Indians Sweep Railroaders; Tourney Starts Friday

GLADSTONE---The Gladstone Indians extended their winning streak to nine games Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep of the Channing Railroaders, 7-4, and 10-0, at Don Olsen Field in Gladstone.

It wasn't pretty at times, especially late in the first game, but the Indians had enough pitching and hitting to stay undefeated since the end of the high school season.

Hayden Hardwick at the plate Tuesday.

"We've been hitting the ball well," Indians Manager Jim Groleau said. "But the kids came out flat in that first game, and we've got to correct that problem real quick."

In the opener, Channing scored first when the Railroaders got three hits and a walk off of Indians starting pitcher Justin Jurek.

Noah Berg's RBI single gave the visitors the lead, but Jurek managed to get a grounder to end the first inning with the bases loaded.

Gladstone tied the game in the bottom of the first when Jurek got an infield hit, went to second on an error, got bunted to third by Christian Tackman, and then scored on a grounder by Cody Frazer.

Jurek kept the game tied when he struck out three batters in both the second and third innings, although he had to baserunners on against him in each frame.

Cody Frazer rips a two-run triple.

In the bottom of the third, the Indians took a 3-1 lead when Jake Peterson singled, Jurek walked. Tackman bounced into a force play to remove Peterson from the bases, but Frazer ripped one to the fence to score Jurek and Tackman. It was a triple.

Little Tackman served as bat boy Tuesday.

"I think I'm gthe fastest Frazer," Frazer said with a grin. "I don't think Aaron (older brother) had many triples in his day.

"Cody (Berg) is a great pitcher. He's had his way with me more than once. I just knew that I had to hit something hard somewhere. He went on the outer part of the plate, so I went the other way with it and luckily, I found a gap."

Gladstone played some small ball in the fourth inning to build a 5-1 lead.

Jake Pearson was safe on an error, then Hunter Garling put down a nice bunt for a hit. Christian Groleau followed with a bunt single of his own, and the ball was thrown away by the third baseman, allowing Pearson to score to make it 4-1. Then, things got bizzare.

Coach Jim Groleau comments.

Peters0n struck out for the second out of the inning, but the entire Channing infield thought it was the third out, so they walked off the field together to the third base dugout.

Since it was only the second out, Christian Groleau trotted home for a 5-1 Indians lead.

"I don't think that's ever happened against us, but I've seen our team pull that off before," Coach Groleau said. "But never to allow a run to score. And that ended up being the winning run, basically. Christian was on third, and I was bascially kicking him down the line. I've never seen the pitcher and catcher walk off together like that before."

Lucas LaCosse at third base Tuesday.

Jurek was cruising along on the mound, but in the sixth inning, the Indians' defense fell apart behind him.

There were four errors in the inning, two of them by the usually-solid Frazer behind the plate. There was also a botched rundown play, which saw the Channing runner eventually score on a bunt by Cody Berg.

All of a sudden, Channing was within 5-4.

"It was an ugly inning," Coach Groleau said. "To tell you the truth, we came out with no intensity the whole game. We were lucky to be in the position that we were (with a 5-1 lead) just because we got a few bunts down and put a few runs on the board."

But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Channing made two key errors on defense, and Peterson had a clutch RBI single.

Jake Peterson RBI hit in sixth inning

"I've been working on it (hitting) a lot," Peterson said. "I had two strikes on me. I had to put the bat on the ball and make something happen. Gotta get a little closer to the plate (with two strikes), choke up, and anything close, swing to put it in play."

Gladstone's lead was 7-4 entering the seventh inning, and Christian Groleau came in to pitch for Jurek. Groleau walked two batters, but struck out Ben Reith to end the game.

Coach Groleau liked how Jurek toughed it out in this one.

Channing's 15-year-old pitcher Cody Berg.

"I would like to have pulled him out a couple batters earlier, but we had nobody loose in the pen," he said. "Sometimes, it's better to stick with what you got instead of trying to bring somebody in cold. So, we let him throw an extra ten, twelve pitches there."

Jurek got the win, allowing five hits in six innings, fanning 14 batters and walking five.

Berg took the loss for Channing, and Groleau was credited with a save.

In the second game, Garling was strong, allowing only two base hits and yielding one walk.

The Indians did not commit an error in the nightcap, so those three baserunners were the only ones the Railroaders got in that second game.

Jake Rizzo Peterson post-game comments.

Gladstone got a run in the second inning when Pearson walked, got bunted to second by Garling, and then scored on a single by Peterson.

Then in the third inning, the Indians scored two more runs on RBI hits by Frazer and Pearson. The inning was highlighted, though, by a diving catch by Channing second baseman Noah Berg, robbing Hayden Hardwick of an RBI hit.

The line drive came within inches of hitting Channing pitcher Logan O'Neil in the head.

Gladstone broke the game open with five runs in the fourth inning, with Pearson, Peterson, Jurek, and James Capidolupo all getting hits in the inning.

Capidolupo, in the #9 spot, and Peterson, in the #8 hole, both had two hits and a walk in this game.

Gladstone ended the game on the mercy rule in the fifth inning on a Channing throwing error to the plate, and on a Frazer base hit up the middle.

The Indians improved to 11-7 on the season, 9-0 since the team got all of its players after the high school season ended. Channing fell to 8-5 on the season.

Cody Frazer post-game comments.

Gladstone opens the Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament this Friday at Don Olsen Field. The Indians will face the Eastern U.P. Travelers from Sault Ste. Marie at 5:30, and then take on Petoskey at 8:00.

Both games will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and will be streamed live over the Internet at www.rrnsports.com.

"The competition is about to get stiffer," Coach Groleau said.

The Indians game scheduled for Wednesday in Menominee has been cancelled.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Lori Jurek, and to listen to highlights and interviews.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

5/1	6:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	9 - 7 (W)	1-0

5/8	6:30 PM	at Marquette Blues	3 - 8 (L)	1-1

5/18	12:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	0 - 5 (L)	1-2

5/18	3:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	14 - 3 (W)	2-2

5/19	12:00 PM	at Kingsford Legion Blues	1 - 5 (L)	2-3

5/19	2:30 PM	at Kingsford Legion Blues	4 - 16 (L)	2-4

5/23	6:30 PM	Marquette Blues	4 - 15 (L)	2-5

5/28	6:30 PM	at Channing Railroaders	1 - 5 (L)	2-6

5/31	6:30 PM	at Marquette Blues	4 - 14 (L)	2-7

6/6	6:30 PM	Ishpeming Blue Storm	12 - 0 (W)	3-7

6/8	1:00 PM	at Hancock Legion	17 - 5 (W)	4-7

6/8	3:30 PM	at Hancock Legion	15 - 7 (W)	5-7

6/10	6:30 PM	at Mid County Mavericks	8 - 3 (W)	6-7

6/13	6:30 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	3 - 2 (W)	7-7

6/15	2:00 PM	at Oconto Falls Legion	10 - 0 (W)	8-7

6/15	4:30 PM	at Oconto Falls Legion	14 - 2 (W)	9-7

6/18	5:30 PM	Channing Railroaders	7 - 4 (W)	10-7

6/18	8:00 PM	Channing Railroaders	10 - 0 (W)	11-7

6/21	5:30 PM	Eastern U.P. Travelers	3 - 2 (W)	12-7

6/21	8:00 PM	Petoskey Legion	0 - 1 (L)	12-8

6/22	4:45 PM	DePere Panthers	4 - 5 (L)	12-9

6/22	7:00 PM	Plover, Wis.	3 - 8 (L)	12-10

6/25	8:00 PM	at Escanaba Cubs	3 - 0 (W)	13-10

6/26	6:00 PM	Newberry Warriors	4 - 3 (W)	14-10

6/26	8:00 PM	Newberry Warriors	2 - 2 (T)	14-10-1

6/29	8:30 AM	at Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox	3 - 2 (W)	15-10-1

6/29	12:30 PM	at Newberry Warriors	3 - 7 (L)	15-11-1

6/30	1:00 PM	Hancock Legion	2 - 3 (L)	15-12-1

6/30	3:00 PM	Onaway Cardinals	10 - 1 (W)	16-12-1

7/3	6:00 PM	Escanaba Cubs	3 - 1 (W)	17-12-1

7/7	1:00 PM	Hancock Legion	13 - 3 (W)	18-12-1

7/7	3:30 PM	Hancock Legion	3 - 7 (L)	18-13-1

7/9	5:30 PM	Mid County Mavericks	11 - 0 (W)	19-13-1

7/11	6:30 PM	Marquette Blues	6 - 0 (W)	20-13-1

7/20	4:00 PM	Kingsford Legion Blues	1 - 5 (L)	20-14-1

7/24	5:00 PM	Eastern U.P. Travelers	6 - 4 (W)	21-14-1

7/25	7:00 PM	at Menominee Red Wave Legion	5 - 4 (W)	22-14-1

7/27	6:00 PM	Hancock Legion	10 - 0 (W)	23-14-1

7/28	12:00 PM	at Escanaba Cubs	15 - 0 (W)	24-14-1

8/1	1:30 PM	Hancock Legion	15 - 1 (W)	25-14-1

8/1	6:30 PM	at Hudson Legion	0 - 2 (L)	25-15-1

8/2	11:30 AM	Gladwin	10 - 3 (W)	26-15-1

8/2	3:00 PM	Hancock Legion	5 - 0 (W)	27-15-1

8/3	10:00 AM	Escanaba Cubs	0 - 1 (L)	27-16-1