PITCHER'S DUEL: Lancour Outpitches Forrest, 3-2
Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos taken by Carter Vanbrocklin and to hear post-game commebts from Hunter Lancour and Indians Manager Scott Kwarciany. ESCANABA---Hunter Lancour threw a complete-game one-hitter with eleven strikeouts, and had the walk-off base hit in the seventh inning, leading Escanaba Cubs opened the season with a 3-2 win over the Gladstone Indians. "Everything, preety much, was working," Lancour said. "Fastballs were moving, tailing a little bit to the inside, so that was helping me out a lot. The velocity seemed like it was going up pretty good. Then the curveball was working at the same time." The only base hit Lancour allowed was a hit only in the stat book. It was a pop up on the infield by Dylan Pepin that nobody caught. It landed several feet away from the pitcher's rubber after Lancour had given way to his infielders on the play. Third baseman Jack McEvers sprinted over across the mound to try to glove it, but could not make the play. That happened in the fifth inning with Escanaba holding a 2-1 lead. Pepin stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored when first baseman Riley Lamb booted a routine ground ball that would have ended the inning. It was new life for Gladstone pitcher Drake Forrest, who completed his first year of college baseball at Bay Colege back in early May. He wasn't as overpowering as Lancour, and only had four strikeouts, but he also kept the Cubs batters off-balance for most of the night. Then Hector Araguayan, a Bay College player from Venezuela who's here for another week, punched one to right field over a drawn-in indield off his Norse teammate Forrest, bringing home Lancour and tying the game at 2-2. The Indians went out 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, giving the Cubs a chance in the bottom half. Grant LaMarche, who just finished up his first season of college baseball at Northwood University, smacked a leadoff single. LaMarche had been robbed of a two-run extra base hit earlier in the game when Gladstone center fielder Owen Trombley tracked one down to the warning track. This time, he carried the winning run, and the #9 hitter, Manistique Emerald catcher Bryce Blixt, bunted LaMarche to second base. Blixt had two hits earlier in the game for the Cubs. "I feel awesome, it was a great game," Lancour said. "When Kolich walked, I looked at Riley (on-deck batter Lamb) and I said: 'w're getting out of here after this at-bat. I called time, just trying to get into Drake's head a little bit, and he fed me a fastball right down the middle and I just gunned it through the hole." Gladstone has a new manager after Justin Jurek took a job out of town after leading the Indians to three state championships in a row, and a U.P. runner-up spot last summer in the league set up admist COVID-19. The new Indians manager is Scott Kwarciany, a local chirpractor who has umpired for 22 years but is coaching for the first time ever. Kwarciany admitted that it was a new experience, but says he's ready for the challenge. He says he was happy with Forrest's pitching, and added that his team lost for one main reason. "Our biggest problem today is that we just watched too many two-strike counts with runners in scoring position," he said. "We had seven strikeouts looking. That's big when you have runners and scoring position and it can be the difference between winning and losing." Gladstone will be in its home field Friday against Marquette at 4:00. Escanaba will also play at home against the Eastern Upper Peninsula Travelers at 6:30. Both the Cubs and Indians will play twice on Saturday as they try to advance in this nine-team Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament into Sunday's semifinal and final rounds. The schedule is posted in the below picture: |