Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Gladstone’s Dayton Bernson reaches for a throw from teammate Dan Martin (front) to tag out Menominee’s Braeden McMahon (26) Sunday at Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — For a moment, it looked like the Gladstone Indians might have found their stride.

But the undefeated Menominee Red Wave remained that way instead after a six-run fourth inning put them ahead 8-0 on their way to a 12-6 win Sunday at Gladstone in a U.P Under-19 tournament baseball game.

“I told the kids, ‘I can’t pick on you right now, but don’t settle for 7-0,” Red Wave manager John Lauzer said. “Let’s keep playing harder and improving where we have to. They’re going to be coming after us now.'”

The Wave jumped ahead in the top of the third after a deep shot to the right field fence drove two in. They then continued to keep adding in the top of the fourth.

Two Menominee hits and two steals put runners on second and third, and a ground single past shortstop from Dante Sartorelli pushed Keaton Uecke across home plate. Another stolen base loaded second and third again before Hunter Goldschmidt hit a line drive to right field to drive in another run and make it 4-0.

“A lot of (our problem) was lack of practice time so far,” Indians manager Justin Jurek said. “I think as we move forward and go through more practice and get some more time under our belt, we’ll be fine.”

After the first out of the inning, Andrew Schroeder smashed a line drive into center field to push two more runners home.

Menominee added two more runs on a sacrifice fly from Buddy Beyer and a bases-loaded walk from Uecke.

Gladstone made it on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Two were on thanks to walks, and the Indians’ Blake Krouth didn’t let it go to waste with a deep fly that scored Riley Baldovski and Ian Schwalbach to reduce their deficit to 8-2.

“We’ve been very patient at the plate,” Jurek said. “All the guys took their time and drew a lot of walks. There were more strikeouts than I would like, but we were definitely patient at the plate.”

It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth that either scored again.

Two hits and a walk loaded the bases for Gladstone, and a hit batter pushed in Dayton Bernson.

After a Red Wave pitching change, a line drive single to left field from Caden Alworden scored Krouth to reduce the Indians’ deficit to 8-4.

It would be the closest Gladstone would come in the game.

“I think (the tournament) showed that our high school program does a lot for us,” Jurek said. “Not having that high school season beforehand and having to start slower is showing that we’re not as ready as we’ve been in the past.

“That’s the biggest thing we can learn from this, but there are a lot of great things we can take away from this weekend.”

At the top of the seventh, aided by six hits and a walk, the Red Wave scored four more to make it 12-4 and seal the game.

Schroeder earned the win over five and a half innings, allowing three hits, 10 walks and four runs while striking out four.

“I have a good, experienced team, and they play well together,” Lauzer said. “I have three or four great pitchers I can throw out there anytime. This was supposed to be a fun weekend, and I think it was fun.”

Baldovski took the loss for the Indians over three and a half innings, allowing 10 hits, one walk and seven runs while striking out three. Zach Hanson pitched in relief for two and a half innings allowing no hits, three walks and one unearned run. Krouth, Hanson and Alworden all collected two RBIs, and Krouth and Alworden had a hit apiece.

Menominee’s Keagan Monroe finished with two hits and three RBIs, while Schroeder notched three hits and two RBIs. Beyer and Goldschmidt also accumulated two RBIs.

Gladstone hosts Marquette Tuesday, while Menominee travels to Iron Mountain Wednesday.