MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Indians On Top Again!

GLADWIN, Mich.---The Gladstone Indians American Legion Baseball team completed a massive comeback on Sunday by winning its fifth straight game to take its second state championship in the last four years.

The Indians beat Menominee, 15-2, wrapping up a long trip through the loser's bracket. Gladstone had to win five games in three days after losing Thursday night to the Red Wave, and they had to use almost every boy on the roster who was capable of pitching.

"Guys going deep into games, we had five pitchers, and that just shows a lot about the guys and being able to stay mentally-tough," Gladstone Manager Justin Jurek said. "Even when they were getting hit, and when we got down at certain parts of the game. To be able to go out there and keep doing it, throw strikes, and keep us in every game, that was gutsy for all of them."

On Sunday, it was pitching-by-committee as two youngsters, Ian Schwalbach (on his 16th birthday) and Zach Hanson had to carry the load. Schwalbach walked in a run in the first inning, but got two big outs to leave the bases loaded.

He threw two innings, and Menominee stranded the bases full in both of his innings.

Hanson tossed four innings, and he allowed just one base hit, but walks got him into trouble in the fifth inning before he got Jake Rivard to bounce out to end the inning.

With the score out of hand, Noah Olsen came in to pitch the seventh inning, but he walked three men and hit a batter, so five-year player Ben Schwalbach came in to get the final three outs.

It was appropriate that Schwalbach served up a fly ball to Hunter Garling in center field to end the game. Both played on the Indians' state championship team three years ago in a game also played here in Gladwin, in a game against another U.P. team (Escanaba), in a game that ended on a fly ball to center field.

"It's crazy," Ben Schwalbach said. "You can't make this stuff up sometimes."

Schwalbach was voted the tournament's Most Valuable Player after he cracked his second home run of the weekend, this one a two-run shot well over the left field fence to give the Indians an 8-1 lead in the fourth inning. He had five hits in the past two games against Menominee.

"It's surreal, honestly," Schwalbach said after accepting the award. "I mean, I started off really bad this tournament, hitting at least, and I just kind of picked it up halfway through."

Schwalbach's shot followed another bomb by Garling, which came in the third inning and put Gladstone in front, 3-1. Garling hit three home runs in the tournament.

"We have a team of a lot of younger kids, with a couple of seniors, and we fought hard in this tournament, especially coming out of the lower's bracket," Garling said, adding, "and we won it all!"

And the home run?

"I was choked up (on the bat) and I watchedthe catcher when I got in the box," Garling said. "He set up inside, and that's right where the kid threw it."

Gladstone's first big hit of the game came from an unlikely source. Elliot Danhoff, a 19-year-old who pitched at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, smacked a two-run single with the bases loaded in the third inning to snap a 1-1 tie.

"That's kind of scary," Danhoff said, his voice hoarse from yelling in the dugout. "I got my pitch to hit, and I hit it."

For Menominee, it was a stinging loss, as the Red Wave had to settle for state runners-up for a second straight summer. The Red Wave were tied in the seventh inning of Saturday's game with a chance to win it all, but lost on Owen Hanson's three-run homer.

On Sunday, Menominee simply ran out of pitching, as Alex Hanson was hit hard and walked too many batters.

"They jumped on us right away, and they kind of took the wind out of our sails," Menominee Manager John Lauzer said. "And the pitcher they had on the mound, he kind of shut us down. He put strikes over."

Menominee had just one base hit in the game but stranded 13 baserunners. That's because Gladstone pitchers issued ten walks and hit two batters. The Red Wave were disappointed, but Lauzer was proud of the team's last two summers.

"A good two-year run," he said. "I told the kids that we've sort of put Menominee back on the baseball map. We know that we're a football town. But I always say that we're a baseball town, too."

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Laura Lamberg, listen to post-game interviews, and listen to the radio call of the game's final out.