Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Bon LaChance and Jake Mileski.

ESCANABA---The first three games of the American Legion Baseball season for the Escanaba Cubs has been a case of “oh, so close”. In all three games, the Cubs had big leads on the scoreboard only to lose at the end by one run.

That changed late Friday night on one swing of Bon LaChance's bat, and one running catch in left field by Jake Mileski.

The Cubs fell behind the Plover Black Sox from Wisconsin, 6-1, but scored eight unanswered runs, four of them on a monster grand slam home run by LaChance over the left field fence to get their first win of the season, 9-7, at Al Ness Field.

And then, with runners and second and third for Plover in the sixth inning, Tim Sackmann's line drive ticketed for the left field corner was caught by a running Mileski as the rain poured down. That prevented Plover from tying the game, and moments later, the tournament's two-hour time limit came into effect, ending the game.

“First pitch, I'm just looking fastball,” LaChance said. “I just wanted to unload on everything. Like everything I have. I haven't seen a curve ball, or anything off-speed. I was just making sure I get nice load, get a nice easy swing. That gets the job done.”

“(Nick) Chiu was out there, talking to the outfielders, making sure we're on our feet,” Mileski said. “He was just reminding me to be ready for it. Bintner (Coach Jon) always tells us to expect it and be ready for the ball. When he hit it out there, it was looking like I wasn't going to get there. I lost it in the lights there for a second. But I was able to get the glove down and snag it. It felt good.”

Chiu had an even more impressive catch earlier in the game when he robbed Hammarle of extra bases in the third inning with an all-out dive. Chiu caught the ball and slid a good 20 feet on the wet grass. He also had an excellent running catch on a pop fly in the fourth inning with two men on, running from deep center field to catch it just behind the edge of the infield dirt. That catch also saved at least one run, perhaps two.

The result did not change the standings in Pool B, however. The Cubs, Black Sox, and Niagara all finished the rain-shortened tournament with 1-1 records, but Plover gave up fewer runs per innings played than the other two teams did. So, Plover will face Sheboygan in one semifinal on Sunday, while Gladstone and Norway meet in the other.

Earlier, the Black Sox jumped off to a 4-0 lead in the first inning as the Cubs made two errors and Lucas Hammerle and Adam Noskawick each cashed in with two-run singles against Escanaba starting pitcher Adrian Mercier.

The score was 6-1 in the fourth inning when the Cubs scored three times, two of them on a long double to the center field fence by Ashton Rymkos. And then, in the fifth inning, an error, infield hit, and walk loaded the bases. LaChance unloaded them.

“It felt very good,” LaChance said. “I felt very excited with it. That feels a lot different. A lot more accomplishment about that one.”

Cannon Arnt picked up the win in relief on the mound for Escanaba. Hammerle went the distance for the Black Sox and took the loss. But Plover, a team from the Stevens Point area more than three hours away from Escanaba, will have a chance to defend the tournament championship it won last year.