NOT DONE YET: Eskymos Hold Off Petoskey, 3-2

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and listen to post-game comments from Riley Lamb, Hunter Lancour, Bryant Maki, and Eskymo Manager Scott Hanson.

PETOSKEY---The Escanaba High School baseball team pulled out another dramatic win on Wednesday, beating the Petoskey Northmen, 3-2, in the MHSAA Division Two regional semifinal at Petoskey's Turcott Field.

It was a game that followed a similiar script to the Eskymos' 5-4 win over the Cheboygan Chiefs in the district semifinal last Saturday in Marquette.

"It's huge," Eskymo Manager Scott Hanson said. "Teams this time of year just want to keep playing. We've got a team that wants to play for a while. A lot of teams have bagged it at this point, but these boys are going to have fun at practice tomorrow, and get on the bus and head down tio Mount Pleasant on Friday, and we're excited."

And for the second "big game", it was on junior pitcher Hunter Lancour to get it done on the mound. Pitching on three days rest, the right hander walked two guys in the first inning but got out of the jam, then pitched 1-2-3 innings in the second and third.

"I went in with the mindset that this could be my last game," Lancour said. "Why not give it my all? I don't care how my arm feels like. Go pitch my heart out and I know my boys will have my back. That's what happened, and we came out with the win."

One of those who "had Lancour's back" was senior first baseman Riley Lamb, who scooped two throws out of the dirt for outs to end both the first and second innings.

"I'm going to say that that was probably the best game of my high school career," Lamb said. "Those defensive plays like that where I have to make a scoop, those really get me going. I get really excited after those. And so after that, I just felt confident the rest of the game. I knew I was going to be on."

Finally, the Northmen got on the board in the top of the fourth inning when Ian Piehl led off with a single and scored on a sacrafice fly by Parker Shuman. On that play, however, Eskymo center fielder Tyler Lawson threw a bullet to home plate to try to nab Piehl, but his little brother, catcher Trent Lawson, couldn't handle the bounce on the throw home.

But Escanaba came back in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Lancour drew a walk. Then Bryant Maki put down a perfect bunt up the third base line and the Northmen defense couldn't handle it. The throw to second to try to get Lancour was late and went into the outfiueld. Then the throw to third was airmailed into the Nothmen dugout, and Lancour was awarded home palte. It was a different role for Maki, who also got a second bunt single later in the game.

"It's a game we haven't really played," Maki said. "It''s more of a Gladstone style. But we just had to get baserunners. And if we get on, we know we're fast enough to get around the bases. We were hitting the ball, but it was right at them. So, we just had to do something else, which we got baserunners and it worked."

Then Lamb came up woth a clutch RBI single, an opposite field hit to right, to bring home Maki and guve the Eskymos a 2-1 lead.

"Maki was on second and we needed a run," Lamb said. "Coach Hanson looked at me and said 'hit it to right field'. And so I just choked up on the bat a little bit, and I literally saw the curve and I just reached out and hit the line drive to right."

Petoskey starting pitcher Parker Schuman then walked Nick Kolich for the second time in the game, and on a 3-2 pitch for the second time.

The Northmen went to the bullpen, going to Ty Slater. But Slater walked Ben Johnson to load the bases, and after he got Jared Hanson on a called third strike for the second out, Trent Lawson worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch.

That forced home Lamb with the run that made it 3-1, and the ball got away from the catcher. As Kolich rounded third and went back, Johnson kept going past second, and when he tried to scamper back to the bag, he was thrown out, ending what could have been a bigger inning.

Lancour walked a man in the fifth inning but got the next three outs. In the bottom of the inning, Lancour got a two-out single and moved up on a bad throw to first base. But he kept running to third, and appeared to be safe, but was called out on a bang-bang play.

In the top of the sixth, Piehl smoked a leadoff double, and Hanson came out of the dugout.

"I got tired and a little wild, and they started to hit me," Lancour said. "Coach came out and I told him that it was time for me to be taken out. They were starting to hit me, so I let him put Jared (Hanson) in. I am so proud of him. To see him back out here (after injuries) means so much to the team."

That inning was stressful. After Hanson got a fly ball for the first out, Shyman got a solid base hit. Then Stephen McGeehan hit a grounder that ate Lamb up at first base for an error. And after a long battle, Nolan Spadafore earned a walk on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases.

That brought up Owen DeGroot, and led to one of the most bizarre plays you'll ever see.

DeGroot hit a pop fly to Collin Arnt at third base. Arnt went back for it, but he tripped over the lip in the grass, and fell down. The ball fell toward Arnt's glove, but it appranetly landed, and not one knew it foa moment. The Petoskey runners went back to their bags, then the coaches sent Shuman to the plate. Arnt recovered to get the throw off to the plate, and it was high, but catcher Tyler Lawson pulled it down in time to tag Shuman for the out.

Most of the Eskymos (and Northmen) thought the inning was over, but the umpires kept the play going. So McGeehan took off for the plate as some Eskymo players were hugging.

Lawson had thrown the ball to the mound for the next inning's pitcher to use, but Maki, playing in center field, saw that the umpires had not ended the inning.

Maki went to the back of the mound, got the ball, threw it to Lawson at the plate, with some guys from both teams watching, and the tag was applied to Spadafore at the plate. The umpire made an emphatic "out" call at the plate. Was it the fourth out?

Or the third out after an Arnt catch? No definitiive answer was given. But the inning was over, with Petoskey surely wondering why the infield fly rule wasn't called on the pop fly literally on the foul line.

"We don't want to be done," Maki said. "We're having too much fun to be done. We want to keep going."

Maki got his second bunt hit of the game to lead off the bottom of the sixth, and Lamb bunted him over to second base. Kolich smoked a shot to left-center field that would have brought in the insurance run, but Shuman caught it at short.

That sent us t0 thye seventh inning, where Hanson, who couldn't go more than an inning on Saturday, was back to his normal self. He gave up a line drive to Kaden Rice to start the inning, but Lamb was in a good spot and he caught it off one hop for the first out. Then Hanson, after a lengthy battle with Slater, blew an 88-mile=per-hor fastball by him for a swinging third strike.

Then he got Grant Klepadlo to ground to Lamb at first to end the game.

"I can't tell you how excited I am," Coach Hanson said. "I can't even tell you the joy. The boys are excited and we want to keep playing."

Lancour earned the win, throwing 87 pitches and yielding two runs on just three base hits. He walked three and struck out two. Hanson earned the save, allowing one hit and a walk.

Shuman took the loss for Petoskey, giving up all three runs in 3 1/3 innings. Slater threw the final 2 2/3 innings in relief and allowed two hits. In all, Escanaba had only four base hits, with two of them being Maki's bunt hits.

Escanaba (23-6) will travel downstate Friday to play a Saturday regional championship game against Muskegon Oakridge. The Eagles (12-11-1 on the season) beat Alma 6-4 on Wednesday. The Eskymos and Eagles will play on the campus of Alma College at 12:30 on Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-FM (93.5) WCHT-AM (600) and rrnsports.com.

READ MORE ABOUT MUSKEGON OAKRIDGE HERE

Another regional championship game will be played at 10 a.m. at Alma College between Gladwin and the winner of Thursday's Grand Rapids West Catholic-St. John's game. That game was rained out on Wednesday. Then later on Saturday, the two winners will play in a super regional final with a trip to Michigan State University on the line.