ESCANABA - The Escanaba Bears age 11 baseball team started the regional tournament in exciting fashion Friday, rallying past Kokomo, Ind. 3-2 at Hammond, Ind.

Esky, which trailed 2-1 after five innings, tied the contest on Justin Popelka's suicide squeeze bunt in the sixth and won it on Hunter LaMarch's single.

"It was a great game," said Esky manager Tony Punzel. "The parents just went crazy. This is awesome stuff."

Brandon Punzel, the third of three Bears' pitchers, struck out two in the sixth and got the win.

The Bears collected nine hits, with Logan Lamb and Sean Bissell going 2-for-2.

Esky plays Sunday at 1 p.m. (EDT) against South Lexington, Ky. or Logansport, Ind.

In the age 12 regional at Riley, Ind., Alec Slaga and Cody Maki combined for a two-hitter and 12 strikeouts as the Bears blanked Marshall, Ill. 8-0.

Maki had three hits. Chris Rose, Cameron Beversluis, Slaga, Jake Rodman and Tyler Skufca added two each. Justin Jurek and Slaga rapped home runs.

The Bears were then limited to four hits in a 5-2 loss to Eastern Muskegon, Oh.

"They're a pretty good team," said manager Jeremy Hardwick. "They had a lot of bloop hits. We didn't get a lot of hits. We couldn't get them to drop."

Esky finishes pool play today at 2 p.m. against Lexington, Ky.