ESCANABA - A slew of errors derailed Escanaba's attempt to advance in the Gregg Johnson Memorial American Legion Baseball tournament Saturday night as it dropped a 7-1 decision to Clarkston Chief Pontiac.
A victory would have moved the Cubs into Sunday's semifinals.
But they committed six miscues, including a pair in the fifth inning when the winners scored three times for a 6-1 advantage.
Trent Schwalbach's single gave the Cubs (4-6) an early lead before Chief Pontiac tied the contest in the second.
Logan Richards' solo home run to left field gave Chief Pontiac a 2-1 lead in the fourth and Blake Ordiway's single then gave the downstate squad a two-run cushion.
"Their home run kind of took the wind out of our sails," said Esky manager Tom Ohman. "The bottom line is we didn't play defense. When you put up that many errors, you're not going to win many games."
Alex DeHaan, who pitched four innings, absorbed the loss.
Nick Mazzone had two of Chief Pontiac's seven hits.
Esky, which blanked Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. 8-0 in five innings in Friday's late game, then fell to Midland Berryhill 8-0 in six frames Saturday.
Matt Jensen and Andrew Kausak combined on a four-hitter and Schwalbach had two hits against Sault.
"We played a clean game against Sault, Ont.." said Ohman. "We hit the ball and gave ourselves opportunities to make something happen."
Midland's Keegan Akin then fired a no-hitter and struck out 11 Esky batters on Saturday.
The Cubs loaded the bases on two walks and an error in the fourth, but failed to cash in.
"We didn't put the ball in play when we needed to," said Ohman. "We played great for five innings, then the wheels came off."
Midland then dispatched Ash Port, Wis. 5-1 in Sunday's semifinals. Akin rapped a two-run homer in the fourth and Logan Madill added a solo shot in the sixth.
Ash Port reached the semifinals with a 2-0 triumph over Chief Pontiac Sunday morning, scoring both of its runs in the fifth frame of a make-up contest which was rained out Friday.
On Saturday, Nick LeSage collected three hits in Ash Port's 13-4 rout of Kingsford.
DePere scored six times in the first as it blanked Kingsford 9-0 in five innings Saturday and Brandon Meissner tossed a no-hitter and fanned 13 in a 7-0 triumph over Sault, Mich.
DePere then won 6-5 in nine innings in a semifinal at Gladstone and beat Midland 7-3 for the title at Esky Sunday.