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Gladstone, Marquette Make States; Title Game Ppd.
 GLADSTONE---The Gladstone Indians and Marquette Blues have advanced to the American Legion Baseball Zone Five championship after winning their semifinal games on Saturday. Gladstone beat the Coipper Country Flames, 9-4, and Marquette blanked the Menominee Red Wave, 7-0. The championship game was rained out and will be played Sunday. Both teams qualified for the state tournament in downstate Gladwin, which starts Thursday morning. MARQUETTE 7, MENONINEE 0---Blake Henriksen threw a complete-game shutout as the Blues knocked out the defending state runners-up, who returned most of the players from last year's squad. Henriksen allowed only three hits and one walk while striking out nine batters. He used all 105 of his allotted pitches. Jason Janquart took the loss for Menominee, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing six runs on four hits. Three of the runs against him were unearned. Ethan Russell finished up for the Red Wave, and was charged with one run in two-thirds of an inning of work. The Blues scored an unearned run in the first inning, then Henriksen's sacrifice fly in the third inning made it 2-0. In the fifth inning, Henriksen's RBI single made it 3-0, then he later scored on a wild pitch. Then Henriksen drove in two more runs with a single in the sixth inning, with Pete VandenAmond adding an RBI single during that rally. In all, Henriksen had four RBI and had two hits. Connor Steer scored twice. GLADSTONE 9, COPPER COUNTRY 4---The defending state champion Indians got off to a slow start, falling behind, 4-0, before rallying to advance to the U.P. championship game. Indians starter Jared Crow struggled to throw strikes in the first inning, walking two batters and hitting another. A wild pitch and ground ball gave Copper Country a 2-0 lead, then the Flames doubled their lead in the third inning when Brandon Norkol doubled and scored on an infield error. Isaac Bennett followed with an RBI single to make it a 4-0 game. Gladstone got back in the game when Flames pitcher Eli Oldt also struggled to throw strikes in thefourth inning. Gladstone scored seven runs in that inning, with three walks and two hit-battsmen among the baserunners. Three straight wild pitches scored three straight runs, and Dan Martin's sacrifice fly brought home Carson Shea, who doubled to the center field fence. Parker Frappier followed with a two-run single, making it a 7-4 game. Frappier also had a double. His older brother, Cody Frappier, launched a solo home run to left field in he sixth inning, and the Indians pulled off a delayed steal to bring home another run. NO THIRD PLACE GAME---After the semifinals ended, Menominee and Copper Country were scheduled to play a game to decide third and fourth place in the zone. Menominee fofeited the game, and third place was awarded to Copper Country. CHAMPIONSHIP RAINOUT---The Blues and Indians waited around for more than an hour as steady light rain fell in Gladstone. The field started taking on water, and it was deiced to play the U.P. championship game on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 noon. The game will be broadcast on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600) and in Marquette on WUPZ-FM (94.9 The Bay). It will also be on-line atb www.rrnsports.com. Both teams will advance to the Class A state tournament in Gladwin.  |
