Gladstone Looks To Take Fourth Straight Regional

PETOSKEY---The Gladstone High School baseball team practiced Friday in Petoskey as they prepared for Saturday morning's MHSAA Division Three regional semifinal game against Roscommon. The boys spent about 90 minutes hitting and throwing on the Petoskey Middle School field, with hopes of getting back here next Tuesday.

That's where the state quarterfinal game will be held, and at the very big field next door.

But to get back here, the Braves have a lot of work to do, starting with a regional semifinal game against the Roscommon Bucks at 10 a.m.

The Bucks finished fourth in the tough Jack Pine Conference in central Lower Michigan with an 8-6 record.

Roscommon won its district last Saturday with a couple of tight contests, 3-1 over Grayling, and 1-0 over Manton. The Braves (28-7) won a tight 3-0 contest over Calumet before exploding for three home runs in the title game to beat Negaunee, 11-1, in a five-inning mercy-shortened contest.

"It feels great," Braves catcher AJ Lundberg said. "It's like part of my schedule every year. It's my fourth time down here, since I'm a senior now. We have to come mentally prepared and have energy. That's one of our biggest problems, is not having energy throughout the whole seven innings of the game. If we do that, we'll be good."

"I'm a little nervous because it's our last try," Braves center fielder Hunter Botruff said. "It's going to be fun. Tough teams. We've got our work cut out for us. We've got to put some runs on the board and make some plays. We need to battle through adversity. We're not always going to hit the ball, so we've just got to manufacture runs."

"I've been down here since my freshman year," Braves pitcher Nick Trudeau added. "It's mys enior year, and I hope to go out with a bang. We have to play solid defense, and we have to keep the balls down. We've been hitting quite a few up in the air, but if we keep the balls down and get some line shots, we should be able to put some runs on the board."

The other regional semifinal pits the #1 ranked team in the state in Division Three, Traverse City St. Francis (34-3) against Cinderella story Boyne City (17-15). Gladstone Manager Don Lauscher says his team needs to focus on fundamentals.

"If we play Gladstone baseball," he said, "we can play with anybody."

Saturday's Gladstone-Roscommon game starts at 10:00 in the morning. It will be broadcast on WGKL-FM (Kool 105.5) and on-line at radioresultsnetwork.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos from the practice, and see videos with Lundberg, Trudeau, and Botruff.