Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba manager Jon Bintner (center) consults with Drew Rodman (left) and Ayden Hansen (right) on the mound against Chief Pontiac Friday at Escanaba.

ESCANABA — Chief Pontiac enjoyed a big second inning here Friday night as they handed the Escanaba Cubs a 9-1 loss in five frames in the Gregg Johnson/Al Erickson Memorial American Legion Baseball tournament.

The downstate visitors capitalized on a fielding error and a walk before their bats warmed up in the second, scoring five times for a 6-1 lead.

“We finally started hitting the ball,” said CP manager Doug Brady. “We jumped out to the early lead and got a little confidence.

“Our pitcher started going after hitters. It made a lot of things easier for him.”

Winning pitcher Jeremy Janik tossed a two-hitter, struck out six, walked one and hit two batters.

CP (9-3) collected five hits in the second frame, including an RBI double to leftfield by shortstop Ryan Barber, two-run double to center by rightfielder Trystin Lajiness and RBI single to right-center by centerfielder Josh Luther.

“That sums up our season in a nutshell,” said Esky manager Jon Bintner. “You’ve got to make the easy plays and John (third-baseman Schlenvogt) knows that. Sometimes you assume you’re going to make the play instead of attacking it. You can’t give teams extra outs. When you give a good team extra opportunities to swing the bat, they’re going to find the gaps. It can be hard to bounce back after a bad inning and I think that shut down our kids offensively.”

First baseman Mike Porter made it 7-1 on designated hitter Tyler Garrett’s grounder to shortstop. CP extended its lead to 8-1 in the fourth when Porter popped out to the catcher and second baseman Nolan Boik concluded the scoring on a passed ball in the fifth.

Barber, who opened the first with a single to left, got CP on the board on Luther’s sacrifice fly to center.

“Ryan needed that,” said Brady. “Ryan is a good hitter, but he had been struggling a little lately. I think that picked everybody up. His swings later in the game were much better.”

The Cubs (0-3) scored their run on shortstop Hunter Lancour’s single to center in the first.

CP finished with nine hits with Barber, Luther and catcher Jack Anderson leading the way with two apiece.

Drew Rodman, the first of three Esky pitchers, absorbed the loss. He fanned two, walked two and allowed seven runs on seven hits through three innings.

“I’m happy with the ability to throw strikes by the guys who hadn’t been up there (mound) yet,” said Bintner. “We’re trying to find ways to stay positive and treating the game like it’s 0-0 all the time.”

Esky hosts Marinette tonight at 5:15 and Bark River at 7:30. CP faces Marinette today at 10:30 a.m. and Midland Berryhill at 3 p.m. at Gladstone.

Semifinal games take place Sunday morning, with the championship contest at 1 p.m. at Esky.