Dennis Mansfield | Iron Mountain Daily News Pictured above is the Escanaba Little League All-Star Minor baseball team, who won the District 10 title 6-0 over Norway in Norway July 13.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba Minor Boys’ Little League All-Stars hope to create some excitement this weekend in the state baseball tournament.

They’re fresh from earning the District 10 title in a 6-0 triumph over Norway at Marion Park July 13.

They will leave for West Branch Thursday morning, with their first game set for Friday at 5:30 p.m. against the Division 2 champion from the Kalamazoo area. The team will be staying in Bay City.

“That’s a good central location for all the teams,” said manager Brandon Gagnon. “I think it’s great to just get to the state tournament. The kids are only going to get better. No doubt, we’ll be tested.”

Esky resumes pool play Saturday at 10 a.m. against Western Grand Rapids, then faces Midland Southeast Sunday at 5:30.

“Our hitting will have to come around to keep our pitch counts down,” said Gagnon. “Defensively, we played well all week (in the district). The kids kept their heads up. They played travel ball together and developed team chemistry. We worked a lot on situational baseball in practice.”

Quarterfinals begin Monday, followed by the semifinals Tuesday. The championship game takes place Wednesday (July 27) at 2 p.m.

“It’s pretty fun to play baseball with my friends for a state championship,” said 10-year-old Braxton Bjorne, who usually plays in left or rightfield. “We’re just going to have fun and play ball. This will be a good learning experience.”

10-year-old teammate Jayce Braun does pitching and catching and sometimes plays third base.

“As a pitcher, you’re always moving,” he said. “As a catcher, I can throw a pretty good distance. We’re going to try to steal bases and get ahead, but our main goal is to have fun.”

Nine-year-old Ryder Bjorne, who plays in the outfield, prefers to play in centerfield.

“I like to be able to cover a lot of territory,” he said. “I’m happy to be going. I just hope we raise enough money to go down there. I really don’t know how they play. We just want to go down there and play hard and do our best. I’m just excited about getting to play.”

Esky had to take the long road to the district title after dropping its area tournament opener 7-6 in seven innings at Gladstone.

The Esky All-Stars led 5-1 in the fifth before Gladstone rallied to tie the score in its half of the inning.

“I think we got big-headed,” said Braun. “You never want to do that. You want to be relaxed, but not too relaxed. You want to throw strikes. The fastball is my main strength. I also want to mix it up to keep the hitters off balance.”

Esky defeated Tri-County 21-13 in the area tournament finale, then beat Gladstone 10-3 and Norway 8-4 in the district.

“We pitched by committee against Tri-County,” said Gagnon. “That was the game we had to win to get to Norway. We had to fight that one out. The kids threw strikes, and we were able to save our pitching for late in the tournament. Everything just worked out. We got the timely hits.”

Esky won the Yooper tournament prior to starting post-season play.

“Winning the Yooper tournament kind of gave us confidence,” said Braxton Bjorne. “After losing to Gladstone, we just had to pick ourselves up and give it our best shot. The district was fun. We came out of the loser’s bracket and beat all those teams.”

At West Branch, the coaches’ meeting is set for Thursday, with opening ceremonies taking place Friday morning.

The team plans to stop at Midland for a Great Lakes Loons game Saturday afternoon.