Cubs Win U.P Tourney; Indians Also Make States

MENOMINEE --- The U.P. portion of the field for the American Legion Class A State Tournament is set after the Escanaba Cubs won the Zone Five U.P Tournament in Menominee on Saturday, 16-6, over the Marquette Blues.

Marquette beat Gladstone earlier in the day, 5-4, to earn a spot in next week's state tournament. Gladstone will also be in that tournament after taking third in the U.P.

Marquette's Trevor Bratonia and Gladstone's Brandon Cooper both kept their teams in the game on the mound, but Gladstone's rally just fell short.

And then in the championship game of the tournament, Escanaba pounded out thirteen hits against Marquette starting pitcher McKinley Larson to win, 16-6, in six innings.

In the first game, Marquette jumped out to an early lead in the first inning off of starting pitcher Brendan Cooper for Gladstone.

Third baseman Brendan Higbie reached on an error, and shortstop Hunter Larson singled to set up first and second and no outs. Center fielder Riley Lynch also singled and McKinley Larson cleared the bases with a three RBI double to right center.

Catcher Sam Leow scored Larson from third on a sacrifice fly.

No runs were scored until the fifth inning as both teams combined for three hits in the second, third, and fourth innings. Gladstone cut into the Marquette lead in the bottom of the fifth scoring three runs with the help of the Marquette defense and some timely hits.

Third baseman Braden Lamburg singled to begin the inning. First baseman Logan Hardwick flew out to left field for the first out of the inning. Back to back errors by the Marquette defense gave the Indians bases loaded with only one out.

Jake Peterson hit into an RBI fielder's choice scoring Lamburg. Right fielder Ben Schwalbach and shortstop Justin Jurek both came through with two out RBI singles to cut the deficit against Marquette to one.

Marquette answered with an insurance run in the sixth and it turned out to be the winning run of the game. Leow singled to begin the inning and and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bratonia. First baseman Brandon Lotterman scored him from second after he ripped an RBI double into the left corner.

Gladstone answered with another run in the sixth inning to make it a one run game going into the seventh. Designated hitter Hunter Harling led off with a walk, and catcher A.J Lundberg hit a grounder that bounced off the glove of Marquette shortstop Hunter Larson. He was safe at first base and Owen Hansen also reached on an error. Garling scored on an RBI single by Peterson and the score was 5-4.

In the seventh, Marquette brought in McKinley Larson to close out the game. He got Jurek to fly out, Christian Tackman to ground out, and Garling to strike out looking to end the game.

The winning pitcher for Marquette was Trevor Bratonia who went six innings giving up four runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out four and walking three. Larson gets the save in one inning of relief.

The losing pitcher for Gladstone was Brendan Cooper who went all seven innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on ten hits while striking out four and walking two.

In the second game, Marquette had to play again against Escanaba for the championship of the U.P tournament. Escanaba rallied for 11 unanswered runs and won the final game 16-6.

There were runs right out of the gate as Marquette scored four runs in the top of the first off starting pitcher Alec Slaga. Brendan Higbie led off with a walk, and Hunter Larson advanced him all the way to third on a single to right center. Riley Lynch scored Larson on a single, and starting pitcher McKinley Larson hit a two RBI double to right center to give the Marquette Blues a 4-0 lead.

Escanaba answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the first off of Larson. Center fielder Tyler Hardwick led off with a walk. Parker LaMarch hit a grounder to the shortstop Larson that glanced off his glove and both runners were safe. LaMarch advanced all the way to third on an RBI double to left field by Bissell.

First baseman Brandon Punzel scored them both on a two RBI single up the middle to make the score 4-3. Shortstop Tyler Skufca singled to right field to advance Punzel to second base. Jack Valentine hit a grounder to the second baseman that looked like a double play.

He tried to tag Skufca going to second and had to dive to make the tag. The throw after to first was low and went by the first baseman Lotterman for Marquette scoring Punzel from second.

Marquette scored another run in the second to retake the lead as Highbie scored from second on a pop fly that Parker LaMarch lost in the sun and glanced off his glove. Escanaba answered with a run in the third on an RBI single by Valentine scoring Punzel who led off the inning with a single.

It was tied again at five and Marquette scored another run in the back and forth battle in the fourth. Lotterman reached on a walk by Slaga to start the inning. Marquette ended up loading the bases and Slaga walked Hunter Larson to bring in a run. It was bases loaded no outs and things didn't look good for the Cubs and Slaga.

The three hitter Riley Lynch was up and he smoked a line drive that Slaga caught and threw out the runner at third for a huge double play. He then got McKinley Larson to pop up to limit the damage.

Escanaba rallied back and scored eleven unanswered runs. Hardwick doubled to lead off the inning, and scored on Bissell's second RBI double. Punzel walked, and Skufca had an RBI groundout to second scoring LaMarch who also walked.

Jack Valentine came up to the plate with runners on second and third with two outs. He came through with a big two RBI single to right center scoring Punzel and Bissell and making the score 9-6.

Slaga was into his fifth inning of work and ran into trouble again. He hit second baseman Trevor Koski and walked Leow to set up first and second and one out. Cubs Manager Tom Ohman elected to bring in Bark River's Sam Hall off the bench to relieve Slaga in the big situation.

Hall came through big time as he struck out Bratonia and got Lotterman to pop up and right fielder Jay Oberg to ground out to end the inning and strand the runners.

Escanaba fed off the momentum and a tiring McKinley Larson to scored four more runs in the fifth, highlight by a three RBI double by Skufca and score three more runs in the bottom of the sixth to bring the mercy rule into effect.

Winning pitcher for Escanaba was Alex Slaga who went four innings giving up six runs (five earned) on seven hits while striking out two and walking four. Sam Hall pitched two innings of scoreless relief of Slaga.

Losing pitcher for Marquette was McKinley Larson who went all six innings giving up fifteen earned runs on thirteen hits while striking out six and walking six.

Sean Bissell had another big day at the plate with two RBI doubles and 3 RBI altogether. Tyler Skufca had 4 RBI and a single and a double at the plate. Jack Valentine also had 3 RBI at the plate with two hits.

Gladstone, Marquette, and Escanaba all are advancing to the Michigan State Tournament next weekend and those game times are all TBA later on in the week.

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL CLASS A ZONE FIVE FINALS
At Spies Field, Menominee

Thursday, July 23, 2015
Escanaba 7, Kingsford 1
Gladstone 15, Copper Country 1
Escanaba 21, Marquette 3
Gladstone 9, Menominee 1

Friday, July 24, 2015
Marquette 13, Copper Country 3
Menominee 8, Kingsford 3 (9 Innings)
Escanaba 8. Gladstone 5
Marquette 5, Menominee 3

Saturday, July 25, 2015
Marquette 5, Gladstone 4
Championship: Escanaba 16, Marquette 6