Cubs Cough Up Big Lead Again As Norway Rallies

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Norway's Cole Baij and Bryce Adams, and from Escanaba Manager Jon Bintner.

ESCANABA---The Norwy Vikings American Legion Baseball team scored seven unanswered runs in the final three innings to rally from a 7-1 deficit and stun the Escanaba Cubs, 8-7, Wednesday night at Al Ness Field. It was a tune-up game for both teams ahead of this weekend's Gregg Johnson memorial Tournamaent, as they combined to use twelve pitchers.

Norway was down to its final strike on multiple occassions, but Cameron Varda's two-run single with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning tied the game at 7-7, and then Bryce Adams had a two-strike, two-out RBI hit in the eighth inning gave Norway the lead.

It was the second straight game for Escanaba where the Cubs blew a big lead late, after they also blew an 8-3 lead to Gladstone last Friday in a 9-8 loss.

"We got a big lead, and sat on it," Escanaba Manager Jon Bintner said. "Instead of keeping the pedal to the metal and keep scoring runs. Just keep doing what you're doing, instead of just sit and think that it's going to be good enough. But, when it matters the most is what we've getting ready for. Wins and losses don't really mean a lot until Zone Tournament time."

Still, the loss is aggravating because the Cubs did a lot right throughout the evening, starting with a Bon LaChance solo home run in the second inning. Nick Chiu had three base hits, including RBI singles in the second and fifth innings, staking Escanaba to a 7-1 lead.

The Cubs used seven pitchers and the Vikings used five. The first six Cubs pitchers managed to keep the Norway at bay, but Trent Turchin struggled in both the seventh and eighth innings with the umpire's strike zone. He ended up walking four batters, giving up four hits, and the five runs, after several close pitches with two strikes went against him.

"Sometimes umpires help you, sometimes they don't," Bintner said. "Calls go our way, calls go their way. Frustrating for Trent. I'm just taking it from their standpoint, from the pitcher and from the catcher, that a couple pitches might have been close enough to be called strikes. And they didn't go our way tonight."

Even so, the Vikings earned full marks for continuing to battle in the batter's box, when they were down to their final strike on multiple occassions in both the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh inning, Cameron Varda came through with the two-run base hit past a diving Adrian Mercier in right-center field to tie the game at 7-7.

And then in the eighth inning, also with two outs and two strikes, Bryce Adams dumped a base hit into left-center field to score Owen Baij with the go-ahead run.

"My approach, it's been the same all year," Adams said. "Just look the pitch into the zone and just find a way to hit it. I mean, I'm always waiting for the fastball, but you've got to be ready to jump curve. I feel greatm you know. It's always nice to get a base knock, so it felt good getting one right there."

Then it was up to Cole Baij to finish things on the mound, He had walked the first two men he faced in the seventh inning, but got the next three in a row to get the game to extra innings. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Baij had to go up against the 3-4-5 part of the Cubs order, but easily retired Mercier, LaChance, and Ashton Rymkos to end the game.

"That's a good part of their order," Baij said. "I mean, they're really good. I just had to throw strikes, and not do what I did to start. It was a long game. I just wanted to get out of here."

It was the first Legion game of the summer for Norway, which won the U.P. Zone championship last summer. The Vikings include nine members of the Norway High School baseball team that made history by reaching the state championship game last weekend at Michigan State University. This team also includes guys from Iron Mountain and Kingsford.

Baij pitched for the first time since pitching at MSU this past Saturday in the state finals.

"MSU was really fun," Baij said. "I mean, it was a great experience. But this team is good, too. And I really enjoy playing with these kids, too."

"It was awesome playing in that big of a stadium, that atmosphere, it was crazy," Adams, but then said about this Viikings summer season: "I'm feeling pretty good. I know we can hang with anybody. We've just got to play our game."

And so it's a new challenge, and a new mission, for a bunch of Norway boys teaming up with some from Kingsford and Iron Mountain to try to finish what they could not last summer: win an American Legion Baseball Class A state championship. And that tournament will be on home soil: U.P. Finals in Gladstone and Escanaba, with States in Marquette.