Shorthanded Braves Slide Past Bark River-Harris

Click the thumbnails for comments from Gladstone Manager Tyler Swanson and BR-H Manager Al Botwright, and players Aiden Burie and Chase Potes. Thanks to Nate Bellville for contributing to this report.

GLADSTONE---It was All Hands on Deck Saturday for the Gladstone Braves baseball team as it hosted the Bark River-Harris Broncos on Senior Day. Five key players were out of the line-up, so other guys needed to step up, and they did, as the Braves slid to an 8-4 victory.

“We were facing adversity and different guys stepping up in different roles,” Gladstone Manager Tyler Swanson said. “That’s what it’s all about. I’m proud of the guys who were out there today. They stepped up and did their jobs. That’s all we could ask for.”

Austin Pepin threw three innings of no-hit ball, allowing one unearned run on four walks and five strikeouts. Casey Alworden finished up by pitching three innings, allowing three runs on four hits.

Offensively, Aiden Burie, just brought up a week ago from the junior varsity team, had three base hits, scored twice, walked once, and had one run batted in. His double in the bottom of the fifth inning keyed a three-run rally with the Braves clinging to a 5-4 lead.

“It was a low pitch but I got a swing on it and sent ‘er,” Burie said. “I’ve been with the team about a week and I’ve been trying to do my part, but today, I had a good game. They’re a solid team and it was hard without a lot of our main players, but we got the job done.”

Also helping out was Chase Potes, who had two hits, a walk, and three runs batted in from the #9 spot in the batting order.

“It was a lot of fun today,” Potes said. “I definitely had to step up and do my job. I just did my part today.”

For the Broncos, Manager Al Botwright, who recently picked up his 100^th win as the Broncos manager, this game was a good one.

“We played, I thought, pretty well,” he said. “It was a very clean ballgame on both sides. It was the type of ballgame where a few plays went their way. They put the bat on the ball and had a couple of key singles that brought in multiple runs. That was really the tale of that ballgame, and we stranded some baserunners.”

Dane Schmitt had two hits, drew a walk, and drove in a run for BR-H, which fell to 9-5 on the season. Dom Lantagne took one for the team on the mound, throwing all five innings and giving up eight runs on 14 base hits. The Broncos have a big doubleheader Monday in Norway.

“I probably left him out there one batter too long,” Botwright said.

Gladstone improved to 10-12 on the season. The Braves will play seven games on the road this week: two in Menominee on Tuesday, two in Negaunee on Wednesday, one in Marquette on Thursday, and two at a tournament in Kingsley on Saturday.

“We don’t get any easy ones, and that’s OK because we want to face tough competition,” Swanson said. “Those are quality teams that we’re going to see. We’ll see what happens. The guys are gonna have to step up.”