Bark River Bucs Drop Doubleheader In Marquette

MARQUETTE---In the Upper Peninsula baseball league Wednesday night, the Marquette Blues had their home opening doubleheader against the Bark River Bucs. In the opener, the blues held off the Bucs, 4-3, and then cruised in the nightcap to win going away, 12-2.

In the top of the sixth inning, trailing 4-1, Nick Javurek and Zach Englund led off with base hits. With two out, Tyler Racicot walked to load the bases, then Adrian Mercier singled home two runs to close the score to within 4-3. But with the tying run at third and the go-ahead run on second, Joe Javurek flew out to center field, keeping the Blues undefeated on the season.

Marquette had snapped a 1-1 tie with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Peter VandenAvond led off with a double and Hogan Nemetz followed with a single. Blake Henriksen walked, and VandenAvond scored on an error. Jake Peterson, Jon Jason, and Erik Johnson all walked and Marquette took a 4-1 lead with those free passes.

Nemetz and Clayton Smith both had two hits for Marquette.

Antonio Mercier had three hits and Adrian Mercier had all three Bucs RBI.

Smith earned the win on the mound, while Johnson threw the final two innings and earned the save, despite giving up two runs.

The second game was tied 2-2 in the third inning after Englund's sacrafice fly brought home Antonio Mercier.

But Marquette scored nine runs in the bottom of the third inning to take control. Nemetz started the inning with a single and scored on a triple by Henriksen. Jon Jason followed with a ground ball that was missplayed for an error, bringing home a run. Smith followed with a triple of his own, scoring two runs, and giving Marquette a 6-2 lead.

Bark River had a chance to get out of the inning when Kyle Frusti lined out for the second out, but VandenAvond kept the inning going with an RBI single to make it 7-2. A bases loaded walk brought in another run, then three straight Marquette batters were hit by pitches, scoring three more runs and putting the game on ice.

It ended in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Henriksen base hit. Henriksen had two hits, four runs batted in, and scored three times in that second game. Smith had two hits and three RBI. Jason pitched all four innings to earn the pitching win.

Bark River fell to 2-6 on the season.

In the JV games Wednesday night, the Marquette Reds and Gladstone Junior Indians split a doubleheader, as the Reds won, 10-6, after the Junior Indians won the opener, 9-7.

The Marquette Blues travel to Gladstone for a makeup game Thursday night. Game time is 6:00. It will be broadcast on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600) in Delta County, and WUPG-FM (Maverick 96.7) in Marquette County. The broadcast may start late if President Trump's speech from Marinette goes long.