Click the thumbnails to see video highlights, and for interviews with Ashton Rymkos, Luis Warmack, Adrian Mercier, and Manager Paul LaChance.

MARINETTE, Wis.---The Escanaba Cubs American Legion Baseball team scored three runs in the fifth inning and came from behind to beat Watertown, Wis., 5-3, in the third game of the Firecracker Tournament in Marinette Saturday night.

The win gave the Cubs a 3-0 record in the eight-team tournament, and moved them into Sunday's championship game against Manitowoc, which also went undefeated in pool play.

Ashton Rymkos threw 6 1/3 innings for the pitching victory, and Eli Gardner came on to quell a Watertown rally in the bottom of the seventh inning, getting the final two outs.

Rymkos had three shutout innings to start the game, had a rough fourth inning when he gave up four straight hits and three runs, but then bounced back to put up goose eggs in both the fifth and sixth innings. And he did it on the small Haase Field, where pitchers' Earned Run Averages have gone to die over the years at this tournament.

“I tried to keep it more low so they couldn't get under it and put one out,” Rymkos said. “It's a short field, and I knew they'd be able to (hit home runs). Just work them low and in, and I didn't give up any bombs!”

The Cubs had a 2-0 lead thanks to a solo home run by Luis Warmack and a bases-loaded wild pitch that brought Adrian Mercier home. Warmack, a Bay College student from downstate Three Rivers, decided to stay in Escanaba for the summer and joined the Cubs.

“I like the group of boys and they gave me a chance to play on the team,” Warmack said. “So, I was like, all right, let's do it. You can't say no to ball!”

Warmack saw the ball well Saturday night, with that solo home run, plus another shot that hit the yellow tube on the top of the fence and bounced back onto the field. It was a single, depriving him of a three-run homer.

“First at-bat, he threw me a curveball on the first pitch and then I was just sitting on a fastball,” Warmack said. “I got it middle-middle and drove it deep. Second at-bat, I was still sitting fastball. I didn't think I was gonna get one. He finally gave it to me and I bounced it off the wall. Third at-bat (when he hit a sacrifice fly) I had two strikes on me, so I was just trying to go right side, get something in the air, get us a run.”

Watertown crushed Rymkos in the top of the fourth inning, with consecutive hits by Davis Gashin, Blake Stamper, Drew Schauer, and Landon Washetas. All of sudden, the Cubs were behind, 3-2, but Rymkos got the next three outs to end the inning.
 

“I just had to work more off-speed,” Rymkos said. “I was throwing too many fastballs right down the middle and they were putting bat on ball.”

There was plenty of defense in this game. A highlight was Watertown sophomore Blake Stamper, who raced back near the left field fence and made a full-out dive to make a catch, robbing Eli Gardner of extra bases.

And an inning earlier, Watertown's Drew Schauer made a sliding catch of his own in center field, taking a hit away from Graham Johnson.

Escanaba's defense was on the infield, with shortstop Adrian Mercier hooking up with Warmack on a pair of 6-4-3 double plays that helped Rymkos keep his pitch count low. And Bon LaChance had two huge scoops at first base to complete those double plays.

“We are Kobe and Shack,” Mercier said. “That's what we try to do. I just try to play loose out there. I know I have four college athletes on the team. And the younger guys are developing, too. I'm always moving out there. It's difficult for me to maintain that energy the whole game.”

“Yep, Kobe and Shack up the middle, that's what we talk about,” Warmack said.

Escanaba's three runs in the firth inning that turned the game around came in on an RBI double by Mercier to left field, Warmack's sacrifice fly, and a sharply-hit RBI single by Graham Johnson.

Then, in the bottom of the seventh inning, then had to sweat it out, just like they had to in Friday night's win over Marinette. Connely Cashin had a one-out double, and Keenan Eckert drew a walk. But Gardner got Davis Cashin to hit a line drive right to Mercier at short, ending the game with a 5-3 Cubs victory.

And so now the Cubs will try to do something the program has never done before: win the Firecracker Tournament championship. The tournament is three decades old, and Escanaba has come almost every year, but with no trophies to bring home.

“We're ready, baby,” Mercier said. “Let's go get it!”

The game will start at 2:00 ET/1:00 CT at the Pedersen Ballpark. It will be broadcast live on FM-93.5, AM-600, and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.