Adam Hinch Daily Press Escanaba’s Eli Gardner singles in Wednesdays game against Marquette.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba Eskymos baseball team clinched a share of the Great Northern Conference championship Wednesday night defeating the Marquette Redmen 4-1.

The Eskymos relied on youth in this game with all the seniors unable to attend because of scholarship awards night. The team stepped up big Chase Cloutier was three for four with two runs scored, Bon LaChance was two for two with a run scored and got the win on the mound.

The Eskymos scored the first run of the game on a RBI single by freshman Nolan Bink to give Esky the early 1-0 lead.

“We wanted to get on them early it was an important game for us and the team stepped up with the seniors gone,” Bink said.

Marquette tied the game in the second inning on a RBI single by Gib Jezewski. The Redmen’s next two batters both struck out to end the inning.

The Eskymos loaded the bases in the third inning but only got one run across with Bink scoring on a single by freshman Lennox Peacock that gave the Esky a 2-1 lead. The Eskymos left eight runners on base in this game that stat usually doesn’t work in your favor.

The Eskymos added another run in the fifth inning after a double by Bon LaChance. Peacock reached on a bad throw to first base that allowed LaChance to score. “It felt good the pitcher was having a hard time locating the breaking ball and i just got on top of one,” LaChance said.

The Eskymos got one more across in the sixth inning after a single by Chase Cloutier, Eli Gardner got the RBI on a single that gave Esky the win.

“It felt good out there we did what we had to do to win this game now we gotta get ready for districts next week,” Cloutier said.

The victory gave the Eskymos a split with Marquette this season and a share of the conference title for the third consecutive season. “Proud of the kids they worked hard plated small ball did what you have to do to win a game. The freshman got some more good experience going into districts. The GNC title is nice but I’ld rather win districts and its even a little more special with us hosting them this season,” said Eskymos coach Scott Hanson.

“We committed to many errors and didn’t hit the ball well we lacked on the fundamentals of the game and we will have to work to fix that going into districts, said Marquette coach Mark Paanti.

The district tournament in Escanaba is set for Friday June 2, starting at 10 a.m.