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Depleted Escanaba Cubs Drop Two At Tournament
 MARINETTE, Wis.---There's a lot of space available these days in the Escanaba Cubs dugout as the team navigates its second tournament in as many weekends. The Cubs, suffering from low numbers and injuries, had numerous guys playing out of position on Saturday as they played two games at the Firecracker Tournament in Marinette. Escanaba lost both of their games, but kept battling, avoiding the mercy rule in both of them, falling to the Green Bay Shockers, 11-3, and Pulaski Legion, 10-7.  Then Braeden Olsen had a severe migraine headache and had to spend the day's first game flat on his back in the dugout with an ice pack behind his head and neck. What a pain! All of this resulted in Cody Frappier having to pitch and Johnny Schlenvogt having to catch. No kidding, it happened. This followed Friday night's ordeal that saw Jake Anderson and Logan Lamb have to pitch...something neither has much experience doing. There's more. Zeke Strand ended up in the outfield on Saturday, and in the second game, Olsen battled back from the migraine to play at second base. In both games on Saturday, it looked like the Cubs might get mercied. But both times, they managed to extend their opponents to the full seven innings.  Will Cunard singled, driving home Zach Renier and Taylor Bagniefski to make it 4-0. Then Jarrett Scheelk smacked one to the fence, and Cunard scores along with Sean Loughney. The Shockers led 6-0. Escanaba got to within 6-2 as Schlenvogt scored on a wild pitch and Austin Willette got a base hit to bring home Lamb. But the Shockers scored four more runs in the fifth inning and with the score 10-2, Frappier relieved Schlenvogt on the mound. It worked out, as Green Bay managed only one more run in the final two innings. Later, when the Cubs took on Pulaski, there was at least a familiar face on the mound as lefty Sam Hall toed the rubber. Hall threw a complete game, using all 120 of his alloted pitches, but the defense fell apart behind him. The Cubs committed five errors, including three in one inning, and Pulaski grabbed a 10-2 lead in the middle innings.  Lamb drove in a run with a ground out to make it a 10-7 game, but Escanaba could get no closer. Hall tried to help his own cause with a pair of base hits. Unfortunately, both hits came in non-RBI situations after he hit into a double play earlier in the game with runners on the corners. Just bad luck, and bad timing for the Bark River-Harris High Schooler. Pulaski had ten hits in the game, with Logan George getting two doubles and Jake Neitzel and Drew McDermid each getting a pair of singles. McDermid's hit in the second inning was part of a seven-run outburst by Pulaski that was fueled by three Cub errors. Of the ten runs that Hall yielded, only five were earned. Dylan Olson was the winning pitcher for Pulaski, allowing seven runs (five earned) in 5 1/3 innings. Reliever Logan List retired all five men he faced to end the game. Escanaba closes out the tournament on Sunday with a game against Manitowoc. Game time is 10:30 a.m. CT/11:30 a.m. ET. It will be broadcast on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600) and rrnsports.com, as soon as religious programming ends Sunday morning. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos. Thanks to Sheila Olsen for her help in the second game! ---MORE TO FOLLOW---  |
