the middle."

Gladstone scored a third run on a wild pitch, and then a Lamberg pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to seal the Braves' first win of the season.

There was a break between games as the kids enjoyed free pizza, cookies, and fruit (thank you Cadillac Baseball!).

Then, the second game began, and the Braves fell behind as Elliot Danhoff got the ball after he allowed eleven runs in last week's loss in Appleton.

It seemed like it might be deja vu for Danhoff as Cadillac scored three runs in the first inning on an error, two hits, and two sacrafice flies.

But Danhoff did not allow another run in the final four innings, and the Braves eventually scored some runs for him.

Gladstone tied the game with three runs in the third inning on a double by Peterson and a pop-fly single to right by Clay Cole. There were four straight walks that allowed another run, and a wild pitch scored another run, tying the game at 3-3.

A.J.Lundberg rips a double in extra innings.

The Braves scored three more runs in the fourth inning as Garling doubled and scored on a double by Jurek. The other two runs scored on Cadillac throwing errors.

Gladstone won the game in five innings as darkness fell on Cadillac, and the Vikings have no lights at their baseball field.

Danhoff got the win, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits, in five innings. He struck out three, walked one, and pegged two batters.

"I just relied on my teammates to hit the ball, and kept throwing strikes," Danhoff said. "It helps to get ahead in the count early. That (curveball) is a pretty good pitch of mine, I guess. And my defense helped me out quite a bit."

Gladstone improved to 2-2 with the sweep. Cadillac fell to 2-5 overall.

Gladstone plays two more games in Lower Michigan on Saturday. The boys will face the Kingsley Stags for a doubleheader, which starts at 11:00 in the morning.

The twinbill will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Note that the first hour of Saturday's doubleheader will only be available on-line at www.rrnsports.com, due to other programming on the radio. At 12:00 noon, the action will be picked up on AM-600, as well as on www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Lori Jurek, videos taken by Laura Lanberg, and listen to radio highlights and post-game interviews.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

4/11	1:00 PM	at Appleton North Lightning	1 - 9 (L)	0-1

4/11	3:30 PM	at Appleton North Lightning	0 - 16 (L)	0-2

4/17	4:00 PM	at Cadillac Vikings	7 - 4 (W)	1-2

4/17	6:00 PM	at Cadillac Vikings	6 - 3 (W)	2-2

4/18	11:00 AM	at Kingsley Stags	12 - 0 (W)	3-2

4/18	1:30 PM	at Kingsley Stags	6 - 3 (W)	4-2

4/20	4:30 PM	North Central Jets	ppd - rain (L)	ppd

4/21	4:30 PM	Negaunee Miners	7 - 5 (W)	5-2

4/23	4:00 PM	at Norway Knights	3 - 6 (L)	5-3

4/24	4:00 PM	at Grayling Vikings	2 - 0 (W)	6-3

4/24	6:30 PM	at Grayling Vikings	9 - 4 (W)	7-3

4/25	1:00 PM	at Charlevoix Rayders	2 - 7 (L)	7-4

4/25	3:00 PM	at Charlevoix Rayders	7 - 4 (W)	8-4

4/27	4:30 PM	Superior Central Cougars	19 - 4 (W)	9-4

4/27	6:30 PM	Superior Central Cougars	15 - 0 (W)	10-4

4/28	4:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	5 - 4 (W)	11-4

4/30	4:30 PM	Marquette Redmen	10 - 4 (W)	12-4

5/1	5:30 PM	at Peshtigo Bulldogs	6 - 7 (L)	12-5

5/2	12:00 PM	at D.C. Everest Evergreens	4 - 6 (L)	12-6

5/2	3:00 PM	at Wausau West Warriors	9 - 5 (W)	13-6

5/4	4:30 PM	Norway Knights	3 - 0 (W)	14-6

5/4	6:45 PM	Norway Knights	10 - 0 (W)	15-6

5/7	4:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	4 - 5 (L)	15-7

5/9	10:00 AM	Hancock Bulldogs	10 - 2 (W)	16-7

5/9	12:30 PM	Hancock Bulldogs	19 - 0 (W)	17-7

5/11	5:30 PM	at Green Bay Preble	3 - 4 (L)	17-8

5/13	4:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	10 - 0 (W)	18-8

5/13	6:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	3 - 1 (W)	19-8

5/16	12:00 PM	at Green Bay Notre Dame	5 - 4 (W)	20-8

5/18	6:00 PM	at Crivitz, Wis.	4 - 3 (W)	21-8

5/19	4:30 PM	at Marinette Marines	7 - 1 (W)	22-8

5/22	5:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	1 - 5 (L)	22-9

5/26	6:00 PM	Hancock Bulldogs	14 - 1 (W)	23-9

5/30	12:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	8 - 3 (W)	24-9

5/30	5:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	7 - 2 (W)	25-9

6/6	10:00 AM	at Tawas	3 - 2 (W)	26-9

6/6	4:00 PM	at Traverse City St. Francis	4 - 2 (W)	27-9

6/9	12:00 PM	Muskegon Oakridge	6 - 5 (W)	28-9

6/12	11:30 AM	at Buchanan Bucks	4 - 6 (L)	28-10