STAYING ALIVE: Indians Top Gaylord, Menominee

GLADWIN, Mich.---The journey through the loser's bracket of the American Legion Baseball state tournament continued on Saturday for the Gladstone Indians as they beat Gaylord, 6-2, and then topped Menominee, 9-6, to force a decisive game to determine the state champion. That game will be played Sunday morning in downstate Gladwin.

The Indians have now won four straight games in less than 24 hours, following a 2-0 loss to Menominee in the tournament opener last Thursday afternoon.

The last lower peninsula team left in the tournament fell to a motivated Gladstone team in Saturday's first game as an energized Tyson Seymour threw for the first time in more than two weeks, and handcuffed the Strikers on seven hits.

The game was tied 2-2 in the fifth inning when Ben Schwalbach led off with a double. He was bunted to third by Noah Olsen, and scored on a bunt by Jack Stephenson.

Then in the sixth inning, Braeden Lamberg, Seymour, and Schwalbach all had RBI singles. Both of the runs against Seymour were unearned.

Brendon Mendolia took the loss, allowing four hits and walking seven. He also hit two batters, and struck out six. Drew Long threw the final two innings, allowing three hits.

That set up a Yooper Bowl match-up between the Indians and Red Wave, and early on, it looked like Gladstone would win easily. The Indians hit Menominee pitcher Jason Janquart hard, scoring six runs on ten base hits. Five of them were extra base hits.

In the first inning, Lucas Weinert got a one-out double and scored on a triple by Hunter Garling. Then Schwalbach doubled home Garling. In the second inning, Ian Schwalbach ripped a double and scored on a sharply-hit single by Owen Hanson.

Then in the third inning, Ben Schwalbach singled home another run and Ian Schwalbach drove in two. So, it was 6-0, and Hanson was in cruise control on the mound for Gladstone.

But the Red Wave, last year's state tournament runners-up, didn't fold. Nathan Nowack smoked a two-run homer in the fourth inning to give his team some life. Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Red Wave scored four runs to get even.

With one out, Janquart was hit by a pitch, and Jesus Becerra followed with his second straight base hit.

With two out, Nowack came through with another big hit, this time, an RBI single, to make it 6-3. Bryce Tharp kept the rally going with a two-run line drive past Garling in center field. The momentum was clearly with the Red Wave there.

Jake Rivard, who sits the bench for the Red Wave as their only "extra" player came up with a solid base hit to tie the game. It was his second straight hit as well.

In the top of the seventh inning, with their season on the line again, the Indians clawed back as Olsen smacked a single with one out. Stephenson put one down, and Janquart came off the mound and threw wildly into center field. That put two on.

Janquart rebounded to catch Ian Schwalbach looking on a called third strike, but with two out, Hanson worked the count to 2-2, and after fouling off several pitches, he launched a three-run homer over the left field fence to make it 9-6.

Hanson worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inning, and four the fourth time in just over 24 hours, the Indians fought off elimination.

And now, there will be a winner-take-all state championship game on Sunday between Gladstone and Menominee.

This game will be interesting, with both teams having to go deep into their bullpens because of the new pitch count rule.

Game time is 11:00 Eastern/10:00 Central in Gladwin. The game will be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (105.5) in Delta County, and WHYB-FM (103.7) in Menominee. The game will also be live streamed at www.radioresultsnetwork.com/kool-105-5/.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, video highlights taken by Laura Lamberg, listen to radio replays, and to hear our post-game interview with Owen Hanson.