STAYING ALIVE: Esky Boys Outlast Iron Mountain

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear interviews with Escanaba Coach Scott Bjorne, and players Liam Steinhauer, Dallin Fisher, and Jayce Braun.

QUINNESEC---The Escanaba Major Little League All-Star baseball team (age 11-12) stayed alive for a second straight day on Monday, beating Iron Mountain North in a 9-8 game that included a long weather delay.

The win moves Escanaba into the Final Three in the district tournament, and the boys will try to stay alive for yet another day when they play Norway on Tuesday.

And it all may have come because of a change of attitude during a long rain and lightning delay during the top of the fifth inning, with Escanaba trailing, 7-4.

Escanaba Manager Scott Bjorne addressed the kids in the dugout, and said that their attitudes were poor after a bunch of errors, walks, and wild pitches helped IM North score seven runs to take the lead.

Bjorne noted that during the rain delay, the kids were all happy, joking with each other instead of sniping each other. He challenged the boys to take that looser, fun, attitude to the field when play resumed. And that's exactly what they did.

“They're 11 and 12 years old, and sometimes, when there is a missed play or a strikeout, you've got to get them back on track and get their heads back into the game,” Bjorne said. “It gets tough here with the pitch counts and trying to win today's game, but also kind of looking into the future as well. I told the boys that I'm super proud of them."

"All 13 of the kids had a job to do," Bjorne added. "It's exciting to see them play this way. It's the game of baseball. You're going to fail. It's how you react. It's a mental game. Attitudes. The boys are locked in and ready to do it. These boys are trying to represent and make the community proud.”

Pitcher Liam Steinhauer had probably the best thoughts you could expect from a 12-year-old boy.

“It wasn't that hard,” he said. “You just keep on going, keep your head up.”

Jayce Braun, who had two hits in the game, was in a foul mood heading into the rain delay. But he collected his thoughts, and says the rest of the team did, too.

“So, we came into the dugout, and we were down a little bit,” Braun admitted. “But then we all started about how we can win this game, and how we still had two more at-bats, so we had to get our heads up. We had runners at second and third (down 7-4, after the rain delay) and we came back and we won the game. We just kept talking to each other and just kept out energy high.”

“We did pretty good,” Escanaba's Dallin Fisher added. “Just that rain delay was pretty bad. But then we came back. Coach was just trying to talk to us. We were just hanging out (in the dugout) and trying to come together as a team.”

Well, after the game resumed, Vinny DeSalvo-Bougue beat out an infield hit, Jayce Braun smacked his second base it of the game, and Drew Anderson followed with an RBI single to bring Escanaba to within 7-5. Garrett Lanaville followed with a base hit, and after Drew Irving drew a walk, a wild pitch allowed a run to score, tying the game at 7-apiece.

And then came the play that turned the game in Escanaba's favor: a wild pitch that scored not only Lanaville, but also Irving, who had kept running and came home when the throw from behind the plate went back to the middle of the infield. That made it a 9-7 game.

Escanaba pitcher Drew Anderson, the fourth used by Bjorne in the contest, retired the Iron Mountain offense in 1-2-3 fashion. Anderson, however, gave up a leadoff single in the sixth inning to Jeb Holsworth, and Anderson was lifted to save his pitch count for later games.

That brought in Steinhauer, and he got two straight strike outs, but threw a wild pitch, and Holsworth stole home, bringing Iron Mountain to within 9-8. Jake Tregillis then drew a walk, and went to second on a wild pitch.

With the tying run in scoring position, Steinahuer struck out James Powell to end the ball game, eliminating Iron Mountain.

“So, I knew he wasn't going to swing,” Steinhauer said. “He was pretty timid on the outside pitch. So, I gave him another one, and he just wouldn't swing at it.”

Earlier, Escanaba had built a 4-0 lead in the first inning, with Braun getting an RBI single and Lanaville singled home two runs. But as the rain fell down, Escanaba had a lousy and frustrating third inning, with Iron Mountain scoring seven times.

Cole Punzel had an RBI single from the #13 spot in the batting order, and Tanner Helminen followed with a run-scoring hit. Errors and wild pitches led to more IM runs scoring.

But in the end, Escanaba regrouped just enough, and won for a second straight day in the loser's bracket. They'll face Norway on Tuesday, which lost to Kingsford, 7-0, in Monday's late game. The Escanaba-Norway game is set for 6:30 ET/5:30 CT in Quinnesec.