ESCANABA — The Escanaba Cubs were unable to climb out of an early hole here Tuesday night, dropping a 4-0 American Legion baseball decision to the Menominee Red Wave.

Menominee scored all its runs in the first inning.

“We had a pretty tough first inning,” said Esky manager Jon Bintner. “We walked the leadoff hitter, which is a no-no, and gave up a two-run double. Although, it wasn’t like we pitched bad. Both teams planned to pitch as many guys as they could and this gave us an opportunity to see a little more live pitching. You’re talking about making adjustments at the plate. It was a pretty well-played game after the first inning, which is good for us going into the zone tournament.”

Drew Rodman pitched two innings and took the loss.

“We threw Drew back out there and he retired them in order,” said Bintner. “Then, we threw Noah Lancour and Riley Lamb. It was good to see them throw two shutout innings.

Esky’s John Schlenvogt had two hits. Hunter Lancour and Zeke Strand had the remaining hits for the Cubs, who host Marquette and Iron Mountain in the Class A tourney Thursday night. The Red Wave open against Bark River Thursday at Gladstone.

“We have the potential to break out at anytime,” said Bintner. “Everything just needs to come together at the right time. It will be interesting to see what kind of strategy the other teams come out with. Everybody is going to be counted on. We have to try to avoid giving up the big inning and make plays behind the pitcher.”