GLADSTONE — Escanaba’s bats were alive and well here Tuesday night in a 13-4 American Legion baseball triumph over the Gladstone Indians.

The Cubs unleashed a 17-hit attack in this match-up which lasted slightly more than three hours, including a 20-minute lightning delay after the sixth inning.

“We’ve been getting some timely hits,” said Esky manager Jon Bintner. “Hopefully, we’re going in the right direction for the zone tournament. This was definitely a good win tonight.”

Esky’s Eli Gardner and Lenny Peacock combined on a three-hitter.

Gardner, who pitched 3 2/3 innings, struck out three, walked seven, hit two batters and allowed four runs on two hits. Peacock fanned five, walked two and gave up just one hit in relief.

“Eli did a good job at times, but went to a full count too often,” said Bintner. “We get a little bit of a lead, and we’re still walking people. Lenny was a little erratic at first, although it looked like he threw hard.”

Gladstone was within 8-4 after Braden Sundquist scored on a passed ball in the fourth.

Esky answered in the fifth, gaining a 9-4 cushion on Matt Kaven’s solo home run to leftfield before Peacock made it 10-4 on a throwing error.

The Cubs added a run in the sixth and scored twice in the seventh.

Esky scored first on Jack McEver’s single to left in the first.

The Indians tied the score on Cam Kelly’s single to center in their half of the inning.

Esky responded with four runs in the second, gaining a 5-1 advantage on Gardner’s two-run double to left.

The Cubs added three in the third, hiking their lead to 8-1 on Jarret Olson’s two-run single to right.

Gladstone scored twice in the third before trimming their deficit to 8-4 in the fourth.

“Credit to Escanaba,” said Gladstone manager Scott Kwarciany. “They hit the ball, and we didn’t. I’m not trying to make excuses, but I think our guys were a little tired from the weekend. I was really impressed with their reliever. He pitched very well, and their team played well. We seem to be having that effect on people lately.”

This marked the fifth straight loss for Gladstone, which dropped four games at Antigo, Wis. last weekend.

Kaven led the Cubs with three hits. Gardner, Bon LaChance, Nick Chiu and Olson added two apiece.

Kelly pitched two innings and absorbed the loss. He walked three and gave up eight runs on seven hits before Sundquist retired the last three hitters in the third.

Both teams left eight runners on the basepaths.

“We stranded a lot of baserunners,” said Kwarciany. “It seemed like every time they hit the ball, they found the holes. We’ll bounce back at some point. We’ll just regroup, come back here and try again.”

The Indians hosted Gwinn, and the Cubs hosted Marquette Wednesday.

Gladstone travels to Menominee today, and Esky visits the Red Wave in its final regular-season game Sunday.

Indians’ centerfielder John Soderman was forced out of the contest after he was struck in the nose on a bad hop double by LaChance in the fourth frame.

Gladstone catcher Nick Martin, who will be attending Michigan Tech this fall, became the second recipient of the annual $500 Christian Groleau Memorial Scholarship in a pre-game ceremony.

In the preliminary game, Blake Tanner went 3-for-3 as the Gladstone Junior Indians defeated Esky 7-2. The winners, aided by a couple errors, scored twice on Austin Pepin’s bunt.