Indians Rally Past EUP; Get Mercied By Ash-Port

GLADSTONE----The Gladstone Indians rallied from three runs down to beat the Eastern U.P. Travelers, 5-4, in their opener at the Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament Friday at Don Olsen Field.

But the Indians had to settle for a split when Ash-Port scored seven runs in the first inning and cruised to an 11-1 win in the late-night game.

In the late game, Indians pitcher Matt Weyers got the ball, hoping to follow up on his recent masterpiece against the Marquette Blues. But in the top of the first inning, Weyers quickly became frustrated with the umpire's strike zone. He walked four batters, hit another, and gave up four base hits. His day was over after just 2/3 of an inning.

Colin Peterson and Cody Schaefer both drove in two runs in that inning, with Peterson's line drive just out of the reach of left fielder Jared Stenson, who appeared to be ready to catch the ball.

Jake Monroe and Kyle Mrozinski also had RBI hits for Ash-Port. The visitors added another run in the second inning on Schaefer's second RBI hit, and then they added three unearned runs in the third inning.

It appeared that reliever Levi Cunningham would get out of that inning when Drew Neuville hit a pop fly to second base. But Paul Tomaszewski dropped the ball, so the inning continued for Ash-Port, and things got worse for the Indians from there.

The next three Ash-Port batters got base hits, and it was 11-0. Gladstone's only run came in the fourth inning on a ground out by Christian Groleau, scoring Jake Pearson.

Ash-Port, which is a combined team of Ashwaubenon and Bay Port High School kids, improved to 9-0 on the season. They outhit the Indians, 9-7, with Pearson and Tomaszewski each collecting two hits for Gladstone.

Weyers took the loss, allowing seven earned runs on four hits and four walks in 2/3 of an inning. Cunningham yielded four hits, four runs (one earned) in 2 1/3 innings of work.

Justin Jurek and Tomaszewski each pitched scoreless innings for the Tribe.

Ash-Port ace Ben Messenger earned the win, going five innings and scattering seven base hits (three of them on the infield). He fanned seven and did not walk a batter.

GLADSTONE 5, SAULT STE, MARIE 4---Earlier in the day, the Indians had to come from behind to beat the Eastern U.P. Travelers, the Sault Ste. Marie-based team that also features kids from Rudyard, Pickford, and other towns in the eastern U.P.

Jake Pearson was on the mound for the Indians, and he clearly struggled to throw strikes. He got behind the hitters in the count, and an error by Blake Ballard at shortstop didn't help Pearson's cause in the first inning. Devon Dear and Dakota Zuhlke followed with RBI singles to give the Travelers a 2-0 lead.

Gladstone got a run back in the bottom of the inning as Pearson doubled home Peyton Jurek, but Cody Frazer also tried to score on the play and was thrown out at the plate.

Sault Ste. Marie (6-5) scored two more runs in the second inning, one of them on an overthrow by Pearson, and the other on a Jared Clark RBI single. With the score 4-1, Indians Manager Jim Groleau lifted Pearson from the mound and brought in Ballard.

Ballard came in with no outs and two men on base in that second inning, and was able to get out of that inning without any further damage. Then, the Indians began to chip away offensively, although the Tribe never did get that "big hit" to take command of the game.

Justin Jurek's RBI single in the second inning made it 4-2, then Pearson's RBI hit cut the gap to 4-3 in the bottom of the third inning.

It stayed 4-3 until the top of the sixth inning, when the Travelers threatened to add to their lead with a Clark double and an intentional walk to Tyler Kirkland. A double steal moved the runners to second and third, but Ballard struck out Dear on a 3-2 pitch.

Then in the bottom of the inning, Gladstone played some "small ball" to tie the game. Justin Jurek led off with a walk. He stole second, then got bunted to third base by Tomaszewski. J

ustin Jurek came through with a perfect squeeze bunt to score his little brother, tying the game at 4-4.

Frazer then walked, stole second and went to third on an error, but with the go-ahead run at third base, Jared Stenson lined out to the second baseman to end the inning.

In extra innings, the game is decided under the international tiebreaker rule. So each team starts its inning with a runner on second base. The plan is usually to bunt, which the Travelers did in the top of the eighth. But Ballard alertly got the ball and fired to Justin Jurek to put the tag on Luke Krupa at third base.

A strikeout and a grounder to the mound ended the Soo's half of the inning, and then the Indians had their turn with Ballard on second base. Weyers bunted, and the Travelers threw to third, but in a close, controversial play that had the Soo coaches seeing red, Ballard was called safe at third base. Weyers then stole second base.

The Travelers were forced to bring in their infield, and Justin Jurek hit a ground ball to shortstop Frank Bailey. He missplayed it, Ballard scored (pictured at the top), and the Indians escaped with a one-run victory in extra innings.

Gladstone outhit the Travelers, 8-6, with Hayden Hardwick and Jake Pearson each getting two.

Clark had two hits and Kirkland walked three times for the Travelers.

Ballard earned the pitching win in relief, throwing seven innings, and giving up no runs on two base hits. He struck out five and walked three (one intentionally).

Gladstone (22-3) will play two more games in the tournament on Saturday. The first is against defending state champion Midland Berryhill and the second is against the Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox. The game against Midland starts at about 12:45 and will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600) and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

The game against the Black Sox starts at 5:15 Saturday and will not be on the radio.

Click the thumbnails in the "ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS" box at the top of the page to see more pictures from the games. Thanks to Kym Frazer!

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

5/2	6:30 PM	Marquette Redmen	11 - 1 (W)	1-0

5/6	1:00 PM	Channing Railroaders	10 - 0 (W)	2-0

5/9	7:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	5 - 4 (W)	3-0

5/12	1:00 PM	at Menominee Red Wave Legion	3 - 2 (W)	4-0

5/12	3:30 PM	at Menominee Red Wave Legion	15 - 3 (W)	5-0

5/14	6:30 PM	at Marquette Redmen	3 - 2 (W)	6-0

5/18	6:30 PM	at Ishpeming Blue Storm	10 - 1 (W)	7-0

5/19	12:00 PM	at Channing Railroaders	12 - 2 (W)	8-0

5/19	2:30 PM	at Channing Railroaders	9 - 1 (W)	9-0

5/22	6:30 PM	at Marquette Blues	2 - 5 (L)	9-1

5/29	6:30 PM	Ishpeming Blue Storm	4 - 0 (W)	10-1

5/30	6:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	4 - 3 (W)	11-1

6/3	4:00 PM	Iron Mountain Golds	7 - 0 (W)	12-1 For.

6/3	6:30 PM	Iron Mountain Golds	7 - 0 (W)	13-1 For.

6/5	6:30 PM	at Iron Mountain Golds	10 - 5 (W)	14-1

6/6	7:00 PM	Menominee Red Wave Legion	5 - 4 (W)	15-1

6/9	1:00 PM	Oconto Falls Legion	7 - 10 (L)	15-2

6/9	3:30 PM	Oconto Falls Legion	12 - 2 (W)	16-2

6/12	6:30 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	4 - 3 (W)	17-2

6/14	6:30 PM	Marquette Blues	3 - 0 (W)	18-2

6/17	1:00 PM	at Kingsford Legion Blues	11 - 2 (W)	19-2

6/17	3:30 PM	at Kingsford Legion Blues	11 - 6 (W)	20-2

6/20	6:30 PM	Channing Railroaders	8 - 2 (W)	21-2

6/22	5:30 PM	Eastern U.P. Travelers	5 - 4 (W)	22-2

6/22	8:00 PM	Ash-Port, Wis.	1 - 11 (L)	22-3

6/23	12:45 PM	Midland Berryhill	2 - 10 (L)	22-4

6/23	5:15 PM	Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox	11 - 6 (W)	23-4

6/24	11:30 AM	DePere Panthers	5 - 6 (L)	23-5

6/28	6:30 PM	at Ash-Port, Wis.	1 - 13 (L)	23-6

6/29	1:30 PM	at Neenah, Wis.	3 - 7 (L)	23-7

6/30	11:00 AM	at Hortonville, Wis.	11 - 4 (W)	24-7

7/5	6:30 PM	Channing Railroaders	10 - 0 (W)	25-7

7/8	4:00 AM	Iron Mountain Golds	1 - 0 (W)	26-7for

7/8	12:00 PM	Hancock Legion	6 - 2 (W)	27-7

7/8	2:30 PM	Hancock Legion	8 - 3 (W)	28-7

7/10	5:30 PM	Negaunee Diamonds	16 - 0 (W)	29-7

7/10	8:00 PM	Negaunee Diamonds	12 - 4 (W)	30-7

7/12	6:30 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	8 - 2 (W)	31-7

7/14	3:00 PM	Iron Mountain Golds	7 - 0 (W)	32-7

7/14	8:00 PM	Channing Railroaders	14 - 0 (W)	33-7

7/15	1:00 PM	at Marquette Blues	3 - 5 (L)	33-8

7/19	8:00 PM	at Escanaba Cubs	3 - 0 (W)	34-8

7/21	12:00 PM	Eastern U.P. Travelers	6 - 5 (W)	35-8

7/21	2:30 PM	Eastern U.P. Travelers	0 - 16 (L)	35-9

7/26	3:00 PM	Hancock Legion	9 - 6 (W)	36-9

7/27	9:00 AM	Kingsford Legion Blues	9 - 7 (W)	37-9

7/27	3:00 PM	Channing Railroaders	14 - 4 (W)	38-9

7/28	10:30 AM	Escanaba Cubs	6 - 7 (L)	38-10

8/2	10:30 AM	Hudson Legion	11 - 13 (L)	38-11

8/3	10:00 AM	Menominee Red Wave Legion	6 - 7 (L)	38-12