Eskymos Fall In District Championship Game, 4-0

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School baseball team rallied to beat the Marquette Redmen, 5-4, in an MHSAA Division Two district semifinal game on Saturday, but fell to Petoskey, 4-0, in the championship game. The Eskymos, with a line-up full of underclassmen along with a handful of veterans, finished the season 19-12.

The day started with Petoskey beating Sault Ste. Marie, 12-2, in five innings, before the Eskymos and Redmen hooked up in their third one-run game of the season.

Marquette jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Eskymo starting pitcher Grant LaMarche struggled to throw strikes.

Jake Peterson singled, Blake Henricksen was hit by a pitch, Jon Jason singled in a run, and Erik Johnson walked. Henriksen scored on a wild pitch, and for the third straight meeting between these teams, Marquette lead.

When LaMarche hit Connor Steer with a pitch and walked Jake Allard-Soucy to put who on, freshman Jared Hanson was brought in to pitch.

And he responded, getting out of that second inning jam, and putting up groos eggs through the sixth inning.

Escanaba struggled to get on the board, however, against Marquette pitcher Brendan Kaski. The Eskymos went out 1-2-3 in the first inning, hit into a double play in the second, and flew into a double play in the third inning after Hanson and Noah Lancour both got singles.

On that play, Tyler Lawson flew to Henriksen in center field, and the Marquette senior threw out courtesy runner Josh Bruntjens trying to score.

The Eskymos finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, senior Craig Kamin got an infield base hit and went to second on an error. Senior Austin Willette unloaded, just missing a home run, settling with an RBI double to make it 2-1.

LaMarche followed with a groundout to score Willette, tying the game.

Escanaba got two runners in the bottom of the fifth when Lancour got his second hit of the gane and Lawson drew a walk. But Bryant Maki grounded out.

Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, the Eskymos took the lead. Kamin was safe on an error to start the inning, then Willette ripped a base hit to left to bring home the go-ahead run. After another error kept the inning going, Hanson came through with a two-run single to make it 5-2. And those runs would loom large in the final inning.

Allard-Soucy led off with a hit, just the second off Hanson since he came into the game. Then Pete VandeAmond got a hit, putting two on for Henriksen. Henriksen got ahold of the Hanson pitch and clubbed it deep to left field. Fortunately, the wind blows in at Al Ness Field, and it stayed in the park. The two-run double made it 5-4.

Henriksen then stole third base, forcing the Eskymos to bring in the infield with the tying run at third with one out. Hanson got Jason to strike out, and Johnson to pop up, and the Eskymos survived to play in the district championship game.

Petoskey, however, got off to a good start agsinst Kamin, who was pitching on three days rest after throwing 106 pitches in a playoff win over Cheboygan.

Keaton Walker singled to start the game, and with one out, Gabriel Whitmore singled him home.

Then in the second inning, Kamin became frustrated with the umpire's strike zone, walking two batters after a leadoff infield single by O)wen DeGroot. With the bases loaded, the Eskymos were forced to bring in the infield, and Trent Schrage took advantage, bouncing a two-run single back up the middle through that infield.

Kamin's bad pick-off throw brought in another run, and Petoskey led, 4-0, forcing Manager Scott Hanson to go to the bullpen. Noah Lancour came on to pitch, and shut out the Northmen the rest of the game, but Escanaba couldn't score.

The Eskymos had a scoring chance in the third inning against Petoskey pitcher Janssen Byers, when Bryant Maki led off with a single. Hanson was brought in to pinch hit for Lancour, and bounced into a 4-6-3 double play. Sure enough, a pair of sophomores, Collin Arnt and Lawson, came through with base hits.

But with two out, Bruntjens, another sophomore, grounded out.

Kamin led off the fourth inning with a walk, but got picked off of first base.

Escanaba got a base runner in each of the final two innings, but never got them past second base. Petoskey (25-12) advances to the MHSAA Division Two regionals on Wednesday in Cadillac. Escanaba (19-12) ended its season.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, videos, and hear comments from Coach Scott Hanson.