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CHEBOYGAN---It was another war. In fact, two of them, this time.
The Escanaba Eskymos and Cheboygan Chiefs met in high school baseball on Saturday, at Cheboygan High School in what could be a preview of yet another district playoff match-up between these two programs. And nothing was decided as both teams picked up victories in a pair of one-run games that had plenty of drama...and verbal chirping.
Escanaba won the opener, 3-1, with a three-run sixth inning and a white-knuckle seventh inning on defense. And then in a more sloppy nightcap, the two teams battled to a tie before the Chiefs won on the international tiebreaker rule in the eighth inning, 5-4.
“We came in here, Cheboygan, you know, ranked (#13 in the state in Division Two) and we went toe-to-toe with them for two games,” Escanaba Manager Scott Hanson said. “I told the boys that we need to get on that bus like we won two today. Nobody hang your heads. We made some mistakes. That's okay. We played one of the best teams in the state in D-2. If we played them ten times, we'd each win five.”
This suddenlly-intense rivalry was born last year when the Chiefs came to Escanaba and swept a doubleheader, one by the mercy rule. A month later, in a district semifinal game in Marquette, the Eskymos stunned the heavily-favored Chiefs in a classic down-to-the-wire game that included lots of talk, amplified by social media.
It's become as intense as an Escanaba-Gladstone or Cheboygan-Petoskey rivalry. And all Saturday's games did was set the stage for what could be another epic June match-up.
“If we can get into a district finals game with them, it will be a 1-0, 2-1 kind of game, whoever bends first loses,” Hanson predicted. “Kevin (Baller, Cheboygan's longtime manager) talked before the game that it really stinks that we have two really good teams and somebody won't make it out of districts.”
Saturday's first game was an intense pitcher's duel between Cheboygan's Henry Stempky and Escanaba's Hunter Lancour. Stempky hadn't lost a game all season, in fact, Cheboygan had a 24-1-1 record, compared to unranked Escanaba's 18-7 record.
But it was dead even on Saturday. Stempky did not allow a hit in the first five innings of the game, and Lancour allowed only two hits during that span. Unfortunately for Lancour, one of those two hits was a two-strike hit by Eli Couture that happened after a missplayed fly ball in left field put a man on second base for the Chiefs.
So, Cheboygan carried a 1-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning. One of the youngest guys on the Eskymo team, Eli Gardner, led off with a walk, and even though he missed a bunt sign, it worked out when he stole second base. Trent Lawson struck out, but the ball got away and went to the backstop, putting runners at the corners with no outs.
Lawson got the uncontested steal of second base, and that prompted Baller to bring in his infield. That played into Lancour's hands as he pushed a single past the drawn-in shortstop into left field, bringing home the tying run, and busting Stempky's no-hitter.
Then, Bon LaChance, who has led the team in RBI all year but was fooled twice by Stempky, hit one off the end of the bat that went down the left field line. Two runs scored, and just like that, Escanaba led, 3-1, on two very timely base hits.
"I was doing so horrible batting the first couple of innings, so I was just like, screw it, I'm just swing," LaChance said. "I'm swinging a 32 (ounce bat), the guy's throwing heat. Just put that bat out there. I was thinking 'cutter', because he came at me with a cutter every at-bat. So, I just swung at it and it was a little slower, and the outfield was playing back, and it just dropped right there in the green."
In the bottom of the inning, Lancour walked Dylan Balazovic with one out.
Then Tyler Balazovic followed with a base hit. With runners at the corners, Kaleb Blaskowski hit one toward right field. But LaChance, playing first base, got it on the edge of the outfield grass, and fired a strike to shortstop Jared Hanson at second base. The relay throw to first was corralled by Lancour, covering from the mound, and he stretched as far as he could, keeping his foot on first base for the unusual 3-6-1 double play,
"That was crazy," Lancour said. "Bon made a great play at first to stop the ball and threw to second and then I realized that Bon was kind off the bag, and I was like, oh, crap, I've got to get there. As soon as I got there, I dove for the ball, and somehow my foot touched the bag and it was a great double play. That was huge."
"Before the pitch came, I told Jared that we we're turning two here," LaChance said. "It came to me and I was like, is Jared gonna get there (to second from short). I threw it at his chest and then I saw Hunter diving over there, catch it, and it falls right into the dirt."
But Cheboygan was not done. In the bottom of the seventh, Cole Hudson struck out, but it was a wild curveball that got back to the screen. Hudson was safe, and then Jake Jankoviak smacked a base hit to put two men on. Baller told Couure to bunt, and he did, and the Eskymo infield couldn't make the play.
So, Lancour was facing bases loaded and nobody out, with a two-run lead. He got #9 hitter Sean Pastula to pop up to LaChance in foul ground for the first out.
Then Stempky smacked a grounder that took a high hop that third baseman Chase Cloutier made the play on, throwing to Lawson at the plate for the force. Two out.
Then, Daniel Wilcome got ahold of one. He lofted it to left-center field. Eskymo center fielder Scott Hiller, who had his worst day of the season at the plate, drifted into the gap, reached out, and made an outstanding catch, “snow-coning” the ball barely within his glove. A couple more inches, and Cheboygan gets three runs and a walk-off. But Lancour was rewarded with the win as the Eskymo players mobbed each other.
"I'm slowing down in velocity, so I've just got to let them hit the ball and trust my defense," Lancour said. "Credit Scotty Hiller. A great play to end the game. He's so fast. Any ball that goes up in center field, I trust him to get it."
So, what was his approach to ger Stempky and Wilcome, the top two batters in the order?
"Stempky was swinging at the high pitches a lot, so I was just feeding him high-and-in," Lancour said, "I had struck out Wilcome before, but he hit the ball hard off me. But it was in play, and that's all."
Stempky struck out 15 batters for the Chiefs, and he only walked two, and allowed just those two hits against a drawn-in infield. But he took his first loss of the season.
Lancour allowed four hits, walked just one batter, and struck out seven.
"It feels so good," Lancour said.
Saturday's second game was not nearly as sharp, with both making mistakes and not taking advantage of their opportunities at times. Perhaps fittingly, seven innings were not enough, and with it being the back end of a doubleheader, both coaches agreed that if the game was tied, they would play extra innings under the international tiebreaker rule.
That rule puts a runner on second base for both teams in their halves of any extra inning.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Eskymos were looking good when Gardiner was placed on second base (technically running for Matt Zimmerman), and Nick LaFave got the bunt down, putting Gardiner at third base. Jared Hanson came up, and on the second pitch, was asked to put down a suicide squeeze, but he pulled the bat back and Gardiner was hung out to dry.
Hanson then struck out swinging, ending the Eskymo scoring chance.
In the bottom of the inning, with that runner at second, Stempky put down an outstanding bunt up the third base line, somehow getting to a very inside-and-high pitch. At that point, Wilcome was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Dylan Balazovic hit a sac fly to the outfield to bring home the winning run for Cheboygan.
Cheboygan hed led, 4-2, before Zimmerman hit one off the handle in the top of the fifth inning to bring home LaChance with the third Eskymo run.
In the sixth inning, Lancour flew out to left field with the tying run on second base, but in the seventh, the lefty Wilcome was on in relief when he pegged LaChance with a pitch. Wilcome's pickoff throw to first was wild, puttng LaChance on second, and then Ben Johnson grounded out, moving LaChance to third. LaChance scored on a two-out wild pitch, making it 4-4.
Jared Hanson had started on the mound for the Eskymos, but he struggled as he continues t battle an illness that makes it hard for him to breathe. He made it through four innings, and he struck out eight batters, walked three, and gave up five hits on 87 pitches.
Trent Lawson, who has also been sick this week and missed Thursday's game in Norway because of it, threw the final three-plus innings, and gave up the final run, on five hits.
Cheboygan starter Tyler Belazovic went 2 1/3 innings and was pulled after 49 pitches, having given up two hits, three walks, and two runs. Blaskowski threw 3 2/3 innings of long relief, and pitched above four walks, allowimg just one run on two hots in 65 pitches.
Wilcome, the stromg lefty who normally is a Cheboygan starter, came out of the bullpen to throw the final two innings. He let up the tying run, so he gets a "blown save".
Escanaba had two men thrown out on the bases, including one at the plate.
The Eskymos fell to 19-8 on the season, while Cheboygan sits at 25-2-1.
But as both teams will tell you: TO BE CONTINUED JUNE 4TH.
