Indians Win 5th Straight As Blues Rally Falls Short

GLADSTONE---It all came down to pitching and defense for the Gladstone Indians Thursday night as the Tribe faced the defending state champion Kingsford Blues in a Mid Pen League game at Don Olsen Field.

The Indians got 6 1/3 innings of shutout pitching from Jake Pearson, then had to hang on as Kingsford rallied in the top of the seventh inning. The game ended with the Indians cutting down the Kingsford's potential tying run at home plate.

Cody Frazer behind the plate again.

Gladstone won the contest, 3-2, extending its winning streak to five games.

"This was an excellent-played game," Gladstone Coach Jim Groleau said. "Kingsford is a tough team. They're gonna be a tough team all year long. They aren't the defending state champs for no reason. They're well-coached. Kevin (Murdock) does a good job over there. I tell you, every time we play them, it's gonna be like this."

Gladstone led, 3-0, entering the final inning. Pearson did a nice job all night long of pitching out of situations where Kingsford had runners on base. But in the seventh, when the Blues brought up five straight pinch hitters, Pearson struggled.

He walked Gabe Swanson to start the inning, and then Anthony Rebera got a base hit. With one out, Pearson hit Devin Oslund with a pitch to load the bases. Indians Coach Jim Gr0leau went to the bullpen, bringing in Justin Jurek to try to get out of the jam.

Jurek got Kyle Abbas to fly out, plating a run for the Blues but bringing the Indians to within one out of victory. But that brought up the top of the order in C.J. Qualley. He already had two hits in the game, and was robbed of a third hit in the fifth inning.

Indians Win on Play at Plate.

Qualley ripped one to the right field fence. One run scored, and Indians right fielder Hunter Garling raced to get to the ball. He threw it to second baseman Christian Tackman, who's relay throw to the plate was in plenty of time to end the game.

"He (Garling) made a great effort to the ball," Tackman said. "He got it to me. Unfortunately, it was short, so I had to come up to the ball and make the play. When I turned around, the guy wasn't too far (from third), so I gunned it."

Justin Jurek pitched in relief on Thursday.

"I was thinking 'Oh, God!' because I thought Hunter had a better break on it," Jurek said. "Then I seen him turn back on it, and I was like, 'I better get behind the catcher here'.

"But once it got into C.T., I wasn't too worried, because I know C.T.'s arm, and it wasn't like this was the first time C.T. threw someone out from the outfield."

"I said that we better not throw him (Qualley) another fastball because he's already hit three fastballs on the line," Coach Groleau said. "And sure enough, we get a two-strike count, and we throw him a fastball. He's a ballplayer.

"He hits the ball hard. I knew it was gonna come down to the kid on first base's speed and C.T.'s arm. I like C.T.'s arm."

That wasn't the only Kingsford player thrown out at the plate. In the first inning, the Blues had the bases loaded when Pearson threw a fastball halfway up the backstop. Qualley tried to score from third, but catcher Cody Frazer got to the ball and threw it to Pearson covering at the plate.

Jake Pearson makes tag at the plate.

The tag was in plenty of time for the out.

And there was more action on the bases later on.

In the fourth inning, with the game stll tied at 0-0, Austin Murdock led off with a hit for Kingsford. But he got caught between first and second base and was tagged out by Tackman. The Blues coaches and players argued that Pearson had balked on the play, but that argument fell on deaf ears.

Hayden Hardwick had a two-run homer.

In the fifth inning, Kingsford threatened again as Wes Poupore led off with a single. Dan Olson put down a bunt, and Pearson's throw to second was short, so both runners were safe.

The Indians caught a break when Brandon Kowalkowski was called out because his bunt attempt happened when his foot was out of the batter's box.

Then Qualley ripped one to right field that Garling tracked down for a catch. The runner was way off of the bag at first base, so it was a double play, keeping the game 0-0.

The Indians did not have a base hit as they batted in the bottom of the fifth inning. Garling drew a leadoff walk, and was at third base when Jurek broke up Kingsford pitcher Aiden Wienke's no-hitter and shutout with a base hit to center field.

Justin Jurek RBI single makes it 1-0.

The 1-0 lead was preserved in the sixth inning when Jurek did his job at shortstop on back-to-back plays. First, he robbed Wienke of a hit with an over-the-shoulder catch in the outfield. Then, Cole Tengesdahl lined one up the middle and Jurek started running, making the catch behind the second base bag.

"The first one, it looked like it was coming right to me, but it wouldn't come down," Jurek said. "The second one, I was running that way anyway, so it was kind of easy."

Kingsford's Aiden Wienke threw well.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Frazer led off with a walk. Blues Manager Kevin Murdock chose to lift Wienke from the mound and put Qualley there. And Hayden Hardwick took Qualley's first pitch over the left field fence for a two-run home run that gave the Indians a 3-0 lead.

"Coach was gonna bunt me," Hardwick said. "He said I only had one strike, so I made the most of it. He said I better either hit it over the fence, or put 'er in the gap. I was looking for a curve, but he (Qualley) threw me a fastball. It was a perfect pitch to hit."

"I told him, 'you're getting one strike, and you better make good use of it," Coach Groleau said. "He made good use of it."

It looked like that lead was safe until the Blues rallied in the seventh inning, but fortunately for Gladstone, the defense was good enough to seal the deal at the end.

Gladstone (7-7) has won five straight games since the boys from the Braves High School team joined the Indians. Kingsford, which has not played very often yet this spring, fell to 3-5 on the season. Two of those wins were against the Indians in Kingsford.

Hayden Hardwick home run.

The Indians play three games in Wisconsin this weekend. They will play a doubleheader at Oconto Falls on Saturday, and a single game on Sunday in Oconto.

Click the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box at the top of this page to see photos and videos taken by Kym Frazer, and listen to radio highlights/interviews.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

5/1	6:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	9 - 7 (W)	1-0

5/8	6:30 PM	at Marquette Blues	3 - 8 (L)	1-1

5/18	12:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	0 - 5 (L)	1-2

5/18	3:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	14 - 3 (W)	2-2

5/19	12:00 PM	at Kingsford Legion Blues	1 - 5 (L)	2-3

5/19	2:30 PM	at Kingsford Legion Blues	4 - 16 (L)	2-4

5/23	6:30 PM	Marquette Blues	4 - 15 (L)	2-5

5/28	6:30 PM	at Channing Railroaders	1 - 5 (L)	2-6

5/31	6:30 PM	at Marquette Blues	4 - 14 (L)	2-7

6/6	6:30 PM	Ishpeming Blue Storm	12 - 0 (W)	3-7

6/8	1:00 PM	at Hancock Legion	17 - 5 (W)	4-7

6/8	3:30 PM	at Hancock Legion	15 - 7 (W)	5-7

6/10	6:30 PM	at Mid County Mavericks	8 - 3 (W)	6-7

6/13	6:30 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	3 - 2 (W)	7-7

6/15	2:00 PM	at Oconto Falls Legion	10 - 0 (W)	8-7

6/15	4:30 PM	at Oconto Falls Legion	14 - 2 (W)	9-7

6/18	5:30 PM	Channing Railroaders	7 - 4 (W)	10-7

6/18	8:00 PM	Channing Railroaders	10 - 0 (W)	11-7

6/21	5:30 PM	Eastern U.P. Travelers	3 - 2 (W)	12-7

6/21	8:00 PM	Petoskey Legion	0 - 1 (L)	12-8

6/22	4:45 PM	DePere Panthers	4 - 5 (L)	12-9

6/22	7:00 PM	Plover, Wis.	3 - 8 (L)	12-10

6/25	8:00 PM	at Escanaba Cubs	3 - 0 (W)	13-10

6/26	6:00 PM	Newberry Warriors	4 - 3 (W)	14-10

6/26	8:00 PM	Newberry Warriors	2 - 2 (T)	14-10-1

6/29	8:30 AM	at Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox	3 - 2 (W)	15-10-1

6/29	12:30 PM	at Newberry Warriors	3 - 7 (L)	15-11-1

6/30	1:00 PM	Hancock Legion	2 - 3 (L)	15-12-1

6/30	3:00 PM	Onaway Cardinals	10 - 1 (W)	16-12-1

7/3	6:00 PM	Escanaba Cubs	3 - 1 (W)	17-12-1

7/7	1:00 PM	Hancock Legion	13 - 3 (W)	18-12-1

7/7	3:30 PM	Hancock Legion	3 - 7 (L)	18-13-1

7/9	5:30 PM	Mid County Mavericks	11 - 0 (W)	19-13-1

7/11	6:30 PM	Marquette Blues	6 - 0 (W)	20-13-1

7/20	4:00 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	1 - 5 (L)	20-14-1

7/24	5:00 PM	Eastern U.P. Travelers	6 - 4 (W)	21-14-1

7/25	7:00 PM	at Menominee Red Wave Legion	5 - 4 (W)	22-14-1

7/27	6:00 PM	Hancock Legion	10 - 0 (W)	23-14-1

7/28	12:00 PM	at Escanaba Cubs	15 - 0 (W)	24-14-1

8/1	1:30 PM	Hancock Legion	15 - 1 (W)	25-14-1

8/1	6:30 PM	at Hudson Legion	0 - 2 (L)	25-15-1

8/2	11:30 AM	Gladwin	10 - 3 (W)	26-15-1

8/2	3:00 PM	Hancock Legion	5 - 0 (W)	27-15-1

8/3	10:00 AM	Escanaba Cubs	0 - 1 (L)	27-16-1