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GLADSTONE -- The Gladstone Junior Indians battled but were unable to advance in the age 17 and under American Legion state baseball tournament here Saturday.
Gladstone's rally came up a little short in a 12-9 loss to Marquette Red, then were eliminated by the Sagola-Felch Rangers 5-2.
All the scoring in the opener took place Friday night before it was suspended due to rain and lightning in the fourth inning, then completed Saturday morning at Don Olsen Field.
The Indians (7-16), who were the visitors by virtue of a coin toss, scored three runs in the top of the first.
Marquette then took advantage of four errors, five walks and a hit batsman and scored 11 times in its half of the first.
"Errors will hurt you," Gladstone manager Pat Robinson. "I don't know if it was jitters or inexperience. For our team this was a big learning experience, especially for the younger guys. Half of this team is 15, but we improved a lot from the beginning."
Rudy Orlich gave Marquette a 12-4 advantage on a single to rightfield by Jonas Snapp in the third.
Gladstone responded by cashing in on three errors and scoring five times in the fourth.
The Indians had other opportunities Saturday, but stranded baserunners on third in the fifth and sixth frames.
"It's always a good battle between these two teams," Robinson said. "This is something we're used to. The kids have had to battle back all season. We're trying to prepare them for when they're older. You have to play good competition. You don't get better by playing weaker teams."
Gladstone opened the scoring on Oren DeWitt's single to center in the first. DeWitt then gave the Indians a three-run cushion on an error.
Marquette sent 16 hitters to the plate in the second inning which lasted nearly 40 minutes, during which Preston Cromell's single to left drove in two runs and Easton Juzewicki added an RBI single to left.
Braylon Robinson led the Indians with two hits, including an RBI infield single in the fourth.
Both teams pitched by committee with Lancour taking the loss.
In Saturday's loss to Sagola-Felch, the Indians scored a run in the top of the first before Jason Graham's solo shot to left tied the score in the bottom of the inning.
The contest was tied 2-2 in the fifth before scoring on a double to Xavier Liepzig. The Rangers then added a pair of runs on wild pitches.
"That was huge after making a few baserunning mistakes in the third," S-F manager Mike Larson said. "It was a good ball game. It was nice to tie it at 1-1. That brought a lot of momentum on our side."
Among Gladstone's highlights this season took place in Sault Ste. Marie where it won four games.
"We're going to schedule a few more games and keep playing," Robinson said. "We played much better defense than we did last (Friday) night. We had a huge play at second by Braylon who threw a guy out at the plate."
In another Friday night contest, Menominee blanked Gaylord 10-0 in four frames during which Urijiah Linsmeier fanned seven and allowed one walk and a hit through three.
"Overall, our guys gave a pretty good effort," Menominee manager John Jasenovsky said. "I'm very happy with our defense."
Tyler Bouty singled and scored a pair of runs for the Red Wave.