Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to listen to post-game comments from both Gladstone Manager Dave Ellison and Negaunee Manager Dave Pannanen

BIRMINGHAM, Mich,.---For three innings, the Gladstone 10u Minor Little League All-Star baseball team was doing what it wanted to do in their state quarterfinal match-up against annual powerhouse Midland Northeast.

Gladstone was leading, 3-2, heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, and pitcher Jaxdon Quigley had just had a five-pitch inning and had half of his 75 pitches remaining.

But then things fell apart. Quigley walked five batters, hit another, and there were a pair of errors, as Midland scored nine unanswered runs to eliminate Gladstone, 11-3.

The Upper Peninsula's other team at this tournament, Negaunee, also faced a downstate powerhouse, Grosse Pointe Farms City, and lost, 12-2.

“We played right with them for three and two thirds innings,” Gladstone Manager Dave Ellison said. “Couple of little defensive lapses. Too many walks by our pitchers. At this level, it's hard to overcome those things.”

And it was Quigley, Gladstone's best pitcher, who got frustrated when things turned against him and his team in that fourth inning. The snowball could not be stopped.

“He has very high standards for himself with how he expects to play,” Ellison said. “He's a great baseball player. Great kid. But he expects so much out of himself that sometimes he gets down on himself when he doesn't strike everyone out, or when he doesn't hit a triple to the fence, that kind of thing.”

Gladstone took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Quigley smacked a base hit after Connor Roman was safe on an error. They threw Roman out at third base on Quigley's hit, but Quigley scored on an RBI single by Mason Soper.

Midland took a 2-1 lead on a Bo Blalock RBI triple into the right field corner, and he scored on a groundout. But Gladstone tied the game at 2-2 in the second inning after Benson Ellison drew a two-out walk, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a clutch RBI double to right field by AJ Wils.

It stayed 2-2 after Quigley had a five-pitch inning, including a double play when Cullen Sontag smoked a shot to center field that was caught by Roman. He threw to second base to double off a startled Midland runner who couldn't get back in time.

Then in the fourth inning, Gladstone took a 3-2 lead when Elliot Bosk drew a one-out walk and scored when Mason Holochwost's ground ball ate up the Midland second baseman, going through him and all the way to the fence.

At that point, Quigley had only thrown 38 pitches to get through half of the game, and he had a one-run lead. But the walks and errors started piling up, and the frustration mounted. The only highlights were two tag-outs at home plate as catcher Tyler Beauchamp hustled back to the fence to get the ball back to Quigley for the outs.

The final nail in the coffin was a two-run base hit to left field by Midland's Aiden Oppenheimer, after Keagan Arnold and Joey Kroll also had RBI hits for NELL.

“These are good ballclubs down here,” Ellison said. “You've got to fight and scratch and claw your way to get wins. Our goal was to win districts and make it to states. That was getting out of pool play was a huge win for us.”

NEGAUNEE VS GROSSE POINTE---Negaunee, meanwhile, fell behind 6-0 in the first inning and lost to Grosse Pointe, 12-2. But Negaunee Manager Dave Pannanen was not disappointed in his boys.

“You've got to play error-free ball,” Pananen said. “They're a phenomenal team. They made the plays and they're moving on. That's a good group. We had a couple of key errors. But this group of 12, I'd go to war with any day of the week. Some of the things they did over the year, and the constant improvement, and the new guys.”

“It's a complete success for us. Our goal, much like Gladstone's, was to get to the state tournament. We succeeded in that. We wanted a chance to get out of pool play and we did that. Then, we wanted (to play) the best, and we did, we got them.”