END OF THE LINE: Escanaba Boys Fall In Regional

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos taken by Johnny Schlenvogt and to hear post-game comments from Eskymo Manager Scott Hanson.

ALMA, Mich.---The Escanaba High School baseball team had one bad inning on defense, and stranded eleven baserunners on offense, and lost to the Muskegon Oakridge Eagles, 5-2, in the MHSAA Division Two regional championship game on Saturday at Alma College.

Escanaba Manager Scott Hanson said that his team let one slip away with a couple of key defensive mistakes, combined with the lack of timely hitting with men on base.

"It was really winnable," Hanson said. "What can I say? We sent our best (pitcher, his son Jared) out there and I thought he pitched like a champ. I know one time, they hit him very hard but other hits, it was a lot of dink hits and a couple of errors, and a couple of balls that should've been caught. Those are things that we talked about earlier in the year that came back to bite us."

The Eskymos made it to this point in the playoffs by getting the hit at the right time, getting solid pitching, and making the plays on defense. On Saturday, they got the pitching, and for the nost part, the defense.

But they just couldn't get the big hit to take advantage of the six walks and hit-batsmen that the Eagles pitchers afforded to them.

Escanaba got a sharply-hit base hit from Tyler Lawson to start the game, and Collin Arnt bunted him to second base, and he went to third on an error. But Lawson was stranded there when Hunter Lancour and Bryant Maki both struck out against Eagles starting pitcher Seth Plumhoff.

Jared Hanson, still battling shoulder issues, went to the mound with hopes of making it at least four or five innings. He started off rough, walking three men in the first innings (with a missplayed foul fly ball mixed in). But he got Ty Asmus to fly to center field to end the first inning threat.

It stayed 0-0 until the third inning, when the Eskymos scored a run to take the lead. Matt Zimmerman drew a leadoff walk, then with one out, Lawson and Arnt both beat out infiled hits to load the bases. Lanocur followed with a grounder to short that brought home the first run.

Maki followed with two men on and tried to bunt his way on. That worked twice in the regional semifinal against Petoskey, but this time, it backfired when he popped it up to third base.

The Eagles tied the game in the bottom of the third when junior Corey Vanderputte smacked a double to left field to lead off the inning. He scored on an Ethan Miller RBI single. A diving catch by Eskymo second baseman Nick Kolich on a Plumhoff shot kept it a 1-1 game.

In the fourth inning, the Eskymos had a chance to grab the lead when Riley Lamb led off with a walk and Kolich bunted him to second. Ben Johnson was hit by a pitch to put two men on, and then after Zimmerman struck out, Trent Lawson drew a walk to load the bases.

That brought up Tyler Lawson, who had smoked that leadoff hit earlier. But this time, with the bases loaded, he reached for a 1-1 pitch and rolled it to second base for the third out.

In the bottom of the fourth, Hanson was overpowering on the mound, striking out the first two men of the inning with a strikeout that topped out at 89 miles per hour on the radar gun. He also got the first two strikes on Devin Jeppeson, and then things changed.

With a 1-2 count, Hanson got Jeppeson to hit a pop fly in foul ground near the third base bag. Arnt camped under it, but looking up into the sun, he dropped it. Sure enough, Jeppeson battled for a full-count walk, and then Oakridge #9 hitter Matt Danicek reached out and poked a base hit to right field on the first pitch he saw.

With two on, Vanderputte, who's best sport is football and has received some NCAA-I interest, dumped an RBI single to right field to put the Eagles in front, 2-1. Things continued to go downhill for the Eskymos as they fell for the delayed steal and another run scored.

Andy Johnston hit a bouncer to the usually-reliable Kolich at second base. But he threw it away to first base for just his third error of the season, allowing another run to score. Miller followed with an RBI single, making it 5-1, and them Plumhoff got a hit of his own, ending the pitching effort for Hanson.

Arnt came on to pitch, and hit the first man he faced, but got a fly ball to finally end the inning.

In the fifth inning, Escanaba had a chance when Lancour was safe on an error and Maki hit a pop fly that the Oakridge third baseman also lost in the sun. With two men on, Lamb flied to right and Kolich popped up, ending the threat and keeping it a 5-1 game.

Arnt gave up two hits (one of them on the infield) in the bottom of the fifth but got out of it with no runs scored. Escanaba had its last stand in the top of the sixth when Zimmerman drew another walk, and with two out, Tyler Lawson also walked.

That was all for Plumhoff, who reached his 105-pitch limit, and brought in Ty Asmus to pitch. He walked Arnt to load the bases, but for the second time in the game, Escanaba stranded the bases full when Lancour flew out to center field to end the inning.

In the seventh inning, Maki rifled a double to left field to lead off the inning. He eventually scored on a wild pitch, but another fly ball on this big field was caught, ending the game.

"It was a great season," Coach Hanson said. "If you asked me two months ago, I was questioning whether we were going to have a season (because of the coronavirus). I literally was preparing in my head that, hey, this isn't gonna happen. But we had a season, and I thought we had a great regular season. Nothing to be ashamed of there."

"These guys represented our team and our community, and our school, like champs,"
he continued. "They had a great time along the way. It had to end somewhere, I guess, and it's here. And I told the boys, if it hurts a little bit, it means you cared. It's hurting for our kids right now, but you have to let it go after a little while and you have to move on.

"We had some missed opportnuties but the sun's gonna come up tomorrow. That's baseball, and it is what it is."

Vanderputte was perfect on the day for Oakridge, with three hits (one on the infield), a walk, and two runs scored. Miller also reached base three times with two RBI hits and a walk.

Tyler Lawson reached base three times for Escanaba but did not score a run.

Oakridge, which endured a season that included a two-week shutdown due to the virus. improved to 14-12-1 overall. The Eagles played in the super-regional quarterfinal game later Saturday against Gladwin, and the game made it to the third inning before heavy rains rolled into Alma, flooding the field. The two teams will need to finish that game on Monday, with Gladwin holding a 4-1 lead.

Earlier in the day, Gladwin rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat Grand Rapids West Catholic, 7-6,, to win a regional championship.

Whoever wins the Oakridge-Gladwin game on Monday will advance to the Division Two Final Four at Michigan State University.

Escanaba finished its season with a 23-7 record. The loss capped a rough Saturday for Upper Peninsula baseball and softball teams, as Gladstone baseball team lost to Evart, 2-0, the Norway baseball team fell to Gaylord St. Mary, 3-2, and the Rudyard baseball team lost to Maple City Glen Lake, 4-3.

As for the girls softball, Escanaba's rally came up short in the end with a 6-5 loss to Gaylord. Negaunee beat Gladstone (downstate) 5-0, before the Miners had their 39-0 season end with a 3-1 loss to Charlevoix. Rudyard's softball team is the only U.P. high school team still alive after the Bulldogs beat both Norway and Ishpeming to win a regional in Rapid River.