Gladstone Sweeps Sault To Complete 3-1 Weekend

GLADSTONE---The Gladstone Indians U19 baseball team swept a doubleheader from the Eastern U.P. Wood Ducks on Sunday, 14-5 and 9-8, to wrap up a busy weekend of baseball.

On Saturday, the Indians beat Ashwaubenon, Wis., 5-4, and lost to Menominee, 12-5.

"Today was probably the best day of baseball we played this summer," Gladstone catcher Dan Martin said after the Sunday afternoon sweep. "The bats were on, we were fielding pretty well, and it was good to get some younger guys in later today, too."

Indeed, in Sunday's second game, Indians Manager Justin Jurek went to a number of junior varsity players, with the only usual starters being Caden Alworden, Ryan Polley, and Riley Baldovski.

Young Trevor Hanson got the start on the mound, and he threw six innings to earn the victory in a game that went back-and-forth all afternoon long.

"It felt good to get back up on the mound, that's for sure," Hanson said after allowing seven runs on eight hits, but walking only two batters and striking out seven. "They were hitting me, but I just kept battling back, and I guess it worked out in the end. My curveball was working, and my fastball, I was trying to hit the outside corner, but..."

EJ Suggitt's RBI single gave the EUP a 1-0 lead in the first inning before Baldovski countered with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning. Vinnie Febles connected with a solo home run to left field to put the Soo back up in the second inning, but Elijah Shier smacked an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning to make it a 2-2 game.

The Wood Ducks got a Ben Swanson run-scoring single to make it 3-2 in the third inning, but Gladstone took the lead in the bottom of the inning on hits by Baldovski and Hanson, a wild pitch, and a balk.

The Soo retied the game with a run on a walk and two grounders.

Through the first three innings, Soo pitcher Dalton Graham struck out ten batters. That's because one of the men he struck out reached base on a wild pitch on a third strike, extending the inning.

Graham actually struck out the first batter of the bottom of the fourth inning as well, before the Ducks fielders finally had to make a play on a Baldovski grounder. Hanson's RBI single, his second hit of the game, gave Gladstone a 5-4 lead.

Then Owen Trombley followed with a hard-hit base hit to make it 6-4. Then in the fifth inning, Baldovski singled home Carter VanBrocklin with the Indians' seventh run of the game.

But the EUP had the answer again, scoring three runs in the sixth inning to tie the game for the third time. Ian Earl and Dryson Bergeron had RBI singles during that inning.

The Indians regained the lead in the bottom of the seixth when Alworden was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Ryan Polley followed with a sacrafice fly.

Parker Frappier came on to pitch the final inning for Gladstone. He gave up a booming triple to Graham, and then uncorked a wild pitch to bring Graham home. Then with two out, Suggitt got a base hit, but Frappier got a pop up to end the wild 9-8 victory.

In the first game, Gladstone fell behind 4-0 in the first inning as Jack Swan walked, Ethan Mullins doubled, and Graham walked to load the bases.

With one out, Suggitt had an infield hit to bring in a run, another scored on a Jack Bachand ground ball, and the other two scored on wild pitches by Indians starting pitcher Zach Hanson.

Gladstone scored two runs without a base hit in the third inning on walks to Schwalbach and Polley, an error on a Drake Forrest bunt, and a sacrafice fly by Blake Krouth. Martin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the second straight day to force in the second run.

"I took a rib shot, I took a collarbone shot, I took a bad shot," Martin said of his weekend of being hit by pitches. "It's all right, though."

Martin came up in the third inning and got a two-run single to right field as part of a four-run inning that gave Gladstone a 6-4 lead.

The Indians put the game away with eight runs in the fifth inning that included another RBI hit by Martin, his fourth RBI of that game. Schwalbach added an RBI double, Polley singled home a run, and Zach Hanson also singled home a run during the bat-around inning,

Zach Hanson earned the win by throwing six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits and three walks. He struck out ten batters.

Suggitt pitched the first two innings before giving way to Bergeron, who was the victim of that large inning and took the loss.

SATURDAY; GLADSTONE 5, ASHWAUBENON 4---Drake Forrest scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Indians the win over the Green Bay-area team at Menominee's Spies Field.

Parker Frappier's two-run single in the first inning had given Gladstone a 2-0 lead before Ashwaubenon's Brady Wittig countered with a two-run double in the third inning. Josh Witt's sacrafice fly put Gladstone behind, 3-2.

Gladstone scored an unearned run in the fifth inning to tie it, and Dan Martin was hit with the bases loaded in the sixth to put Gladstone in front. Ashwaubenon tied it at 4 on a Witt double and an RBI single by Atticus Johnson, but Gladstone won it in the bottom of the seventh when Forrest was hit by a pitch, Riley Baldovski singled, Zach Hanson walked, and with Caden Alworden at the plate, relief pitcher Marty Kiernan uncorked the wild pitch.

Ian Schwalbach pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to earn the win. Forrest threw the first six innings and got a no-decision, allowing four runs on six hits and two wlaks. He fanned eight batters. Ashwaubenon's Luke Jacobs got a no-decision on 5 1/3 innings of work.

SATURDAY: MENOMINEE 12, GLADSTONE 5---The Indians were battered by Red Wave hitting for a second straight matchup, as Menominee improved to 17-2 on the season with the victory.

Menominee had 16 hits in Saturday's game to back up the pitching of Keagan Monroe.

They scored four runs on six hits in the first inning on RBI singles by Braeden McMahon and Austin Burnside, and a two-run double by Hunter Goldschmidt.

"He (Riley Baldovski) pitched against us last time, and we hit him pretty well," Goldschmidt said. "So, I went out there with confidence, and just swing on first pitch, usually, if it was there. He was trying to hit the outside a lot. I could tell because I looked back and the catcher was shifted over a little bit."

Gladstone trailed 5-0 in the third inning before Dan Martin ripped a bases-clearing double, closing the gap to 5-3. But the Red Wave pulled away again late in the game as Dante Sartorelli smacked a pair of triples, bringing in one run in the fifth and two more in the sixth.

Monroe threw six innings, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks. Riley Baldovski took the loss, giving up nine runs on 12 hits in five innings of work.

After the wins over EUP, Gladstone improved to 8-4 on the season. EUP fell to 1-12.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and video highlights from the weekend, including interviews with Martin, Trevor Hanson, and Menominee's Hunter Goldschmidt.