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ESCANABA---For a while there, it was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel between Escanaba's Cannon Arnt and Gladstone's Cooper Sanville as the two teams met in the Eskymos' home opener Tuesday night at Escanaba's Al Ness Field.
Both pitchers put up gooseggs for the first three innings, but the Eskymos came through in the final innings to mercy the Braves, 10-0, in six innings.
Arnt threw a perfect game for the Eskymos: 18 up, 18 down. Nine of them were on strikes. And he did it on just 61 pitches, so Arnt had 44 pitches left had there been a seventh inning.
“I felt really good today,” Arnt said. “Just fastball and cutter today, honestly. They really couldn't hit my fastball that good today, so I just kept on throwing fastballs and got the job done. But the perfect game doesn't happen without Alex (Irving) at shortstop, Lennox (Peacock) making those two good plays at first, and then you've got the bunt that McKaiden (Hughes) got too. That was really big for me and the team.”
“Cannon, we've had him since he was a freshman, and that's what you expect from a senior,” Escanaba Manager Scott Hanson said. “I think I've got the best 1-2 (pitching) punch in the U.P. (Arnt and Peacock). Good to be at home. It was good weather, and we had a great crowd. And Cannon pitched amazing today.”
Gladstone Manager Tyler Swanson says this is a learning experience for his team, which had just one senior on the field Tuesday night, along with a bunch of juniors without very much varsity baseball experience.
“He (Arnt) was locating, nice and warm, and his velo was there today,” Swanson said. “He was feeling loose and we were struggling catching the velo. That was a tough adjustment for our guys. Going from not a lot of velo yesterday against North Central to some velo with Cannon. But those are things that we've got to adjust to. You've got to shorten up (on the swing) and put the ball in play. It we're swinging and missing and can't touch it, we've got to do something different.”
The game was scoreless in the bottom of the fourth inning before the Eskymos broke through against Sanville. Graham Johnson led off with a double that on some other days may have sailed over the fence for a home run. He was bunted to third base by Brian Boutiier, and then scored on a pop fly base hit to left field by Max LeDuc.
Escanaba scored two more runs in the fifth inning on a passed ball and wild pitch, along with an error at first base that the Braves disputed. The ruling was the first baseman dropped the ball and had not had it long enough to record the out. Even so, Swanson says they need to be able to prevent those balls in the dirt from getting away.
“We've got to take care of the baseball,” Swanson said. “It can't keep going to the screen. We've got to block it. We've got to knock it down. We can't do that and expect to be competitive in games against quality teams. The atmosphere was pretty good. I thought we were in it early. But we've got to learn how to finish. This is a young, inexperienced team. So, hopefully we learn from it, and move forward.”
Sanville ended up throwing five innings for the Braves, giving up three runs (only one earned) on five hits and three walks. He struck out six Eskymos.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Xavier Lepzig was brought in to pitch for Gladstone. Lepzing has pitched well several times this season for the Braves, but this time, he threw 52 pitches in a sixth inning that saw him throw just 23 strikes.
The Braves had a couple of errors on defense, Lepzing walked four guys, and more passed balls brought in several Eskymo runs. Escanaba had RBI hits from Bichler, Johnson, and Brody Ison. The game ended on a wild pitch.
“We were pretty active on the bases (eight steals), and the second and third time through with Cooper we had some better at-bats, and barreled up some balls,” Hsnaon said. “Pretty solid defense, too (Escanaba did not make an error). Great week of baseball.”
The Eskymos (3-3) will face the Kingsford Flivvers (0-7) on Wednesday at 4:30, and then will take on the Negaunee Miners (4-1) on Thursday at 4:00, and Marquette next Monday at 5:00. Those games will all be broadcast on FM-93.5 and AM-600.
The Braves (5-3) are scheduled to host Hancock on Friday for a doubleheader, but that could change due to the rain in the forecast for that day.
The Braves will then travel to Kingsford for a game next Monday, and will host Bark River-Harris next Wednesday and Norway next Thursday.
