Esky Grinds Past Sault, Cheboygan To Win District

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to listen to post-game comments from Lenny Peacock, Chase Cloutier, Mikaiden Hughes, and Manager Scott Hanson.

CHEBOYGAN----The Escanaba High School baseball team slipped past the Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils and Cheboygan Chiefs on Saturday to win the Eskymos' first district championship in three years.

The Eskymos were in a pitcher's duel with the Sault before pulling away in the final inning to win, 6-0, and then in the title game, Escanaba took advantage of Cheboygan mistakes to post a 5-2 win. This after the Eskymos lost in extra innings in both 2022 and 2023.

"Our kids stepped up and made plays," Escanaba Manager Scott Hanson said. "We were battle-tested by our schedule. When we played the Sault game today, it was nothing that we haven't seen all year. We came up short the last two years. But I will say that it's obviously great for this group. But also for the kids from those teams."

"Kids were telling me this morning that they were getting texts from kids (previous Eskymo players). Losing two years in a row by one run left a sour taste in our mouths. I'm absolutely going to enjoy this. I'm really proud of the kids."

Escanaba senior Chase Cloutier was emotional.

"It's pretty incredible," the future Bay College Norse said. "We've been waiting two years for this. We lost in extra innings the past two years. Put in all the work that you can imagine, off-season, during the season. It just feels amazing."

The battle between Escanaba and Sault Ste. Marie was a classic, much more than the 6-0 final score shows. It, in fact, was eerily similar to the Escanaba-Cheboygan game two years ago that went nine innings before the Eskymos lost a 1-0 gut-punch in which both teams played high-level baseball. And that was only after Hanson's son, Jared, now a Central Michigan University pitcher, barely outdid the Soo's Garrett Gorsuch, who was then, a freshman.

Escanaba won that game in 2022, 2-0, as Hanson dominated with 15 strikeouts and Gorsuch struck out nine, with both runs against him unearned.

Well, Gorsuch was on the mound again Saturday for the Blue Devils, locked up against Eskymo sophomore ace pitcher Lenny Peacock. And it was just as much fun as that 2022 game was, with both Gorsuch and Peacock matching each other pitch-for-pitch early on.

In the top of the third inning, though, Ashton Rymkos battled through a long at-bat with multiple foul balls before ripping a single to left field. With one out, Nick Chiu poked a blooper off the right field line for a hit.

With two out, it looked like Gorsuch would get out of the inning when Eli Gardner bounced one to third. A bad throw to first, though, brought in an Escanaba run. And that would be the only run for a long time, with Peacock in complete control.

Peacock carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Brent Maurer singled to break it up for the Soo. He was bunted to second, but Peacock struck out Ethan Cook to end the inning.

"We have a great group here," Peacock said. "We went out and battled. Our team played flawless. There's nothing more I can say about it. I can say that I pitched pretty good game."

Peacock is right. He himself was dominating, with 13 strikeouts against a Sault High team that had a 23-8 record for the season. But the defense was perfect, with Nick Chiu making two catches in deep center field early in the game. And the play of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Peacock hit Avery Wilson with a pitch.

Wilson, one of the fastest runners in the U.P., tried to steal second, but he was thrown out by Escanaba freshman catcher Mikaiden Hughes. On the next pitch, Peacock struck out Ethan Chambers, leading to an emotional mob scene in the dugout.

"That was absolutely huge," Hanson said. "What a great job he's done for us ."

"My first throwdown wasn't the best because I was off-balance," Hughes said. "But that was really nice, to get one of their fastest kids, and in a big moment, because a base hit would have got him in. He (Coach Hanson) said maybe pitch-out, but I just said I don't know if he's (Wilson) gonna go again. Then, he went again, and we just called fastball and we got him out."

Then, in the top of the seventh inning, Gorsuch started to lose it. He hit Brody Ison with a pitch to start the inning, then Rymkos bunted Ison to second base. Nolan Bink drew a walk, and on a stolen base attempt, the throw went into center field, and Ison scored.

Then Chiu reached out and got a base hit to right field to give Escanaba a 3-0 lead, ending Gorsuch's day on the mound. Odin Medrick came in to pitch, and got the second out, but an RBI single by Ben Johnson and a two-run single by Bon LaChance made it a 6-0 game.

All that was left was for Peacock to finish things, and he did, with three straight strikeouts. He finished the game with a one-hitter, and 13 strikeouts. Just like Jared Hanson.

In the first semifinal, Kingsford was favored against the sub-.500 Chiefs, but Flivvers ace pitcher Gavin Trevillian could not pitch through a painful back injury. His walks and hit batters in the first two innings staked Cheboygan to a 3-0 lead, and the Chiefs eventually built an 8-3 lead with a huge two-run hit in the fifth inning by Luke Munger,

Cheboygan struggled to play infield defense, making six errors, and helping Kingsford to score six unearned runs. But with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh inning, relief pitcher Charlie Godfrey got Nolan Hendrickson to fly out to end the game.

Kingsford ended its season with a 19-12 record, and Cheboygan was back to .500 with an 18-18 record heading into the title game against Escanaba.

And that title game was not very exciting at times, with the Eskymos taking an early lead thanks to more shoddy Chiefs defense. But inning after inning, the Eskymos had men in scoring position and could not score beyond the 4-0 lead they got early against Chiefs pitcher Dylan Balasovic.

Chase Cloutier's two-run single with two out in the second inning gave the Eskymos that early cushion for LaChance, who had to grind his way through 4 1/3 innings on the mound.

LaChance allowed only two hits, and struck out eight batters, but he repeatedly got himseff into trouble with walks. He ended up walking six of them, and left the mound in favor of Cannon Arnt with two on base in the fifth inning of a 4-0 game.

Arnt gave up an RBI single to Sean Postula, and he hit a batter, but with the bases loaded, he struck out Nolan Schley to end the fifth inning.

Cheboygan, though, had one more stand in the seventh inning against Eskymo closer Ben Johnson. Johnson got the first man he faced in the inning, but he walked Balazovic, and with two out, Postula was safe on an error. Then Johnson walked Blake Blaskowski to load the bases.

Schley followed with a solid base hit to make it a 5-2 game, and the Chiefs had the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate. Johnson, though, coaxed James Charboneau to ground into a force play to Arnt at third, ending the game, and setting off a huge celebration.

And just like that, three years in the making, the Eskymos, with an 18-14 record, were headed back to the regionals, after an up-and-down season that saw them get shut out six times.

And even on Saturday, the winning runs in both games were unearned.

But all of that that becomes irrelevant because the Eskymos will now play in the regional semifinals Wednesday against Petoskey (24-13).

"We get to keep playing baseball," Hanson said. "Hey, you win one game, you get the chance to play next weekend (in the Super Regionals). We'll do what we can to win one at a time here. We just need to enjoy it, and soak it all in. We've had our ups-and-downs, but we got what we wanted today."

"We had a tough schedule this year," Cloutier said. "We played some tough teams. That was good for this moment. We had some rough games. But what only matters right now, this time of year, when you need to step off. And it paid off today."

Wednesday's game between the Eskymos and Northmen is scheduled for 4:00 Wednesday afternoon at James Field in Sault Ste. Marie.