DOWN TO THE WIRE: Eskymos Hold Off Braves

ESCANABA---It came down to the wire yet again, although, for most of the night, it didn't look like it would. The Escanaba High School baseball team built a 5-0 lead, and then had to hang on to beat the Gladstone Braves, 5-4, in this Battle of Delta County.

This follows a string of games between these two rivals that also went down the final pitch over the last several years.

Gladstone got the upper hand the last eight times these two teams met, but not this time. Escanaba bounced back to win this one after a discouraging loss in Marquette Wednesday night, the first-ever Eskymo baseball loss to the Redmen.

Thursday's game pit two power pitchers against each other: Escanaba's Brandon Punzel and Gladstone's Hunter Garling.

There are no secrets with these two guys, as they were teammates on the Delta County Little League team that won the Junior League state championship three years ago, earning a trip to regionals in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The two dueled until the third inning, when Escanaba broke a 0-0 tie with four runs. Lewis Ostrander led off with a base hit, and then Parker LaMarch put down the bunt. No one covered first base for the Braves, so there were two men on base.

And Garling forgot to step off the rubber on his move, so a balk was called. Two mental mistakes for the Braves. And those miscues would prove to be costly.

"Two mental errors, seemingly, really, simple mistakes," Gladstone Manager Don Lauscher said. "Two minor mistakes that cost us the game. But, more than that, I told the guys to not dwell on those mistakes. We were down 5-0 and we came back and had a chance to tie it up. Kudos to Escanaba. They strung a bunch of hits together."

"We didn't win the game. That's baseball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," Lauscher continued. "I told the kids to not feal bad about this one. Even though this is a rivalry and all of that. We did a lot of good things today."

Escanaba Manager Kirk Schwalbach agreed.

"We made a few changes and we moved a few people around, and we told them that that's what was going to happen," Schwalbach said. "We had a couple of big innings, and they made a couple of mistakes. We got the bat on the ball, and we didn't strike out too many times. It's a big win. The teams are evenly-matched. Our kids wanted this one."

Escanaba relief pitcher Justin Popelka had to keep his head at the end.

"That last inning, they had a lot of hits to rally that wew had to fight through," Popelka said. "We ended up getting it at the very last minute."

Escanaba got the early jump in this one. Sean Bissell, Brandon Punzel, and Tyler Skufca had back-to-back-to-back hits to bring home runs. And an error on a throw to second on a steal attempt didn't help Gladstone's cause, either.

So, it was a 4-0 game.

In the fourth inning, C.J. Barron and Parker LaMarch each got base hits, and Tyler Hardwick was safe on an error. Garling walked Sean Bissell with the bases loaded to force in a run, giving Escanaba a 5-0 lead. But Garling got Punzel to pop up to end the threat.

That out became big because the Braves started to chip away in the fifth inning. Braeden Lamberg walked, and then Owen Hanson dumped one to short center field that Tyler Hardwick appeared to catch just above the grasstops. But the umpire ruled it was not a catch, and that set off wild movements on the bases, as Lamberg rushed to second.

Hardwick, thinking that the out had been recorded, threw to first to double off Lamberg.

The throw was high, and it was not a catch anyway, so runners were on second and third for Gladstone. Grounders by Hunter Botruff and Jake Peterson to the right side of the infield helped the Braves take advantage with two runs, making it a 5-2 game.

Escanaba was in position to add to the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Tyler Skufca led off with a single and was bunted to second by Hunter LaMarch.

Jack Valentine then hit a ground ball, and Skufca got caught between second and third. He was in a pickle, and was eventually tagged out by shortstop Ben Schwalbach at second base. Gladstone got a bonus when Schwalbach looked up and saw Valentine trying to make it to second base. He tagged Valentine for a strange 6-5-6 double play.

In the sixth inning, the Braves got two runners on against Punzel as Garling walked and, with one out, Tyson Seymour was safe on an error. Popelka came on to relieve Punzel, and he struck out Lucas Weinart and got Braeden Lamberg to ground out.

That ended the inning, keeping the Eskymos in front of the Braves, 5-2.

Gladstone removed Garling from the mound in the sixth inning, bringing in senior Justin Jurek, who hadn't pitched in more than a year because of arm problems. He looked good Thursday, as he retired the bottom of the Eskymo batting order 1-2-3.

In the top of the seventh inning, it looked like Popelka would have an easy time of it, as he got Hanson to fly out and he struck out Botruff to start the inning. But the Braves battled back, as Peterson ripped one for a hit behind third base.

Skufca had no play at third base for the Eskymos, so the game continued.

Then, Jurek singled. Then, Garling singled. Then, Schwalbach singled. All of a sudden, it was four straight, two-out hits for Gladstone. And that made the score 5-4.

That brought up Seymour, who had huge hits against Escanaba earlier this season to tie the game in the seventh inning, and then Seymour won it with a hit in the ninth inning.

"When Seymour came up in the seventh there, I just had deja vu," Escanaba's Schwalbach said. "I was like, 'this isn't gonna happen again, is it?"

Seymour already had two hits in this one, and got ahead in the count, 3-1. But Popelka was able to get Seymour to swing at a couple of high pitches to end it on a strikeout.

"Justin got him to go after a couple of high pitches," Kirk Schwalbach said. "He (the home plate umpire) called the high strike for both of us. It was for both teams. It does make it tough for a kid to hit, though. They're used to having the ball at the knees."

"We teach kids to keep the ball down. Keep the ball down! We don't want to go up," Schwalbach added. "So, I don't know why umpires call the high strike, but that's what he called. You've got to play with who's umping, and you can't control that."

"I knew he was a good a hitter," Popelka said of Seymour. "I just had to battle through and just get a couple of fastballs in there. I was just able to get through it, and get the strike out. It means alot to all the seniors and juniors."

"We haven't beaten them in a long time," Popelka continued. "They have a great program. I'm just happy to get the win. It's been a long time."

Lauscher, by the way, was also perplexed with the high strike zone.

"I'm not making excuses, but with that umpire's strike zone being up by the neck, I mean, you can't allow that to be a strike," Lauscher said. "Simply because the batters are swinging at stuff that are out of the zone. Give me the strike at the knee pitch, but don't give me the neck pitch. You've got to call the strike zone what it is."

Punzel gets the pitching win, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He fanned six and walked just two. Popelka gets the save, going 1 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and two runs. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.

For Punzel, it was his best effort of the season, with just those two walks.

"Boy, he pitched well," Coach Schwalbach said. "He's getting some time on the mound. He's smoother. He was pulling his head, and we worked with him on that. When he's on, he's got good stuff. We're working on his slider. He likes that."

Garling takes the loss for Gladstone. He went five innings, allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits. He walked two and fanned three. Jurek pitched a 1-2-3 sixth.

"Unfortunately, things didn't go our way today," Lauscher said. "Both teams played well. Esky played really well. We played well, other than a couple of mental mistakes. So, it was a good game all around."

Gladstone (15-7) will host Hancock in a doubledeader Saturday morning at 10:00.

Escanaba (7-5) will host the Lions Club Tournament on Saturday. The Eskymos will play Bark River-Harris at 10:00 at Al Ness Field. The BR-H Broncos will then face Sault Ste. Marie at 12:30. And then, at 3:00, Escanaba will take on the Soo Blue Devils.

Saturday's BR-H vs Sault and Escanaba vs Sault games will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos taken by Lori Jurek, videos taken by Laura Lamberg, and to listen to audio highlights from the game 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