Indians Hold On For Soggy Victory Over Cubs, 10-6

ESCANABA---The Gladstone Indians jumped to a quick 7-0 lead and held on for a 10-6 win over the Escanaba Cubs in the first game of the Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament Thursday night in Escanaba.

The Indians scored six runs off of Cubs starter Sam Hall in the second inning, using a lot of bunting and baserunning to get the upper hand.

Gladstone Coach Peyton Jurek was aggressive at third base, with mixed results.

He had two baserunners hung out to dry on suicide squeeze attempts when the picth was out of the strike zone. But he was also rewarded with two suicide squeeze bunts by Elliot Danhoff, and another by Braeden Lamberg. Ben Schwalbach also put down a successful bunt late in the game.

The Indians also grabbed an extra base by running aggressively throughout the game.

In that second inning, besides the RBI bunts by Danhoff and Lamberg, the Indians got run-scoring hits by Noah Olsen and chwalbach. And Hunter Garling ripped one to center that got over the center fielder's head for a run-scoring triple.

But Johnny Schlenvogt came in to pitch for the Cubs in the fourth inning and settled things down, putting up three scoreless innings. That gave Escanbaa a chance to come back, and the Cubs got two runs without a base hit in the fourth inning to begin the rally.

Then in the fifth inning, Schlenvogt helped his own cause with an RBI single, and Justin Popelka barely missed a home run when he banged an RBI double off the fence.

Cody Frappier's RBI ground out cut it to 7-5, then in the sixth inning, the Cubs closed to within 7-6 when Frappier singled home Jake Anderson, who was hit by a pitch.

The Cubs could get no closer, however, as second baseman Lucas Weinert turned a 4-3 double play.

Escanaba also lost out on runs earlier in the game when Indians right fielder Jack Stephenson made a diving catch to rob Anderson of a double and at least two, perhaps three, runs batte in.

Indians left fielder Owen Hanson also robbed Schlenvogt of extra bases in the third inning when he tracked down a long fly ball in the corner. The next two men reached base after that catch, making it an even bigger play for the Indians.

Clay Cole started on the mound for the Indians, and he struggled with his ocntrol (and the strike zone), walking five batters and hitting another before being replaced by Olsen in the fourth inning. Olsen pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits.

Olsen and Schlenvogt both had two base hits at the plate.

The Escanaba Cubs played without Tom Ohman as their manager for the first time in 37 years. Ohman retired as manager in the off-season, with former Cuns pitcher Jon Bintner taking over at the helm. Former Cub Tyler Skufca is also coaching.

Thursday night's game was delayed by two hours, 10 minutes, by rain. The Kingsford vs DePere game was ranied out and will be played in Gladstone Friday morning.

The Friday schedule will be pushed back by one hour for the games in being played in Gladstone, and by at least 30 minutes for the games being played in Escanaba.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Nate Bellville.