Lawson Brothers Help Eskymos Finally Beat Braves

(Deanna Lawson photo of Trent Lawson pitching to Tyler Lawson)
 

GLADSTONE---For the seniors on the Escanaba HIgh School baseball team, Tuesday night's game in Gladstone was an opportunity for redemption. Those boys had never beaten the Gladstone Braves in their high school careers.

The Eskymos entered the game with a perfect 11-0 record, and it took a late rally to get that elusive victory over the Braves, 6-4, at Don Olsen Field.

One of those seniors, Tyler Lawson, came through in the clutch, alongside his little brother Trent, after Gladstone had rallied to take the lead with a four-run fourth inning.

In the top of the fifth, trailing 4-3, senior Bryant Maki led off with a single. He stole second, and then Casey Bray was hit by a pitch. Then the two pulled off a double steal, which was big because Jared Hanson hit a fly ball to center field that tied up the game on a sacrafice fly.

An error on a groundball b Brett Schlenvogt led to Trent Lawson singling to left field to make it 5-4, and then Tyler Lawson smacked his second base hit of the game for anotehr RBI.

Then in the bottom of the fifth, Trent Lawson, on in relief of starter Hunter Lancour, struck out all three batters. He also put up a goose egg in the bottom of the sixth, but had to hang on in the bottom of the seventh when an error and hit battsmen put two men on for the Braves.

A pop fly ended the game for Escanaba's 12th straight victory.

Early in the game, Lancour was humming along, striking out eleven batters in four innings of work (all but one of the outs recorded in those innings). He struck out the side 1-2-3 in each of the first two innings, before giving up back-to-back singles to Owen Trombley and Carter Vanbrocklin in the third inning. Lancour got Nick Martin to strike out, though, to end that inning.

The Eskymos took a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to some leaky defense by the Braves, who made five errors on the night.

The Braves put up a rally in the bottom of the fourth inning. Blake Krouth led off with a single and Braden Sundquist drew a walk. Mason LaChance singled to load the bases, then after Lancour got the next two outs, he hit Ryan Polley with a pitch to force home a run. Then Trombley got an infield hit to make it 3-2, before VanBrocklin smacked a double down the left field line to score two runs and give Gladstone a 4-3 lead.

But the Eskymos got those runs back in the top of the fifth, and then held on.

Both teams had six hits but the Braves made five errors and struck out 15 times.

Gladstone (9-5) will host Marquette on Wednesday. Game time is 4:00. You can hear the game on WCHT-FM (93.5), WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600) and rrnsports.com.

Escanaba (12-0) will host Bark River-Harris on Thursday. Game time is 5:00. You can hear the game on WUPF-FM (107.3) and www.radioresultsnetwork.com.

JV BASEBALL. Gladstone defeated Escanaba 4-0. Noah Peterson had a two-run suicide squeeze in the bottom of the fifth inning and Payton Gingras had an RBI hit. Peterson earned the win on the mound giving up one hit and striking out six in five innings. Escanaba’s Ben Johnson took the loss.