ROUGH WEEKEND: Cubs Finish Tourney Winless
ESCANABA---The Escanaba Cubs finished the Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament on Saturday with an 0-4 record after losing to Marinette, 17-2, and Bark River, 10-2, at Al Ness Field. The Cubs had a rough time on defense Saturday, commiting six errors in the loss to Marinette, and another four miscues in the setback to Bark River. The Cubs were competitive with Marinette despite the errors for most of the game, as Noah Lancour kept the team in it by limiting the damage. And there were some bright spots defensively, despite the numerous errors, as left fielder Schyler Andersen threw out two runners trying to score on base hits, with catcher Johnny Schlenvogt putting on the tag both times. But after Lancour walked the first two men he faced in the sixth inning, Cubs Manager Jon Bintner went to the bullpen, bringing Andersen in to pitch. He walked the first two men he faced, forcing in a run, and another came in on a passed ball, making it 7-2. But Andersen retired the next three men he faced. In the seventh inning, everything fell apart, as Andersen, and then Connor Aiken, had to endure a 30-minute long inning that saw Marinette send 16 batters to the plate, scoring ten runs, to make it 17-2. Escanaba got an RBI single from Jake Anderson in the second inning, after Zach Tyler and Zeke Strand got back-to-back hits with one out in the inning. The second Cubs run in the third inning came in on two Marinette errors. Hunter Woulf pitched six innings to earn the win and Brandon Eick tossed a scoreless seventh, striking out three batters. In the late game, Bark River scored four runs in the top of the third inning off of Cubs starting pitcher Riley Lamb, with two of the runs coming on a two-out base hit by Matt Richer. The Cubs got two runs back in the bottom of the third as Anderson, Schlenvogt, Jake LaFave, and Noah Lancour all had base hits. But that was all the Cubs could muster against Richer, who retired the side in order in both the fourth and fifth innings, The Bucs got an RBI single from Sam Hall in the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead, then put the game away in the fifth inning with five more runs. An error at shortstop allowed two of the runs to score, and Zack Englund added an RBI single. Escanaba will be on the road Tuesday against Menominee, and Wednesday against Marquette, before hosting Bark River again on Thursday. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos from Saturday's games, taken by Sheila Olsen.
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