Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Gladstone pitcher Zach Hanson prepares to fire a pitch to an Escanaba batter during Tuesday’s Upper Peninsula Under-19 League baseball game in Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — The Escanaba Cubs came oh-so-close to ruining a stellar pitching performance by Gladstone’s Zach Hanson before the Indians held on for dear life in a 7-6 home win over the Cubs in the Upper Peninsula Under-19 Baseball League Tuesday evening.

After Hanson pitched six strong innings, the Indians took a 7-2 lead into the top of the seventh when things got dicey.

Caden Alworden came into pitch and walked Nick Kolich, setting the stage for some late-inning drama. After Noah Lancour popped out, Conner Aiken doubled to put runners on second and third for Tyler Lawson, who drove in Kolich with a base hit. Aiken then scored on a wild pitch and it was suddenly just 7-4. Collin Arnt then drew a walk before Hunter Lancour popped out for the second out.

Down to their final out, Grant LaMarche hit a soft grounder to third, but the throw from Riley Baldovski got away from Dayton Bernson at first base as another run scored and kept the inning alive. Riley Lamb then hit a hard ground ball to shortstop, and it took a bad hop as Hanson had trouble fielding it and another rushed throw allowed Lamb to reach and another run to score to make it 7-6. Alworden then finally got Jake Anderson to pop out to second base on the first pitch to end the game.

“I always say starting an inning with a walk is basically an automatic score,” Jurek said. “It just so happens that it puts the defense on edge, your pitcher has to go from the stretch, and it just adds so many different variables to the game and that inning in itself. So starting that inning with a walk didn’t help, and then the defense made a couple routine errors. That’s pretty much what it came down to is throwing before we fielded and not setting our feet to throw. Those are kind of errors that we’ll clean up as the season goes on that I’m not overly worried about at this moment. They’re definitely good teaching and learning moments.”

That inning overshadowed Hanson’s dominant outing in which he held the Cubs to two runs on four hits. He struck out seven in a row between the third and fifth innings and walked just two. At times it looked like he was toying with the Cubs’ young lineup, getting many of them to reach way out of the zone for his nasty curveball.

“Zach threw a gem,” Jurek said. “He was lights out, getting ahead and being very efficient with pitches. He was throwing a lot of strikes and getting a lot of guys out early in the count. He really pounded the zone and that really helped him not only get ahead and be able to throw whatever he wanted, but to also get guys swinging early in the count to get early outs and be efficient.”

The Indians jumped out to a 1-0 lead four batters in during the bottom of the first after three walks and a bunt for a base hit chased Lamb off the mound before he even recorded an out. Brett Schlenvogt came on in relief and limited the damage, leaving the score at 3-0 after the first.

“Right away we were behind the 8-ball,” Cubs manager Jon Bintner said. “Our starting pitcher can’t get an out. I think that’s the nature of the beast right now of not having that arm prep time where our guys are used to throwing all spring and getting their arms conditioned. Riley felt the effects of that. He threw a great game the other day and couldn’t bounce back.

“That hurts, especially with a pitching rotation that’s kind of short-staffed to begin with. We need guys to log innings.”

Schlenvogt allowed just one more run until the fifth inning when Dan Martin crushed a leadoff home run to right-center field. Three walks and two hit batters later, Schlenvogt left the game with the Cubs trailing 7-0. He ended up pitching 4 2/3 innings, surrendering four runs on four hits while striking out and walking four.

Nick Kolich then got the last out in the fifth and worked a scoreless sixth.

“Brett did a great job coming in again,” Bintner said. “I keep putting him in those tough spots. I think that’s the second time in two weeks he’s come in with the bases loaded and done miracles. Keeping them to three runs in that first inning where the first four batters reached base is huge.”

Bintner thought the Cubs late rally was helped along by simply being able to put the ball in play.

“We put ourselves in a position where we weren’t striking out. Every guy put balls in play, made them make plays and we got good bounces,” he said. “The third baseman throws one away, we get a bad hop and one hits the shortstop in the chest. … Things started going our way and we’re one hit away.

“I’ll say it over and over again: Jake Anderson is one guy I would want at that plate again with that chance. He’s good enough. He swung at a bad pitch and he popped out. … Next time he might be a little more patient and drive in a run or two for us. He’s a good enough player and he’s going to bounce back.”

The Cubs finished with six hits and one error. The Indians tallied just five hits but drew eight walks in the winning effort. They also committed four errors.

Escanaba, which won the junior game 13-4, visits Marquette for a doubleheader tonight beginning at 6:30. Gladstone visits Iron Mountain Thursday.