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HOLY COW!! Cubs Sweep At Firecracker Tourrney
 Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Ben Johnson, Matt Kaven, and Cubs Manager Jon Bintner.
The Cubs turned back Green Bay Southwest, 7-5, in the early game, and then held off Watertown, Wis., 5-2 in the evening contest at Haas Field. The result gives the Cubs a 2-1 record for the tournament, and keeps them alive for a trophy on Sunday.
 “We did a lot of little things right,” Cubs Manager Jon Bintner said. “Things we didn't do last night. We took advantage of their errors. Taking pitches and getting the big walk. Chase (Cloutier) heads-up baserunning on those hit-and-runs, reading their shortstop and knowing that he could beat him (to third base) in a foot-race. Eli (Gardner) couldn't have thrown the ball in a better place. Huge. Things went good that normally don't.”
Ben Johnson played a leading role in both wins. Against Green Bay, he has three base hits and drove in a run. And then against Watertown, Johnson pitched a gem, throwing 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before the Watertown hitters started to catch up to him. And at the plate, Johnson had a single, double, and walk, and scored a pair of runs.
“I'm not going to give myself credit for any of that,” Johnson said. “My defense played almost perfect. Trent Turchin had some amazing plays out there (three catches in right field), Eli (Gardner), Jack (McEvers), Adrian (Mercier), I mean, Chase (Cloutier) was incredible behind the plate. I'm gonna give the credit to my defense.”
Bintner was more than happy to give Johnson the credit.
“Watertown is always a good-hitting team,” Bintner said. “For him to do what he did, I mean, he's a bulldog. You give him the ball and he's going to do whatever he can to help us. The last two times out on the mound, we've been telling him, you should probably play baseball instead of football (football is Johnson's preferred sport).Very high-character kid.”  In the first game of the day, Adrian Mercier had an RBI single in the first inning, and Johnson singled Mercier home, giving the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Escanaba added an unearned run in the second inning to give rookie pitcher Gavin Sommers a three-run chushion.
But in the bottom of the third inning, Sommers was wild, issuing two walks, hitting a batter, and throwing two wild pitches. A bunt single didn't help Sommers' cause, either, as Southwest scored four times to take a 4-3 lead after three innings.
Escanaba scored three runs in the top of the fifth, however, on a walk, Matt Kaven single, and two straight errors on the Green Bay defense. Eli Gardner drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the go-ahead run, and Mercier was hit by a pitch, forcing in yet another run. Then Bryce Blixt put the ball in play with a grounder to bring home McEvers, and all of a sudden, Escanaba led, 7-4.
Sommers threw six innings, and other than that rough third inning, he did well, limiting Green Bay to three base hits. Isaiah Brow came on to pitch the seventh inning and walked the first two men he faced, but settled down, allowing only a Zach Lemieux sacrifice fly to earn the save.
Dylan Wyckoff got a no-decision for Green Bay, allowing five runs (two earned) on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. The loss went to reliever Connor Nelson.
 “We lost a close game to Marinette Friday night, but, you know, that really got us going and put our momentum up,” Johnson said.
In the night game, Escanaba took advantage of some early Watertown mistakes, and executed two hit-and-run plays to take the lead. In the first inning, Cloutier walked and Gardner was asked to execute a hit-and-run play. He did, grounding to short as Cloutier went all the way to third base. Then Cloutier scored when the first baseman threw it away trying to get him out at third base.
Escanaba scored another run in the second inning when Johnson walked, went to second base on a wild pitch, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch.
Heading into the fourth inning, Escanaba had a 2-0 lead and neither team had a base hit.
In the bottom of the fourth, McEvers was safe on an error with one out, and the Cubs took advantage when Johnson smoked a double to the outfield fence. That brought up Kaven, and he roped a two-run double to the left field fence, and it was 4-0.
“It felt good,” Kaven said. “I've been in a little bit of a slump starting this Legion season. It was a little bit outside and I just kind of went with the pitch and put it to the fence in right. I was able to bring two in, and, man, that felt good. It hit the sweet spot and I was excited about that one. This was team was solid. It shows that you have to show up to play a good team.”
 Escanaba scored another unearned run in the fifth inning when Cloutier was safe on an error and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Mercier.
The Cubs carried that 5-0 lead into the sixth inning, and Johnson was cruising, retiring 12 batters in a row at one point. With one out in the sixth, however, Landon Fendt broke up the no-hitter with a solid single to center field. So, did Johnson know that he had a no-hitter going?
“I did,” Johnson said. “I thought about it at the end. But I wasn't thinking about it (at the time). That's not important. The win's more important. I came into the game thinking I've just got to throw strikes and let my defense play. It worked out well.”
Cale Hinkes followed with a long drive to left field that was only a single on this small field, loading the bases. But Johnson was able to get two groundouts to Mercier at short to end the threat, stranding the bases loaded, and keeping the Cubs in front, 5-0.
“Some real trouble there,” Johnson said. “They were starting to lock me in and they got a couple of hits. Obviously, I had bases loaded. That was a huge sigh of relief.”
 Johnson, though, was near the end of his rope. He gave up back-to-back singles to Brady Lessner and Hayden Doede to start the inning, got an out on a fielder's choice play, but then gave up another base hit to Drew Schauer. This time, Bintner went to the bullpen, bringing Gardner in to try to stop the Watertown rally.
Gardner got a called third strike on a pinch hitter for the second out, but Fendt smacked an RBI double to left field, bringing his team to within 5-2. Hinkes then hit a bullet to left field, right at Kaven, who caught it, ending the game with a Cubs win.
“That was a hard liner,” Kaven said. “It was kind of knuckling at me, off the bat real hard. I was there. I was playing in the right spot. Coach had me in the right spot. So, I made a good grab, and we're out of here. I was really excited. They started to really hit the ball the last inning, and I knew we had to get it done.”
Escanaba ended up with only three base hits, two of them by Johnson.
The Cubs have one more game left in this tournament, Sunday morning against undefeated Manitowoc. The Manitowoc team has outscored its three opponents 42-2, after beating Marquette Saturday night, 18-2, with a ten-run first inning. Game time is 11:30 ET. Tune in on FM-93.5, AM-600, and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. |
