Click the thumbnails to see video highlights, and hear post-game comments from Xavier Leipzig, Braxton Breitenbah, and Manager Tyler Swanson.
GLADSTONE---The Gladstone High School baseball team wrapped up its regular season Friday night with a wild 11-9 victory over the Menominee Maroons at Don Olsen Field. The Braves scored four runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth to rally from a 6-5 deficit, and then had to hang on in the seventh inning when the Maroons scored three times to get close.
Menominee took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Xavier Leipzig struggled to find the strike zone, walking four batters. Tyler Bouty cashed in with an RBI double for the Maroons, and the other two runs scored on a wild pitch and on a play where Dylan Beal scored on a delayed steal.
In the bottom of the first inning, Gladstone came back. Trevor Thorbahn and Braxton Breitenbach had RBI singles to make it 3-2, then Vinny Rebholz smacked an opposite field shot to bring in two runs. Rebholz ended up making it to third base for a triple, and Gladstone had a 4-3 lead.
Menominee regained the lead in the top of the second inning. Blake Paasch and Dylan Beal had back-to-back singles, and Garrett Carlson walked to load the bases with one out. Finger grounded out to bring home the tying run, and Beal scored on a passed ball, putting the Maroons in front, 5-4.
Menominee could have added to the lead, but Nate Nelson's sinking line drive to right field was grabbed on a sliding catch by Breitenbach.
The Braves tied the game in the bottom of the third inning. Thorbahn led off with a booming shot to center field that bounced over the outfield fence for a ground-rule double. It was Gladstone's second ground-rule double in as many innings, after Aiden Burie also had one in the previous inning.
Thorbahn scored on Breitenbach's second single of the game, tying the game at 5-5. Bouty, however, pitched out of the jam by getting three straight outs.
The Maroons came back again in the fourth inning. Beal got a one out single, was bunted to second by Carlson, and he scored on a two-out single by Finger. It stayed 6-5 Menominee until the bottom of the fifth inning when Gladstone rallied against Bouty.
Breitenbach got it started with his third hit of the game, and a walk and hit batter loaded the bases. Lucas Beal came in to pitch for the Maroons and he walked Quinn Carlson to force home the tying run.
It appeared that Landon Pepin would also walk with the bases loaded, but he was called out on an inside 3-2 pitch. That left it up to Leipzig. And he came through by rifiling a 1-0 pitch to the center field fence for a bases-clearing triple. Bringing home three runs to put Gladstone ahead, 9-6.
Menominee threatened in the top of the sixth inning with two men on, but Rebholz threw out a runner trying to steal third to end the inning.
The Braves added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases, and then a wild pitch scored Carter Sanville. Quinn Carlson came through with an RBI single to give the Braves the 11-6 lead, and it turned out that the Braves needed the insurance.
Leipzig had thrown 30 pitches in that rough first inning, but made it through the next five innings by throwing only 70 pitches. He did reach his pitch count, and the shorthanded Braves, with Cooper Sanville and Nick Proehl both sidelined by injuries, had few options to pitch that seventh inning.
Rebholz came in to pitch, and it was a struggle to get those three outs. He hit the first man he faced and then walked the next. Nelson hit a line drive to right field for the Maroons, and it got by Breitenbach, and when the play was over, Menominee had two runs home and a runner on third base.
Rebholz uncorked a wild pitch to bring Nelson home, cutting Gladstone's lead to 11-9. He walked two more batters to put the tying runs on base, but Paasch scorched a line drive that Leipzig caught at shortstop to end the game.
The game was the last one of the regular season for the Braves. Gladstone's record ended up 12-14 heading into the district tournament, which opens with a game on Tuesday at 5:00 in Gladstone.
Menominee's record fell to 9-16, with one regular season remaining, at Spies Field on Tuesday at 4:00 against Marquette.
