Indians Whip Channing Twice; Stay Undefeated

CHANNING---The Gladstone Indians continued their undefeated season on Saturday by beaing the Channing Railroaders twice, 12-2 and 9-1.

The Indians beat the Railroaders for the third time this season, defeating the team that bounced them from the Mid Peninsula League tournament in the 2011.

In the opener, Matt Weyers went the distance on the mound. The 19-year-old allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits in six innings of work. He struck out nine batters and walked just two. Offensively, Hayden Hardwick went 4-for-4 with three runs batted in. Fellow Rapid River sophomore Jake Pearson had three hits and two RBI.
 

In the first inning, Paul Tomaszewski reached on an error and scored on Pearson's double.  Hardwick then singled home Pearson to make it 2-0.

Channing tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Ken Pekarek led off with a triple and scored on Logan O'Neil RBI single.  O'Neil went to 3rd when Indians right fielder Levi Cunningham misplayed the ball for a two-base error. 

O'Neil scored when Brad Gustofson's fly ball was lost in the sky by Cunningham.

 

In the second inning, Christian Groleau led off with a single and scored when Justin Jurek reached on an error. 

Then in the fifth inning, the Indians scored three runs on a single by Jurek, a walk to Tomaszewski, and RBI singles by Pearson, Harwick and Weyers.  That made the score 6-2, then the Tribe put it away in the sixth inning.

Lucas Lacosse started the inning with a walk, Jurek singled, and Tomaszewski reached on an error by the left fielder. Jared Stenson came through with a two-run single. Then Pearson and Ballard followed with hits, Hardwick had another RBI hit, and Groleau drove in the final run with a groundout. The game ended on the mercy rule.

 

Cody Berg took the pitching loss for Channing.

In the second game, the Indians again scored in the top of the first inning. Tomaszewski walked, stole second and scored on a single by Stenson. 

But Channing tied it in the bottom of the inning when O'Neil reached on a fielders choice, and later scored on Cody Berg's single. It stayed 1-1 until the third inning, when Colin O'Neal was hit by a pitch, and, two outs later, he scored on Stenson's single.

The Indians took a 3-1 lead when Hardwick singled, got bunted to second by Weyers, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on O'Neal's ground ball. Then, in the fifth inning, the Indians broke it open as Noah Berg came on in relief of Pekarek.

Berg walked the first four batters he faced. So, O'Neil relieved Berg. Hardwick greeted him with a two-run single. 

After two more walks, Jurek hit into a fielder's choice to score Hardwick.  That made the score 9-1 Indians, which is how it ended up.

On the mound, Ballard went four innings, allowing one run on three hits. He struck out five and walked three. Groleau pitched the final three innings, allowing no hits, although he did walk four batters. He qualified for a save by pitching three innings.
 

Gladstone improves to 9-0 on the season, with the last six wins all coming on the road.  The boys travel to Marquette on Tuesday to face the Blues.

The team's doublheader scheduled for Sunday May 27th against Kingsford has been postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.