MENOMINEE---The Gladstone Indians welcomed Matt Weyers home from college on Saturday, and the 19-year-old fit right in with his younger teammates as the Indians swept the Menominee Red Wave, 3-2 and 15-3, at Menominee's Spies Field.
Weyers pitched four innings of relief and scored the winning run in the first game, then rookie Levi Cunningham picked up his first Legion victory in the nightcap.
The sweep helped the Indians improve to 5-0 on the young season.
In the opener, the game was scoreless in the fourth inning when Jared Stenson got a one-out single. He went to third base on a bad pick-off throw, and then scored on another error. Then, in the fifth inning, Neal Sabin singled and scored on a wild pitch.
Freshman Justin Jurek threw the first three innings of scoreless ball, before giving way to Weyers in the fourth. Weyers worked two scoreless innings before Menominee tied the game in the bottom of the sixth.
Sean Budzynski led off with a single. After a flyout, Landon Maccoux doubled to drive in Budzynski to cut the lead to 2-1. One out later, pinch hitter Sam Schane singled to tie the game at 2-2.
But in the top of the seventh inning, Weyers was hit by a pitch. Christian Groleau laid down a sacrafice bunt to move Weyers into scoring position. After Sabin poped out, Jurek singled Weyers home with the go-ahead run with two outs in the inning.
Weyers shut the door in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve the win. He went four innings, allowing two runs on tw hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Budzynski took the loss in relief of David Beck.
The second game did not have the drama that the first one did. Gladstone scored five runs in the top of the first inning on two walks, an error, and Gladstone hits by Groleau and Jake Pearson. Menominee got a run on a Jake Mathieu RBI single in the bottom of the second inning, and the teams traded runs in the third inning to make it 6-2.
In the fourth inning, Jurek led off with single, then Groleau singled. After a ground-out, Stenson singled home a run to make it 7-2. Pearson followed with a two-run double for a 9-2 lead. Menominee got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on a Budzynski double, but the wheels fell off the buggy for Menominee in the fifth inning.
Gladstone scored six runs in that fifth inning....without a single base hit. Six walks, three wild pitches, and a balk led to those runs scoring, making it a 15-3 final.
Groleau and Pearson both had two hits while Cody Frazer and Stenson both scored three times. On the mound, Levi Cunningham worked all five innings for Gladstone in his Legion debut. He scattered eight hits. Landon Maccoux took the loss.
Gladstone will travel to Marquette to face the Redman High School team on Monday. The Redmen are 10-9 this season after winning the Norway Invitational on Saturday, beating Stephenson and Negaunee in that event. The Gladstone-Marquette game starts at 6:30 Monday night. It will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600) and rrnsports.com.
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