BOMBS AWAY!!! Braves Go Deep; Capture District

NEGAUNEE---The Gladstone Braves exploded for three home runs and beat the Negaunee Miners, 11-1, to win the MHSAA Division Three district championship on Saturday in Negaunee. The victory came after Jared Crow threw a no-hitter as the Braves beat the Calumet Copper Kings, 3-0, in the district semifinal game.

It was Gladstone's fourth straight district championship, and the Braves will try to win their fourth straight regional title next Saturday in Boyne City. Gladstone will face Roscommon in the opener at 10 a.m., and Boyne City will take on Traverse City St. Francis at noon.

In Saturday's district semifinal game, it was a good thing that Crow threw as well as he did, because the Braves couldn't get anything going against Calumet pitcher Robert Hill.

Gladstone had only two base hits in the game, one of them by Crow.

Tyson Seymour's base hit led off the fourth inning. He stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and stole home when Cooper Cavadeas intentionally got caught in a rundown off of first base. The other two runs came in the sixth inning, and were unearned.

Hill struck out Cavedeas to seemingly end the inning, but the ball got away back to the screen and Cavedeas reached base. Hanson followed with a walk, and then Crow's fly ball was dropped in left field. Two runs scored on the play, making it 3-0.

Crow allowed only two base runners (one walk, one error) and struck out nine batters.

In the championship game, senior Ben Schwalbach got the Braves on the board with a solo home run to left field in the second inning.

Another senior, Hunter Botruff, delivered a two-run double into the left field corner to make it a 3-0 Gladstone lead.

Then in the third inning, Braves junior Owen Hanson launched a grand slam home run to left field to make it 7-0.

And icing on the cake was a two-run homer by Lucas Weinert.

Senior Nick Trudeau earned the pitching win, throwing four innings, allowing just two base hits and one walk. The only run against him scored on a play that featured a comedy of Gladstone errors: four of them in both the infield and outfield.

Senior Brandon Cooper pitched the fifth and final inning, walking two batters, but getting three fly balls as the rain started to pour down.

Mark Anderson took the loss for Negaunee, allowing seven runs on six hits in two-plus innings. Tylor Robinson allowed three runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Gladstone (28-7) will host Bark River-Harris in a scrimmage on Tuesday night at 6:00 to get both teams ready for their respective regional tournaments. Then the Braves will leave on Friday for the regionals in Boyne City, with the game at 10 a.m. It will be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (Kool 105.5) and at www. radioresultsnetwork.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Laura Lamberg, and hear radio broadcast replays.