FANTASTIC FINISH! Indians Rally To Beat Hudson

GLADWIN, Mich.---The frustration was building and the amount of time to save the season was dwindling for the Gladstone Indians American Legion baseball team on Friday at the Class A state tournament in downstate Gladwin.

After dropping a 2-0 decision to Menominee on Thursday, the Indians struggled against the Copper Country Flames in a loser's bracket game Friday morning, before pulling away late to win, 8-0.

And as the outs added up in Gladstone's second game of the day against Hudson, it wasn't pretty inside the Indians dugout.

The Indians trailed the defending state champions, 4-0, in the fifth inning.

But things turned around in a big way over the next 30 minutes or so, and when the dust settled, Gladstone had rallied to pull off a stunning 10-6 victory at Wimont Stadium.

Lucas Weinert, Braeden Lamberg, and Tyson Seymour all came through with two-run base hits, and Ben Schwalbach launched a 382-foot-long home run to center field, as the Indians kept their state championship dreams alive.

"We kind of got into a fight yesterday, arguing with each other, and I think that kind of helped us out," Schwalbach said. "We preservered through it, and I think we're going to play a lot better now. You can feel it. Everyone's talking more, everyone's happy, everyone's smiling, everyone's having fun. And it shows out on the field, too."

GLADSTONE 8, COPPER COUNTRY 0----

There's a lot about baseball that's contagious, both good and bad. And we saw both for the Indians in both games on Friday.

Against Copper Country, the Indians had the bases loaded with no outs in the first inning and couldn't score. They also had two men thrown out on the bases during another botched suicide squeeze attempt.

But Lamberg had three hits and four runs batted in, including a two-run single in the fourth inning that turned a 1-0 game into 3-0, shifting momentum to Gladstone.

"It feels nice," Lamberg said. "I'm really just trying to put the ball in play. Our whole team has just been popping it up, and I feel like I've been the one hitting the ball on the ground more often, and getting on base. So, that's been working for me."

Jack Stephenson also had a big game, cracking a double in the fourth inning and a two-run single in the seventh inning. That's when the Indians finally broke the game open with a five-run rally off Flames reliever Carter Couch.

Couch replaced Carter Nettell, who threw into the fifth inning, allowing three runs.

Copper Country had to go without two key players: Kevin Bostwick, who had a bad back, and Logan Fish, who fouled one off his ankle early on and could not continue.

Indians pitching ace Elliot Danhoff threw all seven innings, allowing just four hits and striking out eight batters.

GLADSTONE 10, HUDSON 6---

That win, followed by Hudson's 11-2 win over Gladwin, set up a win-or-go-home game between the Indians and the defending state champions.

Brandon Cooper was on the mound for Gladstone, and he was hit hard all day long, allowing 13 base hits, many of them sharply-hit. But the crafty righthander was able to keep damage to a minimum in those Hudson rallies early in the game, at least giving the Indians a chance to rally late in the game.

Gladstone trailed, 4-0, as Blake Borcke had a sacrifice fly in the first inning, and pitcher Chad Sommers helped his own cause with an RBI single in the fourth inning.

Then in the top of the fifth inning, Hudson got a run on a bases-loaded balk (yes, a "balk", not a "walk"), and an RBI single by Scott Boden.

The Indians started to rally, however, in the bottom of the fifth.

Noah Olsen, who made two excellent plays at third base, led off with a double. The Indians got a big two-run base hit from Lucas Weinert, and a third run scored on a wild pitch.

It stayed 4-3, however, when Hunter Garling was intentionally walked and Tyson Seymour drew a four-pitch walk.

With the bases loaded, Schwalbach popped up., temporatrily ending the threat.

Cooper was able to work a quiet sixth inning, and in the bottom half, things fell apart from Hudson, as the Indians took advantage of a couple of controversial calls on close plays on the basepaths. And it was Lamberg, again, who came through with the big hit, ripping one up the middle, off the pitcher's glove, and into center field.

That scored two runs, and made it a 5-4 Indians lead.

After Garling was intentionally walked (again), Seymour came through with a shot to center field just out of the reach of a diving outfielder.

A run scored, making it 6-4.

"This whole tournament has been a bust for me, really," Seymour said. "When I hit that one, it felt nice. And I feel like we can carry this on tomorrow, and everybody's gonna be hitting."

Then the Indians tried to steal a run, with Garling coming down the line from third as Seynour stole second. Garling scored as the ball came free in a jarring collission with the catcher, and Seymour went to third. Schwalbach was due next, and he launched a home run over the 375-foot center field fence. All of a sudden, it was a 10-4 lead.

"I think it (the count) was 3-1, and he left the ball in the middle of the plate," Schwalbach said. "It felt good swinging into it, and I think it went about 380. Everything bad that's happened this weekend, I think I took it out on that ball. It definitely showed!"

Cooper gave up two runs on two hits and an error in the top of the seventh inning, but the outcome was no longer in doubt. The Indians survived in dramatic fashion!

Gladstone will take on Gaylord at 11:00 Saturday morning for the right to face Menominee in the final round. The Gladstone-Gaylord game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos from the game against Copper Country, and listen to post-game interviews and radio replays from the victory over Hudson.