Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Grant LaMarche (7) catches the ball to force Petoskey’s Trevor Shuman out at first base Friday in Escanaba. Looking on for Escanaba is Hunter Lancour (8).

ESCANABA — Playing catch-up isn’t what the Escanaba Cubs had in mind here Friday night as they dropped a 6-2 baseball decision to Petoskey AA in their final home game this season.

The Royals, taking an aggressive approach on the basepaths, scored four times in the first inning of this Under-19 non-league contest.

“When we win games, we don’t give up runs in the first inning,” said Cubs’ manager Jon Bintner. “They have a pretty good lineup, and we got ourselves in a little bit of a hole.”

Petoskey’s first three hitters got singles off starter Nick Kolich, then helped their team manufacture runs with some nifty base stealing.

“Our motto tonight was to be aggressive at the plate, and we tried to be aggressive on the bases,” said Petoskey manager Toby McFarland. “We’re the type of team that needs to manufacture runs. We’ve been struggling at the plate, so it was nice to get the bats going early. We gave the guys the green light on 3-0 counts and they played pretty relaxed.”

Tyler Lawson started Esky’s first with a triple to rightfield, then score on a fielder’s choice.

Esky moved a little closer in the second, trimming its deficit to 4-2 on Collin Arnt’s single to right-center.

“We gave ourselves a chance, then we struck out in key situations,” said Bintner. “It always comes down to pitching and defense. When you don’t make the plays, it’s hard to win.”

Esky committed both of its errors in the first two frames but was able to avoid further damage until the fourth when Petoskey made it 5-2 on Ty Slater’s double to center.

The Royals (9-4) added a little extra insurance in the fifth when Bill Stevens singled to left, scoring Ian Piehl for their final four-run margin.

Petoskey used four pitchers with starter Nathaniel Wandrie striking out two, walking four and allowing two runs on three hits through three innings.

“It’s always nice to get off to a good start and tonight it set the tone,” said McFarland. “I thought we pitched real well tonight. We’ve been playing a lot of baseball. We want everybody to be ready all the time.”

Esky threw five pitchers with Kolich throwing the first inning and taking the loss.

“We decided to throw a lot of guys tonight,” said Bintner. “We’re trying to see who’s ready to pitch in the (U.P.) tournament.”

Petoskey collected 12 hits, including two each by Slater, Piehl and Lake, who got his first to left on a bad hop past third-baseman Brett Schlenvogt in the fourth. The Cubs (7-8) finished with five hits.

The Cubs finish their regular season at Menominee Tuesday, then face Copper Country in their tourney opener Thursday in Iron Mountain.

Petoskey visits Gladstone today, facing the host Indians at 10 a.m. and Menominee at 12:30.