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FINAL FOUR SET: Cubs Implode Late; Miss Semis
 Click the thumbnails above to see photos and videos from Saturday's games on the Escanaba field. ESCANABA---The nine-team Gregg Johnson Memorial American Legion Baseball Tournament is down to its final four teams heading into Sunday's action, with two Upper Peninsula teams joining two Wisconsin teams in the semifinals. And there was almost a third Upper Peninula team in the Final Four but a slew of errors late in the last game of the day cost the host Escanaba Cubs as they lost to the Green Bay Preble Shockers, 8-5, in extra innings, under the lights at Al Ness Field.  The Cubs took care of business in the first game, beating a fiesty Copper Country Flames squad 5-3, to improve to 2-1 for the tournament. The Flames jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first two innings after RBI singles by Brandon Norkol and Gab Carlson, but Escanaba pitcher Carson Sprader pitched out of jams in both of those innings, leaving five Copper Country runners on base. Escanaba also had to play over a great defensive play by Flames left fielder Reed Heathman, who made a diving catch to rob Trent Lawson of an RBI single in the second inning. Finally, in the third inning, the Cubs rallied for four runs to take the lead against Flames pitcher Jonah Horning. Trent Lawson bunted and Byce Blixt put down a sweet bunt single and then Tyler Lawson had a bloop single to load the bases. Hector Araguyan brought one run home wuth a sacrifice fly then with two out, Grant LaMarche smoked a two-run double off the left field fence to give Escanaba a 3-2 lead. Noah Lancour followed with a shot off the third baseman's glove to make it a 4-2 game.  The win eliminated Copper Country and gave the Cubs a chance to advance with one more win on their home field. The Shockers had beat Marquette earlier in the day, 10-6, with a six-run fourth inning fueled by an RBI triple by Reese Berg, a two-run double by Lawton Bielinski, and an RBI single by Jeremy Lahnke. But Saturday night, the Escanaba defense played out of its mind during the first five innings to support starting pitcher Riley Lamb. LaMarche had given all he had in the previous game, and had a dead arm that could not go back to the hill for even a few innings against Preble. Lamb stepped up, however. He have up an RBI single to Berg in the first inning, but got out of a second-and-third jam in the second when Hunter Lancour snared a shot ticketed for the right field corner just past the bag at first base. Lancour had also ripped an RBI double in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 1-1. In the third inning, with two on and one out, Lamb was helped by a hot shot 6-4-3 double play turned by Hector Araguyan at short, Nick Kolich at second, and over to Lancour at first.  The strong Cubs defense continued the next inning when Mason Vandenbush got a two-out double for the Shockers. Alex Petosek slapped one off of Lamb's glove, but somehow Araguyan got to it behind the mound and made an outstanding throw to first base for the out. In the fifth inning, Escanaba added a run to up 4-1 when Lancour smoked a leadoff double and scored on an RBI single by Noah Lancour. But things unraveled in the sixth inning for Escanaba as Lamb started to tire and the steallar defense fell apart. Berg and Austin Renard both got base hits with two strikes on them, and a wild pitch scored a run. Lamb walked two batters to load the bases. Then Petosek, in the #8 hole, dumped a base hit to right field. Two runs scored and the Cubs threw the ball away, allowing the third run to score, giving Preble a 5-4 lead. That was all for Lamb, and that brought in Nick Kolich, wjo barely pitched during the high school season. He walked two men, and was helped by a great catch in foul territory on a pop up by catcher Trent Lawson. Then Kolich, with the bases loaded, won a long battle with Berg when he got Berg to strike out to strand those three baserunners.  In the seventh inning, Kolich walked two men and Araguyan booted a sure double play ball. But with the bases loaded, Kolich got Vandenbush and Matt Lampshire to strike out, stranding the bases loaded for the second straight inning. In the eighth inning, though, things went bad quick after Kolich got the first two men he faced with his junk pitches. He appeared to have Berg struck out again, but Kolich didn't get the call. He walked both Berg and Austin Renard on 3-2 pitches, then disaster struck as Bielinski hit one to third base, where Hunter Lancour was now playing. Lancour threw it away, however, and instead of ending the inning, the Shockers had a 6-5 lead. Then Kolich struck out Jeremy Jahnke, but catcher Trent Lawson dropped the third strike. He made the routine throw to first, but it was in the dirt, and Green Bay got another free run. And the Shockers got a third freebie when a baserunner fell down between first and second, and when the Cubs got him in a rundown, another run scored. The 8-5 loss sent Green Bay into the semifinals for a rematch with Marinette, who won all four of their games, including a 5-0 win over the Shockers. That game will be played in Escanaba at 9:45 CT/10:45 ET on Sunday. The other semifinal is the Eastern U.P. Wood Ducks against the Iron Mountain Golds. That game is in Gladstone at 9:30 CT/10:30 ET. The Iron Mountain-Soo game will be broadcast live on WZNL-FM (94.3) in Iron Mountain and on "The Breeze" stream at www.radioresultsnetwork.com. The championship game is at 1:30 ET/12:30 CT in Escanaba. SATURDAY'S OTHER SCORES Marinette 7, Gladstone 4 Bark River 2, Gladstone 0 Iron Mountain 10, Eastern U.P. 7 Eastern U.P. 12, Bark River 9 Iron Mountain 12, Copper Country 5 Green Bay 10, Marquette 6 Marinette 4, Marquette 1  |
