Click the thumbails to see photos and videos, and for post-game comments from Lenny Peacock, Cooper Curtis, and Cubs Manager Paul LaChance. Also videos from Watertown's walk-off win over Menominee.
MARINETTE, Wis.---It was five days ago that the Escanaba Cubs American Legion baseball team blew a two-run lead in the final inning and lost to Marinette, 6-5, in the championship game of the Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament.
The two teams met again on Friday night in the Marinette Firecracker Tournament opener, and it went down to the wire again.
This time, with Marinette threatening a bit of deja vu with the bases loaded, the Cubs got the big out and held on for a 5-3 victory at the Pedersen Ballpark.
Cannon Arnt struck out Marveric Williamson with the winning run in scoring position, saving the game for Lenny Peacock, who made his season debut for the Cubs on the mound on a cool, cloudy evening.
Peacock, one of the top high school pitchers in Michigan with a lively fastball and mature demeanor, normally doesn't play Legion ball. But he said that this time, he wanted to "represent my town" when he got on the rubber Friday night, and when he did, Peacock gave his team not only a physical boost, but also a psychological one.
Peacock threw 6 1/3 innings, striking out eleven batters and allowing one earned run before he reached his 105 pitch-count limit. And he did so with both eyes tied behind his back.
“I didn't have my contacts,” Peacock said. “You ever see Greg Maddux call pitches? Like. Fastball. Curveball. Change-up. All night, and it worked just fine. I mean, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Every time Graham (catcher Johnson) threw it back to me, I would just catch it a certain way, and that's what pitch I would throw. I was like, I can't even see your hand right now. It was just a blur down there.”
He may have been seeing things in a blur, but his pitches were often just as blurry for his opponents. Peacock took time away from his ISA travel ball schedule.
'I've worked a lot on my fastball.” Peacock said. “That's definitely a pitch that I think separates me from what they usually see here in Legion. I trust all of my stuff, and I think it can beat anyone I face.”
Things got tight at the end, though, after Peacock exited and Arnt took over. Jake Farley and Teagan Anderson both walked, and then Manager Paul LaChance made a gutsy move. He intentionally walked Caleb Klimek to load the bases, putting the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on base.
But Arnt got the big strikeout, and the Cubs got a little revenge.
“Their catcher is a beast,” LaChance said. “He slams the ball hard every time. I told him going through the (post-game handshake) line, dude, I couldn't pitch to you!”
LaChance, by the way, was also not seeing clearly as he coached the Cubs.
"I lost my bifocals," LaChance said. "I was running blind, too. I was taking on and off my cheaters, and I was having such a hard time. So, to Eli Gardner, he knows our old signs from the Bears (travel team) so we just did that. But not all the boys know those signs!"
Escanaba scored four runs in the this inning against Marinette pitcher Justin Kruse, who threw a no-hitter against Sheboygan in last week's Escanaba tournament. Hits by Eli Gardner and Adrian Mercier and a walk to Bon LaChance brought one run home, then Johnson's RBI single and a wild pitch plated two more runs.
The Cubs had their lead cut in the third inning to 4-2 when Farley and Anderson both singled and a throwing error on a Klinek grounder brought those runs home.
But Cooper Curtis got the Cubs some insurance when he smoked a solo home run to left field in the fourth inning, making it a 5-2 lead.
“It feels really good,” Curtis said. “I was coming into this thinking it was a rematch of the Gregg Johnson (loss to Marinette). I think he hung a breaking ball a little high and I just took advantage of that. He was throwing hard sliders, so I was ready for it.”
Marinette wasn't done. Lead-off hitter Chase MacGregor got ahold of a Peacock fastball to start the fifth inning to cut it to 5-3, and with two out, Klimek crushed one to deep center field. It was a shot that hit the 365-foot sign on the Pedersen Park field, and he had to settle for a double.
Peacock retired the next five men he faced, three on strikes and two on ground balls to shortstop, before turning the game over to Arnt for a nailbiter of a finish.
With the win, the Cubs move into the Pool A driver's seat heading into Saturday's games against Menominee and Watertown. Cubs can advance to the championship game with two wins, or possibly even with one win. And hopefully, everyone has their glasses or contacts.
Both games on Saturday from the Haase Field will be broadcast on FM-93.5, AM-600, and www.rrnsports.com, at 1:30 and 6:30 ET. Live stream as well at www.rrnsports.com.
