Eskymos Win Lions Invitational; Broncos Take 3rd

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School baseball team won two games on Saturday to take the championship of the Lions Club Invitational at Al Ness Field. The new Bark River-Harris team competed in the tournament and lost both of its games on Saturday.

Escanaba beat Bark River-Harris, 14-5, and then topped Sault Ste. Marie, 13-3, to win the championship. The Soo beat BR-H, 14-3, in the day's second game.

"It was a nice weekend," Escanaba Coach Kirk Schwalbach said. "We're building a little momentum here now. Hopefully, we can carry it through to the right time of the season."

"That's kind of what our goal is," he continued. "I'm real happy for the kids because we took some tough ones the last couple of years in this tournament, with some late losses."

"So, it's important. It's not a state championship," Schwalbach said. "But this is a tournament that we didn't win, and we won it this year."

Negaunee dropped out of this tournament, so there were only three teams left to play a round-robin event.

In the morning game, Escanaba scored six runs in the first inning against Bark River-Harris as BR-H pitcher Drake Draze walked five batters and the Broncos botched a double play on a Logan Lamb ground ball to third base.

Tyler Skufca pitched four scoreless innings for the Eskymos, before yielding to youngsters Tyler Willette and Jonny Schlenvogt. Willette gave up three runs in the fourth inning, and Schlenvogt allowed two runs as he finished up for Escanaba.

BR-H scored three runs in the fifth inning to close to within 7-3, but the Eskymos scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to regain control.

Skufca earned the win on the mound, while Draze suffered the loss. Bark River's Sam Hall threw 118 pitches and threw six innings in relief, allowing eight runs.

In the second game, the Blue Devils beat the Broncos, 14-3, in five innings. BR-H pitcher Logan Heim deserved better, as he gave up five runs in the first two innings. None of the runs were earned as the young Bronco infielders made four errors, on easy plays.

After three innings, Sault Ste. Marie had a 6-0 lead. The Blue Devils added five runs in the fourth inning off of Heim, and Draze, who came on in relief.

Down 11-0, Bark River-Harris scored three runs in the fourth inning off Soo pitcher Travis Zaborowski. Kadin Mustafa had an RBI single, and Matt Richer had a two-run single.

But the Blue Devils responded with three more runs in the fifth inning.

Zaborowski worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning to end the game on the mercy rule.

The Soo's Nick LaCross was hit by a pitch three times, and scored all three times. Craig Holt had two singles, a walk, and scored three runs.

Andrew Dale was hit by a pitch twice and was safe on an error, and he scored three times. Nate Lajoie had two hits.

For BR-H, Ryan Arndt and Kaduin Mustafa each had two base hits.

In the championship game, Sault Ste. Marie scored first against Escanaba as LaCross singled and scored on a groundout by Dale.

But the Eskymos scored five runs in the bottom of the inning as Brandon Punzel had a two-run hit, Justin Popelka walked with the bases loaded, and Parker LaMarch dumped one into right field to score two.

With a 5-1 lead after one inning, Popelka had plenty of support as he threw all five innings.

The game ended on the mercy rule in the bottom of the fifth inning as Parker LaMarch walked with the bases loaded. It was the youngster's fourth RBI. LaMarch's older brother, Hunter, had quite the day. He ripped a double off the left field fence during the Eskymos' game against Bark River-Harris. On the next play, he tagged up on a fly ball to center field.

LaMarch slid into third base, face-first, and ended up with a mouth full of dirt, and several cuts on his face.

"I came up short and my chin got stuck in the dirt," Hunter LaMarch said. "And then I just did like, a full scorpion, and I cut up my face and everything. Everyone else was loving it (laughing at him). As I'm sitting there bleeding in my mouth! It's alright!"

But then, LaMarch had to be honest, and admitted that if it happened to a teammate:

"Oh, I would have laughed too," he said. "Yes. For sure."

"Ya, he did slide a little early," Schwalbach added. "I'm just glad that he didn't get hurt. Because when he came up, I was thinking that he doesn't really know where he's at. So, I was like, 'are you OK?' I looked in his eyes, and his eyes were glassy. But he just said that he was dizzy and he gives everything that he has."

In the game against the Sault, Hunter LaMarch got ahold of one in the fifth inning. He smoked it to left field, and it went out for the Eskymos' first home run of the season.

"I had a 2-0 count, and that's always a good hitting count," Hunter LaMarch said. "And he just threw me a nice fastball right down the middle. I knew I hit it good, and then I got it up in the jet stream. That must have helped."

And the kid known as "Punk" got a little revenge on some of his coaches.

"It's fun, because before the game, Coach Jeremy (Hardwick) and Coach (Tony) Punzel were giving me crap because I'm not usually a #4 hitter," LaMarch said. "Not a power hitter. But then I was laughing at them because it came back to bite them!"

Schwalbach says that LaMarch's home run does not "bite" him, since he was the one who wrote up the line-up as his assistant coaches chuckled.

"Those guys were laughing when they saw the lineup," Schwalbach said. "And I was like 'what are you laughing at?' They were like, 'Punk has never hit #4 in his life'. And I was like, 'he's gonna surprise you. He's gonna hit two dingers'."

Well, almost, as LaMarch almost hit one out against BR-H, and then he did against the Soo. "I'm happy for Punk," Schwalbach said. "He doesn't complain."

Hunter's little brother, Parker, also played a big part in the Eskymo victories.

He caught both games, because starting catcher Sean Bissell messed up his ankle on Thursday against Gladstone and could not play.

Then back-up catcher C.J. Barron hurt his knee during practice on Friday as he crashed into the fence, needing four stitches.

So, it was "Punk's" little brother who caught both games. And against the Soo in the title game, he had two hits, four runs batted in, and he threw out two men trying to steal. "He really played well," Schwalbach said. "He's a gamer. I'm really proud of the way he played."

Skufca had three hits and two runs batted in during the win over the Sault.

"We played good both games today and hit really well," Skufca said. "I saw the ball well and I hit it where it was pitched. I had one to left and two to right. Just trying to hit it where it was pitched and I did that today."

Escanaba (9-5) will play North Central on Monday in a doubleheader that was just added recently. Game time is set for 5:00 ET, weather permitting, at Al Ness Field.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos from the game, and to hear radio highlights and interviews.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

4/7	4:30 PM	at Marinette Marines	15 - 0 (W)	1-0

4/11	12:00 PM	at Seymour, Wis.	10 - 5 (W)	2-0

4/11	2:00 PM	at Shiocton, Wis.	7 - 9 (L)	2-1

4/15	5:30 PM	Marquette Redmen	8 - 3 (W)	3-1

4/23	5:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	6 - 2 (W)	4-1

4/24	5:00 PM	at Beloit Turner, Wis.	10 - 5 (W)	5-1

4/25	1:00 PM	at Waupun, Wis.	rain - ppd (W)	rain

4/25	4:00 PM	at Prairie Du Chien Blackhawks	rain - ppd (W)	rain

4/28	4:30 PM	at Gladstone Braves	4 - 5 (L)	5-2

5/1	4:00 PM	at Bay City John Glenn	9 - 2 (W)	6-2

5/2	10:00 AM	at Bay City John Glenn	4 - 5 (L)	6-3

5/2	12:30 PM	at Coldwater High School	5 - 15 (L)	6-4

5/6	5:30 PM	at Marquette Redmen	3 - 4 (L)	6-5

5/7	4:30 PM	Gladstone Braves	5 - 4 (W)	7-5

5/9	10:00 AM	Bark River-Harris Broncos	14 - 5 (W)	8-5

5/9	3:00 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	13 - 3 (W)	9-5

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

5/14	5:00 PM	North Central Jets	9 - 1 (W)	11-5

5/14	7:30 PM	North Central Jets	17 - 6 (W)	12-5

5/16	10:00 AM	Negaunee Miners	11 - 0 (W)	13-5

5/16	3:00 PM	Shawano Hawks	2 - 13 (L)	13-6

5/18	4:00 PM	at Bay Port, Wis. Pirates	5 - 6 (L)	13-7

5/18	6:00 PM	at Bay Port, Wis. Pirates	0 - 0 (T)	13-7-1

5/21	5:28 PM	Marinette Marines	16 - 15 (W)	14-7-1

5/23	1:00 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	5 - 1 (W)	15-7-1

5/23	4:00 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	5 - 0 (W)	16-7-1

5/26	5:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	RAIN - ppd (W)	RAIN

5/30	10:00 AM	Petoskey Northmen	1 - 2 (L)	16-8-1