Escanaba Closes Regular Season With 5-1 Victory

Click the thumbnails to see pictures taken by Sheila Olsen. Also hear radio replays of RBI hits by Riley Lamb and Nick Kolich, and see post-game comments from Jared Hanson and Riley Lamb.

NORWAY---The Escanaba Eskymos and Norway Knights played a tune-up game on Tuesday to close the regular season.

The Eskymos got two-run base hits from Riley Lamb and Nick Kolich, and three pitchers combined to throw a three-hitter as Escanaba beat Norway, 5-1, at Marion Park.

Escanaba ace Jared Hanson returned from nearly season-long arm problems to throw three dominating innings. He struck out eight batters with a blazing fastball, mixed in with a change-up that had good movement. Hanson walked two batters in the third inning but got a ground-out to end the Norway scoring chance.

Hunter Lancour pitched the next two innings, and he also had pop in his fastball. He walked two and struck out two, and gave up an infield hit, but no runs.

Then Colin Arnt, who relies on slower pitches, tossed the final two innings. He gave an RBI single to Isaac Lorenzoni with two out in the seventh inning. Arnt earned a save.

Norway, meanwhile, threw six different pitchers. The constant switching kept the Eskymos off-balance (although it was designed more to get the Knights pitchers ready for the districts). Escanaba stranded the bases loaded in both the second and third innings before finally breaking through in the fourth inning.

The Knights committed two errors to start that inning, and it looked like pitcher Carson Chartier might get out of trouble. But with two out, Lamb smacked a base hit to left field to bring home the first two runs of the game.

Then in the top of the seventh, an error and hit batsmen put two men on with nobody out. The Norway pitcher, Alex Ortman, got back-to-back strikeouts. But that brought up Kolich, and the small 5-foot-5 senior pushed a bouncing ball through the middle to bring home two runs.

It was the second hit of the game for Kolich, who was also the captain of the Eskymo hockey team this season. He had also smacked a double to the right field fence earlier in the game, and was the only player in the game to get two base hits.

Matt Zimmerman followed Kolich with an RBI double to left field to make it 5-0, before the Knights broke the shutout in the bottom of the seventh.

The result sealed Escanaba's 20th win of the season (20-6), while Norway finished 10-10-1.

Escanaba will play in the MHSAA Division Two District semifinals on Saturday against the Cheboygan Chiefs. The Chiefs closed out a fine regular season with a 24-9-1 record. Two of those wins came against Escanaba at Al Ness Field last month.

The district tournament was moved by the MHSAA from Quinnesec to Marquette Tuesday night after the Redmen elminated the host Flivvers, 4-2, in a district play-in game. So on Saturday, Marquette will face Sault Ste. Marie at 10 a.m. and the Eskymos will play the Chiefs at noon. The Eskymo game will be broadcast on FM-93.5/AM-600 and rrnsports.com.

Norway received a bye in its MHSAA Division Four district. The Knights will face the winner of the Bark River-Harris/North Central game in the championship game at 4 CT Friday in Bark River.