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Gladstone tops DePere in thriller

Legion baseball

ESCANABA — At the beginning of this American Legion baseball season, head coach Justin Jurek said the Gladstone Indians would play their share of small ball during the course of the year.

He wasn’t kidding.

Following that plan became key for the Indians Sunday as they squeezed past DePere, Wis., 4-3 in eight innings for their first Gregg Johnson/Al Erickson Memorial tournament championship.

Braeden Lamberg dashed home from third base with the game-winner on Lucas Weinert’s suicide squeeze bunt, enabling Gladstone to improve to 7-0.

The Indians had the bases loaded with nobody out when Weinert came to bat.

“This is exciting to be a part of,” said Jurek. “The squeeze is almost a play nobody can defend. The situation called for a squeeze and we laid it down. We wanted to apply pressure and force them to make plays.”

Gladstone loaded the bases in the eighth by taking advantage of two fielding errors and a hit batsman, setting the stage for Weinert’s squeeze.

“It was the perfect situation for what we do,” said Indians’ centerfielder Hunter Garling. “We executed everything and we squeezed him (Lamberg) in. We had two opportunities to get it done. You have to be able to execute. We’ve never had an opportunity to win this tournament before. It’s awesome to be part of the first team from Gladstone to take it.”

Gladstone reliever Clay Cole retired DePere in order in its half of the eighth with first-baseman Tyson Seymour reaching over the fence to snag a foul ball by Cole Nelson for the third out.

“Tyson made heck of a play,” said Jurek.

“That got the kids excited. That was a huge momentum swing.

“They were a tough team, no doubt about it.”

Janne Rukamp gave DePere a 3-2 lead, scoring on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Lucas Reynolds in the seventh.

Gladstone tied the score in its half of the inning on a single to right by Owen Hanson.

“For Owen to hit that ball and force extra innings was huge for us,” said Garling. “Baseball is a game of momentum swings. We executed when we needed to most.”

DePere opened the scoring on Matt McNabb’s sacrifice fly to right and gained a two-run cushion on a single to right-center by T.J. Teitz.

Seymour scored Gladstone’s first run on a throwing error and Weinert tied the contest on Jack Stephenson’s ground out to second base in the fourth.

DePere had already played two games Sunday prior to the title contest. It completed pool play with a 5-2 victory over Blissfield and edged Marinette 1-0 in the semifinals.

Gladstone didn’t commit any errors in the title game. DePere had five.

“That’s a lot of baseball, but the kids did a good job with it,” said DePere head coach Kevin Norman. “We felt we had some momentum in the seventh inning. We were still in the game with five errors. We just didn’t make a play in the eighth inning. It’s never fun to be on the losing end, but we did pretty good for ourselves. We gave up two earned runs all weekend. Usually when we give up four runs in a game, I feel pretty good about it.”

DePere finished with eight hits, led by Hunter Staniske with three. Reynolds added two.

Seymour and Weinert had two hits each off losing pitcher Matt Willems.

Cole took the win in relief of Brandon Cooper, who worked 6 1/3 frames. Cooper struck out two, walked one and allowed three runs on seven hits.

Willems went the distance, striking out three, walking one and hitting two batters.

“Their pitcher was lights out,” said Garling. “We had a bunch of short innings which enabled him to go deep in the game. Your defense and pitching always have to be solid, and we played lights out on defense.”

Gladstone reached the title game by eliminating the Sault Ste. Marie-based Eastern U.P. Travelers in the semifinals Sunday.

Seymour had half of Gladstone’s four hits. The Travelers collected 12. Zeke Nave, Logan Bailey, Sylan Steinke and Mike Radle had two apiece.

Gladstone, taking advantage of two errors and a hit batsman, scored four times in the opening frame. The Indians added five in the third by cashing in a three walks, an error and another hit batsman. Sault did all its scoring in the first three innings.

The Indians travel to Marquette Tuesday and Ishpeming Wednesday.

In Saturday’s games, Shane Thomson tossed a three-hitter as Sault blanked Milford 8-0. Marquette scored three times in the third in a 5-0 conquest of Milford and Marinette edged Copper Country 8-6. The rest of Saturday’s games were rained out.

Escanaba fell to Marquette 9-5 in Friday’s late game. The Cubs (1-2) are scheduled to host Niagara, Wis. tonight at 8.

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