MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: Gladstone Falls Twice

GLADSTONE---The Gladstone Indians dropped both of their games Saturday at the Gregg Johnson/Al Erickson Memorial Tournament, and finished the weekend with a 1-3 record. But every player and coach will tell you that mistakes and missed opportunities seperated the Indians from a spot in the tournament semifinals.

Gladstone lost to Kingsford, 5-4, in eight innings, in Saturday's first game. In the nightcap, the Indians lost to downstate powerhouse Blissfield, 8-6. Coupled with Friday's 1-0 loss to the Travelers, the Indians lost three times by a total of four runs.

In the loss to Kingsford, Gladstone stranded 14 baserunners, had three men thrown out on the baaes, and made three errors on defense, and hit into nine pop flies.

In the loss to Blissfield, the Indians stranded the bases loaded in each of the first three innings.

In Friday's loss to the Travelers, the Tribe managed only two base hits and had the game end with the potential game-tying run being thrown out at the plate,

All of this gave Indians Manager Jim Groleau a big case of indigestion as he coached the team's four games after announcing his resignation earlier in the week.In Saturday's first game, Justin Jurek threw well for the Indians, retiring nine straight batters at one point.

But in the fourth inning, Kingsford scored twice. Brock Grenier walked, Anthony Ribera got a base hit, and Justin Grailer singled home the first run.

The second run came home when courtesy runner Kevin Sorenson stole third and the throw got away, bringing Sorenson home.

Groleau argued that there was interference on third baseman Christian Tackman on that play, but the ruling went the other way.

Gladstone got a run in the fifth inning when Jurek singled and scored on a double by Ben Schwalbach. In the sixth inning, Logan Hardwick singled and A.J. Lundberg bunted runner Hunter Botruff to second. Owen Hanson hit a ground ball to short, and Botruff tried to score from third.

Kingsford catcher Wes Paupore tagged him out.

In the seventh inning, Gladstone was down to its final strike on two occassions. Schwalbach prolonged the game with a single, and then, after Braeden Lamberg walked, Botruff smacked a single over the third base bag to score the tying run.

Paupore threw Lamberg out at third base.In the eighth inning, the international tiebreaker rule was used, where the inning starts with a runner on second base.

Gladstone was the visiting team because this game was also being used as a make-up game for a contest that wasn't played last week in Kingsford. Lamberg started the eighth inning on second base.

Norway High School's John Edwardsen came on to pitch in relief of Brett Swanson, who tossed seven innings, allowing nine hits but wiggling off the hook numerous times.

Edwardsen ended up giving up bases-loaded walks to Peterson and Jurek, giving the Indians a 4-2 lead. Schwalbach struck out, however, leaving the bases full.

In the bottom of the eighth, Elliot Danhoff came on in relief of Jurek, who threw seven innings, allowing five hits, striking out nine batters, and walking only one.

With that runner on second, Joe Linn hit a ground ball to Schwalbach at short. Instead of taking the out at first base, he tried to get the runner at third. To make matters worse, the Indians botched the run-down play between second and third. That put two men on, and then Danhoff walked Edwardsen to load the bases with no outs.

Danhoff got a strikeout, but then Guy Barrows singled to bring home Kingsford's third run. Danhoff got another strikeout, so he was one out away from an extra-inning victory.

But Kyle Hennes came through with a base hit to center field, scoring two runs, and setting off a wild Kingsford Blues celebration at home plate.

That result rendered the late game between Gladstone and Blissfied meaningless as far as the standings were concerned.

But the game was played nonetheless, and it started with Blissfield getting three runs off of Danhoff in the top of the first inning. Spencer Fisher had a sacrafice fly and Griffin Shaminski had an RBI single in that inning.

Gladstone scored a run in the bottom of the inning when Lucas Weinert walked with the bases loaded, but Blissfield got that run back in the second inning when Cam Ernest hit a grounder to short with a runner on third base. An error allowed him to reach base.

Gladstone loaded the bases again in the botom of the second inning, and scored a run on a passed ball. But the Indians again stranded the bases full.

In the third inning, Blissfield scored three runs off of Schwalbach, who relieved Danhoff in the first inning. Shaminski's infield hit brought in one run, and Justin Rozek singled home two more runs.

That put Blissfield ahead, 7-2.

Blissfield, managed by legendary coach Larry Tuttle for the past 48 years, made the long trip from near the Ohio border on Thursday.

Tuttle's team was already 3-0 entering Saturday night's game, but they still played to win against the Indians. Pitcher Dakota Nieto had a lively fastball, and he struck out six batters in the first two innings, but he also had trouble throwing strikes at times.

In the third inning, the Indians closed to within 7-4 as Peterson had an RBI groundout and Hunter Garling got his third base hit of the game, bringing home Brandon Cooper. Schwalbach was called out on strikes, so the bases were left loaded yet again.

Cooper came in to pitch in the top of the fourth inning, and he shut Blissfield down on just one base hit. Then in the bottom of the inning, Jack Stephenson came through with a sharply-hit two-run single to left field, bringing the Indians to within 7-6.

Tuttle removed Nieto from the mound with two out in the fourth inning, and Shaminski came in to shut out the Indians the rest of the way.

Cooper ended up throwing four strong innings of relief for Gladstone, allowing just one unearned run along the way.

For Gladstone, Peterson, Garling, and Stephenson all had two base hits. For Blissfield, Fisher, Shaminski, and Logan Nolff all had two hits.

Blissfield will face DePere, Wis., in the tournament semifinals Sunday morning at 10:00 in Gladstone.

Midland will take on Kingsford at the same time in Escanaba. The two winners will play in the championship game at 1:00 Sunday afternoon at Escanaba's Al Ness Field.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos taken by Kammie Burks during the Gladstone-Blissfield game.