Gladstone Opens Season With Two Wins At Tourney

MAUSTON, Wis.---The Gladstone High School baseball team opened the 2017 season with a pair of victories Friday at the Wisconsin Dells High School Challenge in Mauston, Wis. Gladstone beat Delavan, 5-4, and then held on to beat Phillips, Wis., 8-6.

"I was happy, and surprised, by how we hit the ball," Gladstone Manager Don Lauscher said. "Tyson (Seymour) hit an absolute bomb that would have been out at Escanaba and Gladstone, but here (on the big field), they caught it. But that's fine."

"We had a lot of hard-hit balls."

In the game against Delavan-Darien, Braeden Lamberg had the game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning, breaking the 4-4 tie for the walk-off victory.

The Braves had built a 4-1 lead before the Wisconsin club rallied to tie it in the sixth inning.

Jared Crow threw the first 2-and-2-third innings, and Nick Trudeau pitched the final 4-and-a-third innings to earn the victory. Crow gave up two runs on five hits, while Trudeau allowed two runs on three hits. Jerred Amborn took the loss for Delavan.

In the second game, the Braves again got the early jump as they faced Phillips. Gladstone took a 4-0 lead as Owen Hanson and A.J. Lundberg each drove in runs and Seymour started well on the mound. Seymour was lifted in the fourth inning after giving up two runs, but he still had the lead at 4-2 as Brandon Cooper came to the mound.

Gladstone scored four runs in the sixth inning to take an 8-2 lead, and they would need every one of those runs as Cooper started to tire toward the end of the game. Phillips scored twice in the sixth and twice more in the seventh, but Cooper was able to get the final out to preserve the victory. He threw four innings, allowing four runs on nine hits.

The game featured a total of 25 base hits, with Gladstone getting 13 of them.

Crow, Hanson, Lamberg, and Lucas Weinert all had two hits at the plate.

This was the first time on the field for Gladstone under the new Michigan High School Athletic Association's pitch count rule.

Pitchers are allowed to throw a maximum of 105 pitches in one day; they will be required to rest three days if they throw more than 75. Pitchers must rest two days after throwing 51-75 pitches, one day after throwing 26-50, and will not be required to rest if they throw 25 or fewer pitches in one day.

"I think we pitched well today with this pitch count, and taking guys out after 50 (pitches)," Lauscher said.

Gladstone (2-0) finishes its tournament appearance Saturday morning with a game against Chippewa Falls McDonnell Central at 9:00 CT/10:00 ET.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Brenda Crow.