Escanaba, Gladstone Fall In State Tourney Openers

Click the thumbnails above for photos, videos, and interviews from the games.

Story was written and photos and videos were taken by RRN Intern Braden Kerr

TRENTON--- The Escanaba Cubs and Gladstone Indians kicked off the American Legion Class A tournament with losses on Friday. The Cubs fell 7-5 to the Gaylord Baseball Club and the Indians were beaten 13-3 in six innings by Clinton.

GAYLORD 7 vs. ESCANABA 5---The Escanaba Cubs hung around in a game and looked to be poised for another comeback win, but the Gaylord Baseball Club used timely hitting and a big fly from Logan Bozzer to grab the opening game victory.

“They just had some clutch hits. They were doing a great job putting the ball in play. The one big inning was a three run one. He hit a homerun, it’s hard to defend that,” Escanaba Coach Jon Binter said after the game.

Escanaba was not able to close innings well as six of Gaylord’s seven runs were driven in with two outs in the inning.

In the first inning Chris Koscielniak led off with a double and a two-out single from Sam Sircely scored him to open the scoring.

Escanaba put on the pressure in the bottom of the inning when Eli Gardner singled and moved to third on an errant pick-off move. Chase Cloutier was hit by a pitch and when he stole second it drew a throw and Eli Gardner made the dash home to tie the game. Cloutier scored on a Bon LaChance groundout.

Conrad Korte singled to begin the second and again with two outs was driven in by Colin Basinski to tie the game.

Each team got one run in the fourth on a singled to bring the score to 3-3.

Logan Bozzer dealt the big blow in the fifth inning. After a sacrifice fly gave Gaylord the lead back, Bozzer hammered a 1-0 pitch to left field to score two runs.

Down three runs going into the sixth inning the Cubs began to mount the comeback that they have made habit.

What makes the Cubs so good at sticking around according to Bintner, “We have a lot of wrestlers, a lot of hockey players. They like to be tough and like the challenge and don’t like to quit. This is their MO and it’s their MO for a reason. We are going to go down with a fight for sure.”

Parker Frappier led off with a single then Matt Kaven singled with one out to put two runners on. An error allowed Frappier to score and Cloutier singled to drive in Kaven. With runners on second and third, down 6-5 Jack McEvers popped out.

Gaylord added an insurance run in the seventh to give their reliever an extra run to work with in the bottom of the inning. Starter Garrett Purdy lasted 6 plus innings before JT Greenier came in for the save.

LaChance doubled to deep left-center field to start the inning and the Cubs were already threatening. A pop out brought up Frappier with one out. A ground ball to third base led to LaChance getting tagged for the second out trying to go to third. Ben Johnson drew a walk the Tony Derkos grounded out to end the game.

The Cubs had threatened but fell short of completing another late game comeback. Gaylord was able to get clutch hits in pressure situations and that was the difference in the game.

What does Binter say about his teams route to a title, “They don’t like to do things the easy way so, the hard way it is.”

Escanaba falls into the loser’s bracket where they will take on Clinton at 11:30 AM at Trenton High School on Friday. The game will be live on 93.5 FM, 600 AM, and online at rrnsports.com.

CLINTON 13 vs. GLADSTONE 3 (6 INN)---The Gladstone Indians had a dream start to their state tournament scoring three runs in the fist inning and sitting down Clinton in order in the bottom of the inning. After that everything went downhill for the Indians ending in a mercy rule defeat.

The first inning was classic Gladstone baseball. Tyler Darmogray reached on an infield single, and Nick Martin laid down a bunt where the throw sailed into right field to score Darmogray. Cam Kelly doubled down the left field line to score Martin. Johnny Soderman laid down the suicide squeeze to score Kelly and reach first base himself.

Travis Mack struck out a batter and induced two fly outs in the bottom of the first and the Indians looked to be in the driver’s seat before the wheels all fell off.

“We played Gladstone baseball in the first inning, and then the things that kind of plagued us all year long all of the sudden just started to show up, “Gladstone Coach Steve Kwarciany said. We came out hot in the first inning, put up some runs and then all of the sudden it just seems like we settled down and got a little complacent.”

Gladstone committed seven errors, walked nine batters, and hit two more to highlight their defensive woes. On the basepaths the Indians also struggled getting two runners picked off first base in the same inning and getting caught in a double play on a bunt.

Clinton scored two runs in the second, both scoring on bases loaded walks, two in the third, thanks to an RBI triple from Brendan Keith, three in the fourth, highlighted by a Tom Burt two RBI single, four in the fifth, on three Gladstone errors, and two in the sixth to reach the run rule threshold.

Ethan Herington pitched the complete game for Clinton to pick up the win allowing three runs on seven hits, only two of which happened after the first inning.

Kwarciany noted the Gladstone has had success in the state tournament following a loss and that the team will be ready for Fridays game, “They know what they’ve done wrong, and they just need to pick up the intensity a little bit.”

Gladstone drops to the loser’s bracket and will face Gaylord at 9:00 AM on Friday at Trenton High School. The Indians game will be live on 93.5 FM, 600 AM, and online at rrnsports.com.