PERFECT NO MORE: Broncos Stun Eskymos, 11-3
ESCANABA---The Bark River-Harris Broncos had timely hitting and took advantage of seven Escanaba errors and seven walks to post an 11-3 baseball victory Thursday at Al Ness Field. It was Escanaba's first loss of the season after opening the season with 12 straight wins. It was also just the second win for BR-H over Escanaba in program history. Nick Javurek handcuffed the Eskymos to just one run over the first five innings, and the defense was good behind him. He tired in the sixth inning and the Eskymos scored two runs before Max Hall was brought in to finish the game on the mound. "This means a lot," Javurek said. "You know, we're the small school out in the farms. But we have a lot of confidence and Coach Botwright has us playing good. We swung the bats real good. This feels so good to beat Esky." Bark River-Harris broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with four runs. Escanaba pitcher Collin Arnt walked three batters to load the bases, then Johnnie Robinette made him pay with a two-run single. Carter Zawacki and Max Hall followed with RBI hits, and all of a sudden, BR-H led, 4-0. Escanaba got a run back in the bottom of the third on a RBI bounceout by Trent Lawson, but the Eskymos stranded two men on base. Then in the fourth inning, with Trent Lawson pitching, the Eskymo defense sprung a leak committing three errors, two of them on the same play. Lawson also hit two straight batters, then Robinette and Zawacki came througfh again with RBI hits to make it 9-1. Escanaba trailed, 11-1, in the sixth inning, but avoided the mercy rule when Adam Willete singled in a run, and another scored on an error. "Yeah, I was getting tired out there," Javurek said. "I mean, I threw 97 pitches. I haven't thrown that many in a long time." Carter Hudson finished up on the mound for Escanaba. Robinette ended up with three runs batted in and Zawacki had three hits. Escanaba (12-1) will try to regroup on Saturday when they host the Cheboygan Chiefs in a doubleheader in a preview of the upcoming district tournament. First pitch is noon. Bark River-Harris (11-3) travels to a tournament in Newberry on Saturday. |