Gladstone Cruises To District Tournament Victory

GLADSTONE---The Gladstone High School baseball team pounded out 14 hits and beat the Hancock Bulldogs, 14-1, in a Division Three district tournament game Tuesday night in Gladstone. The game was played in constant light rain, and there was a thick fog .

"I was kind of scared coming into it with this weather and what-not," Gladstone senior Justin Jurek said. "You never know with the crappy weather what the outcome is going to be."

"A couple of bad things can not go your way and that can be the end of it," Jurek continued. "But we just came out and pitched well, hit well, and we played defense well."

Gladstone was the visiting team for this game after Hancock won the pre-game coin toss. The Braves scored first when Ben Schwalbach singled t0 right field and Hunter Garling tripled to left field.

Hancock got an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, however, as Garling walked Jared Peryam and there were two defensive errors.

Gladstone scored twice in the top of the second inning on four walks, a hit-batsman, and a sacrifice fly by Jake Peterson. In the third inning, Gladstone took control, moving its 3-1 lead to a 7-1 lead. Owen Hanson's sacrifice fly drove in the first run of that inning, then Peterson, Schwalbach, and Jurek had three straight RBI hits to make it a 7-1 game.

The Braves scored three more runs in the top of the fourth, with two of them scoring on a double by Jurek. And in the fifth inning, Peterson's two-run double highlighted a four-run inning that saw the Braves go up, 14-1.

The game ended on the mercy rule.

"It's one-and-done now, so there's no tomorrow," Gladstone Manager Don Lauscher said. "They (seniors Jurek and Peterson) weren't ready to go home yet. You could really tell. They brought up their 'A Game' today, and they were vocal in the dugout."

Gladstone'e pitching overwhelmed the new Hancock team. Garling threw the first two innings, allowing one unearned run on no hits. He struck out five. Peterson threw the next two innings, allowing no runs on two hits. He also fanned five batters.

And Elliot Danhoff tossed the final inning, retiring all three batters, two on strikes.

Gladstone pitchers struck out 12 of the 15 outs that were recorded in this game.

"We've talked about that all year, that our pitching has been carrying us," Lauscher said. "I don't know what our team ERA (earned run average) is, but it's got to be pretty low. We've had a good season, and now we just need to make sure that we keep it going."

At the plate, Peterson had two doubles and a sacrifice fly, driving in four runs. Jurek had a single and two doubles, bringing home five runs.

Schwalbach had two his, three walks, a run batted in, and three runs scored in the #2 spot in the batting order.

Further down the batting order, Braeden Lamberg had a nice bunt single in the third inning, and Owen Hanson had two walks, a sacrifice fly, and he scored two runs. And in the #8 hole, Hunter Botruff had three base hits, and he had a sacrifice bunt.

"We hit the ball good, ran the bases good, and made the plays when we needed to," Botruff said. Hancock got base hits from Brody Budweg and Al Nettell in defeat.

Peryam took the pitching loss, giving up seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. Hans Stimac threw 2 1/3 innings in relief, allowing seven runs on six hits. Both Hancock pitchers walked six batters, giving the Braves a dozen runners in addition to 14 base hits.

And so now, the boys head to Negaunee on Saturday for the district semifinals.

"They're just one of those teams where you never know," Jurek said. "Sometimes, they show up and they're really ready to play. And other times, it's the other way. Just like us."

"Sometimes we show up and beat up on teams, and then other times, we don't show up to play. On their field, there's a lot of bad hops. We have to be ready for everything."

Gladstone (23-9) faces Negaunee in the first semifinal at 12:00 Saturday. The second semfinal will see Houghton face Superior Central, and then the championship game will be played at about 5:00 Saturday afternoon.

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