St. Francis Ends Braves' Regional Title Streak, 9-0

BOYNE CITY---The Gladstone High School baseball team failed in its quest for a fourth straight regional championship on Saturday as the Braves lost to top-ranked Traverse City St. Francis, 9-0, in Boyne City. Earlier in the day, a suicide squeeze by Clay Cole and some strong defense gave the Braves a 1-0 win over Roscommon.

In the championship game, the Braves committed eight errors and the Gladiators took full advantage of the mistakes.

St. Francis played "small ball" right away, taking advantage of left-handed pitcher Jared Crow...and a 35-mile-per-hour wind.

St. Francis pulled off two bunt singles and three sacrafice bunts early in the game, along with an RBI double by Cooper Peterson in the first inning and an RBI hit by Conner Sweet in the second inning. Leadoff batter Gabe Callery had three hits and scored four runs for the Gladiators.

Of the nine runs scored by St. Francis against Gladstone, only three were earned.

Gladstone, meanwhile, could not get anything going against St. Francis ace Joe Muzljakovich. Tyson Seymour had a base hit in the first inning, and the Braves didnt get another baserunner until the sixth inning, when Braeden Lamberg got a two-out single to right field. The final baserunner of the game came in the seventh inning when Jack Stephenson was hit by a pitch. The Braveds never had a runner get past first base.

Gladstone finishes its season with a 29-8 record, and it was the end for eight seniors.

But the feeling was much better earlier in the day, when the Braves beat Roscommon.

Gladstone had stranded the bases loaded in the second inning, and left runners on second and third in the fourth inning.

Finally, in the fifth inning, Seymour led off with a double down the left field line. Daniel Martin's ground ball moved Seymour to third, then Cole was told to bunt home the go-ahead run.

He put down a beauty. But that wasn't the end of things. Far from it.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Bucks had runners at first and third with one out against Braves senior pitcher Brandon Cooper.

Cooper coaxed #8 batter Max Thomas to tap one to short. Freshman Zach Hanson shoveled to second baseman Ben Schwalbach for the first out, then the relay throw to Seymour at first base was in plenty of time.

It was Hanson who, on the previous play, made a diving attempt on Jeff Kuchar's base hit. He managed to get a tip of his glove on the ball, and that forced the base runner to hold up at third base. Little things mean a lot.

Cooper, who threw 92 pitches, retired the Bucks 1-2-3 in the seventh inning to seal it. The senior right hander scattered six base hits and three walks, striking out three.

Kaleb Keipert took the loss for Roscommon (24-13), pitching all six innings, allowing four base hits and that one lone run. He threw 106 pitches.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, videos taken by Laura Lamberg, and to listen to radio replays from the Roscommon game's key moments.