Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Jared Hanson pops one up against Menominee Thursday in Escanaba. Menominee’s Chad Kenny (left) looks on.

ESCANABA — Mental errors hurt Escanaba’s cause here Thursday night as it dropped a 5-3 baseball decision to the Menominee Maroons in the second game of a doubleheader.

A two-run single in the fourth inning by Hunter Lancour made the difference in the opener as the Eskymos won that contest 4-2.

Esky then committed four errors in the nightcap, including three in the fourth inning.

“They had three soft hit balls which should have been outs, and we didn’t get any of them,” said Esky coach Scott Hanson. “Good teams are going to take advantage of those.

“I’m not saying we have to play perfect. After all, this is baseball. You’re going to make a few errors, but we definitely have to cut down on those.”

Esky took a 2-0 lead on Tyler Lawson’s two-run single to left field in the second.

Menominee scored four times with two out in the fourth. Chad Kenney tied the score on a two-run single to center. The Maroons then added a pair of runs on a fielding error.

“This was a nice, quality win for us,” said Menominee coach John Byers. “The kids played hard. We had that big hit by Chad. We were aggressive at the plate. When you put the ball in play, good things happen.”

The Maroons added a run on Carter Berger’s single to left in the fifth.

Esky got within 5-3 on Jared Hanson’s infield single in its half of the fifth but was unable to get any closer.

The Eskymos outhit the Maroons 10-4 but left nine runners on base. Menominee stranded five.

“On the positive side, we put the bat on the ball,” said coach Hanson. “It’s not that we played poor baseball. We just had that one bad inning.”

Lawson led the way with three hits, and Ben Johnson added two for the Eskymos (14-4), who host Manistique in a single game tonight at 7:30 and Gladstone in a twinbill Saturday at 11 a.m.

Nick Kolich took the win in the opener. Adam Willette worked four innings and absorbed the loss in the nightcap.

“Nick and Adam pitched good games,” said coach Hanson. “Adam was throwing strikes. I felt bad taking him out.”

Willette struck out one, walked three and allowed four runs on four hits. Collin Arnt relieved in the fifth, and Brett Schlenvogt worked the sixth.

Berger went the distance for the win, striking out two and walking three.

“Carter did real well,” said Byers. “He kept his pitches in the zone and got ahead of the hitters with his off-speed. He made the pitches when he had to.”

The Maroons, who committed two errors, host Gladstone in a doubleheader Tuesday.