Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Bark River’s Nick Javurek (back) dives across home plate to tag out Menominee’s Ethan Russell (front) Thursday in Bark River.

BARK RIVER — The Bark River Bucs made good on 1-of-2 comebacks here Thursday night, using a furious rally to upend the Menominee Red Wave 8-6 in the first game of an Upper Peninsula Under-19 baseball doubleheader.

Their second attempt was too little, too late, however, as Menominee won the nightcap 10-6.

Menominee led 6-0 in the third inning of the opener.

The Bucs scored twice in their half of the third, then added a run in the fourth and five in the fifth.

“It was great to get a win against a team of that caliber,” said Bucs’ manager Matt Richer, Jr. “Our hitting had kind of struggled lately, so it was good to see our guys put the bat on the ball in the late innings. It was a good game all the way around.”

Nick Javurek pulled Bark River (5-13) within 6-4 on a double to right-centerfield in the fifth. Wyatt Riley’s single to right made it 6-5. The Bucs went ahead on Max Hall’s two-run single to left before Riley added the insurance run on a fielder’s choice.

“We were trying some things in the first game,” said Red Wave manager John Lauzer. “We wanted to see what some of the guys could do in different positions. We also wanted Keagan (Monroe) to throw 25 pitches, then we decided to pull him. We always challenge each other after a loss. Before the second game, we told the guys ‘let’s hit the ball’ and they did that.”

Riley, who took the win in relief of Adrian Mercier in the first game, had two of Bark River’s nine hits. Hall and Joe Javurek also had two hits. Buddy Beyer took the loss in relief of Monroe. The Red Wave had six hits.

In the nightcap, Menominee (18-3) grabbed an 8-0 advantage by scoring seven times in the fourth, then took advantage of two errors while scoring twice for a 10-1 cushion in the fifth.

Joe Javurek scored Bark River’s second run on a fielder’s choice and Noah Gorzinski made it 10-3 on Adrian Mercier’s sacrifice fly to center in its half of the fifth.

In the sixth, RBI singles by Javurek and Ian Gorzinski enabled Bark River to trim its deficit to 10-6. The Bucs, however, stranded baserunners on second and third.

Winning pitcher Austin Burnside threw four innings, striking out seven, walking none and allowing five hits. Hunter Goldschmidt, who worked the final two frames, got the save.

“Both of our pitchers threw well in the second game,” said Lauzer. “We’re just happy to be playing baseball right now. We’re glad we got this far.”

Nick Javurek, the first of three Bark River hurlers, absorbed the loss. He fanned one, walked four, hit a batter and gave up five runs on four hits through 3 1/3 innings.

“Nick pitched real well early, then he got kind of fatigued,” said Richer. “Menominee has a real good team. They have a lot of good hitters.

“We were real happy after the first game, then I think we got a little too comfortable in the second game. Although, I’m happy with how the team responded. The guys showed some fight in the second game, too.”

The Bucs again collected nine hits, led by Riley, Joe Javurek and Noah Gorzinski with two apiece.

Menominee also had nine hits. Burnside went 2-of-2. Ethan Russell also had two hits, including an RBI single to left in the fourth.

Jaden Werner and Monroe also had RBI singles to left and Beyers added a two-run double to left in the fourth.

Bark River hosts Marquette in a twinbill Tuesday. Menominee visits Gladstone for games against the Petoskey A and AA teams Saturday.