Gladstone Minor Boys Outlast Esky In Extra Innings
GLADSTONE---The Gladstone and Escanaba Minor Little League All-Star (age 8-10) baseball teams played an exciting game Thursday night, with Gladstone pulling out a 7-6 win in seven innings at Howes Field. The win moves Gladstone into the district finals on Saturday in Norway, while Escanaba will need to beat Tri-County on Friday to also qualify. Both teams' managers were careful to keep their pitchers under 45 pitches, given the quick turnaround to the district finals this weekend at Marion Park. Escanaba took a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning but Gladstone immediately scored four runs of their own, two of them on a long triple to right field by Scout Rosinski. Escanaba had a chance to take the lead when Jayce Braun smoked one to the outfield. He raced around to third base, then hesitated as he got between third and home. He was tagged out by a lunging Rosinski, who ran from third base toward home to get the out. The game went to extra innings, and Escanaba scored in the top of the seventh inning when Jacques hit a ground ball to third. Garett Lanaville scored when Rosinski checked him, then he took off when Rosinski threw across trhe diamond to first base. But walks and wild pitches caught up with Escanaba in the bottom of the inning, and Gladstone ran the bases aggressively (even not being able to lead off at this age group). The winning run came home on a wild pitch, ending a wild and entertaining game with a Gladstone win. The district finals are set to begin on Saturday with two games at Norway's Marion Park: 1:00 CT/2:00 ET, and at 3:00 CT/4:00 ET. Both games will be broadcast on FM-93.5/AM-600 in Delta County, on AM-1450 in Dickinson County, and on www.rrnsports.com. |