Braves Settle For 3rd Place At Cadillac Invitational

CADILLAC---The Gladstone High School Baseball team lost a tough 2-1 decision to the Beaverton Beavers at the Cadillac Invitational on Saturday before rebounding to beat the Big Rapids Cardinals, 4-0, in the tournament's third place game.

The day's action followed a theme that has become familiar for Braves Baseball fans this season: good pitching, defensive mistakes at the wrong times, and lack of timely hits.

"I was just happy to get a win today," Gladstone Assistant Coach Jake Peterson said. "We played good all weekend, pretty decent ball, just had a couple rough innings, which killed us."

"But other than that, we played solid, and in the last game, we started to hit the ball. started to drive it the opposite way. So, I think we're going to be fine. We're coming around and improving every day. It's the little things that we have to eliminate that are killing ius."

The hard luck story of Gladstone senior pitcher Elliot Danhoff continued in the game against Beaverton as he allowed just one earned run on four base hits. But Danhoff didn't get any run support because the Braves struggled at times against Beavers pitcher Logan Hayes, who also threw a complete game, limiting Gladstone to just five base hits.

"He pitched another great game, we just can't get him any run support," Peterson said. "Any time you give up two runs, you should get a win. He's pitching great for us, and has all season. It was frustrating that we couldn't get the bats going, but hopefully, when we get into tournament play, if he gives us his best like he did today, we can get some runs for him. If he keeps pitching the way he is, we've got a good chance."

Beaverton (17-10) scored both of its runs in the top of the fourth inning as Carson Longstreght led off with a double and Cameron Schneider got a single to put runners at the corners. Hayes put down a sacrafice bunt and a run scored as the throw to first base was dropped. Chad Mielke's groundout scored the second, and unearned, run.

Gladstone got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning when Brandon Cooper led off with a booming triple to the outfield fence. Cooper scored as Clay Cole hit a ground ball to short, and he was lucky to score as the throw to the plate was in time, but the ball was in the dirt.

Tyson Seymour came off the bench to try to bunt Cole into second base, but he popped it up for the first out. Jared Crow then came off the bench and got a base hit to put two runners on, but Ben Schwalbach and pinch-hitter Nick Trudeau both flew out to end the threat. Three more fly outs in the seventh inning ended the game.

So, the Braves were relegated to the third place game against Big Rapids, which had lost to Cadillac earlier in the day, 9-6. And Cardinals pitcher Keenan McIntyre didn't have it on this day, walking three batters and hitting another before being replaced on the hill by Jackson Lund. The Braves scored two runs off of those gift at-bats in the first inning.

Crow got the start for the Braves, and he worked in and out of trouble for most of the contest. The freshman gave up back-to-back hits to start the fourth inning, but a 6-4-3 double play turned by Schwalbach and second baseman Braeden Lamberg helped out.

In the fifth inning, a walk and a single put two on again for the Cardinals, but Crow got Lund to ground out to end the inning. And in the sixth inning, a walk and a hit put two men on base for a third time. But Crow got a flyout and a strikeout to end that threat.

The Braves doubled their lead from 2-0 to 4-0 with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Danhoff led off with a loud double to the fence. He was bunted to third by Hanson, who was pinch hitting after leaving the earlier game because of dehydration.

Lucas Weinert, who played a strong game at third base, made it 3-0 with a sacrafice fly.

Jack Stephenson came off the bench to get a base hit, and Schwalbach doubled him home to make it a 4-0 game. The Braves tried a delayed steal later in the inning, but Schwalbach was tagged out after getting into a long pickle between third base and home. But Crow was strong on the mound, and Hunter Botruff came on to pitch a scoreless seventh inning to clinch the Braves win.

Big Rapids fell to 15-11 with the loss while Gladstone's record improved to 14-12.

In the junior varsity tournament, the Gladstone JV's were tied with Beaverton in the fifth inning but ended up losing, 7-4. The boys battled back to beat Big Rapids in the third place game, 10-0, in six innings. The JV Braves are now 10-8 in their inaugural season.

These were the last road games of the season for Gladstone. The Braves will play five straight home games, starting with a doubleheader on Monday against Houghton. Game time is 4:30, and the games will be broadcast on WCHT-AM (600) and rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Laura Lamberg, and to hear Peterson's interview.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

4/15	4:00 PM	Ladysmith, Wis.	5 - 6 (L)	0-1

4/16	2:00 PM	Goodhue, Minn.	13 - 11 (W)	1-1

4/16	5:00 PM	Prentice, Wis.	11 - 7 (W)	2-1

4/23	1:00 PM	at Appleton North Lightning	2 - 3 (L)	2-2

4/23	3:00 PM	at Appleton North Lightning	3 - 9 (L)	2-3

4/26	4:30 PM	Negaunee Miners	14 - 6 (W)	3-3

4/28	4:30 PM	Norway Knights	3 - 4 (L)	3-4

4/29	5:30 PM	at Green Bay Preble	0 - 3 (L)	3-5

4/30	12:00 PM	at Wausau West Warriors	0 - 4 (L)	3-6

4/30	3:00 PM	at D.C. Everest Evergreens	5 - 10 (L)	3-7

5/2	4:00 PM	at Superior Central Cougars	14 - 0 (W)	4-7

5/2	6:00 PM	at Superior Central Cougars	20 - 0 (W)	5-7

5/3	5:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	3 - 3 (T)	RAIN

5/5	4:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	1 - 0 (W)	6-7

5/5	6:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	5 - 2 (W)	7-7

5/6	4:30 PM	Peshtigo Bulldogs	0 - 2 (L)	7-8

5/9	4:00 PM	at Norway Knights	0 - 1 (L)	7-9

5/9	6:00 PM	at Norway Knights	0 - 2 (L)	7-10

5/12	4:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	2 - 1 (W)	8-10

5/13	4:30 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	4 - 0 (W)	9-10

5/13	6:45 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	5 - 3 (W)	10-10

5/14	12:00 PM	at Southern Door H.S., Wis.	6 - 4 (W)	11-10

5/18	4:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	5 - 0 (W)	12-10

5/18	6:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	4 - 2 (W)	13-10

5/20	5:00 PM	at Traverse City St. Francis	3 - 5 (L)	13-11

5/21	11:00 AM	at Beaverton	1 - 2 (L)	13-12

5/21	1:00 PM	Big Rapids	4 - 0 (W)	14-12

5/23	4:30 PM	Houghton Gremlins	4 - 0 (W)	15-12

5/23	6:30 PM	Houghton Gremlins	8 - 3 (W)	16-12

5/27	4:30 PM	Marquette Redmen	3 - 2 (W)	17-12

5/27	6:30 PM	Marquette Redmen	- (T)	RAIN

5/30	6:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	4 - 3 (W)	18-12

6/4	11:30 AM	Superior Central Cougars	15 - 0 (W)	19-12

6/4	2:45 PM	Negaunee Miners	13 - 1 (W)	20-12

6/11	12:00 PM	Kalkaska High School	5 - 3 (W)	21-12

6/11	2:00 PM	Boyne City	7 - 2 (W)	22-12