Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Bark River first baseman Max Hall reaches for a throw Sunday against Menominee in Wells.

WELLS — For three innings it appeared Bark River would be able hang with Menominee here Sunday.

Menominee, however, got its bats going in the fourth and broke away for a 10-1 victory over the Bucs in the Upper Peninsula Kickoff Under 19 baseball tournament.

The contest was tied 1-1 after the third before the Red Wave collected four extra-base hits and built a 5-1 advantage in the fourth.

Jaden Werner sent Menominee ahead to stay with his second of four hits, an RBI triple to leftfield. Keagan Monroe followed with an RBI double to right-center. Buddy Beyer added an RBI double to left and Braeden McMahon made it 5-1 on a double to left.

“After the third inning we told the guys ‘if you let them hang with you, they’re going to beat you,'” said Menominee manager John Lauzer. “The coaches challenged the guys in the fourth and they responded. Those were big hits. The guys then started playing real good ball.”

Werner gave the Red Wave (7-0) an 8-1 advantage with a three-run triple to left in the fifth and added an RBI double to left in the seventh.

“Menominee is definitely a tough team,” said Bucs’ manager Matt Richer, Jr. “They have tough pitching. The hole got too deep and it was too late to try to make a comeback.

“We’re just happy to be playing baseball. A month ago, we didn’t think we’d be playing this year (due to Covid-19 virus).”

Werner opened the scoring on Beyer’s single up the middle in the first.

The Bucs (2-4) tied the score on Wyatt Riley’s single to right in the third when they collected three of their six hits.

“I think we started well,” said Richer. “We kind of struggled with our bats early. We got our bats going later, but walks and errors hurt us.”

Menominee finished with 14 hits with Monroe, Andrew Schroeder and Hunter Goldschmidt adding two apiece.

Werner also pitched the entire contest for the win, striking out six, walking five and hitting a batter.

“We have three solid pitchers this year,” said Lauzer. “Jaden is a great team leader and our defense has been real solid.”

Zach Englund worked four innings and absorbed the loss. He fanned four, walked three and allowed five runs on four hits.

Each team committed an error.

The Bucs continued to struggle in the nightcap in a 9-3 loss to Iron Mountain.

“They have a lot of kids who can play,” said Richer. “Their pitchers kind of kept us off balance. We had some unforced errors, including four in one inning (second). It’s always hard to come back when you’re down 4-6 runs. Although, it seemed like we were able to make contact later in the game.”

Bark River resumes in a doubleheader at Marquette Wednesday at 6 p.m.