ESCANABA----The Superiorland men’s league championship game was held in the rain Monday night in Escanaba, and the host Mikey D’s Beer Cave team won the championship in six innings, 11-1, over the Channing Railroaders.
It's the second time in the nine-year history of the league that Escanaba won the title. The last time was in 2022. Channing was the defending champion from the 2024 season.
Elliot Danhoff pitched the whole way, allowing only three hits and striking out ten batters while working out of two bases-loaded jams thanks to his defense. Ben Snyder drove in a pair of runs with infield base hits, and Cam Kelly drove in two runs and scored three times.
In the top of the inning, Channing loaded the bases on a base hit and two walks, and Danhoff got into a long battle with Channing’s Joey Weber. Eventually, Weber popped one up and Escanaba third baseman Chase Cloutier raced over and made the catch as he crashed into the fence.
Escanaba then scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning off of pitcher Carson McLean as the rain poured down at Al Ness Field.
Channing had one more big chance, in the fourth inning, when the Railroaders scored their only run on a Kade Larson infield hit. Danhoff got a pop fly down the right field line that Mason Bower made a nice running catch on.
The rain stopped for most of the middle innings, but it came back in the sixth inning. That’s when Danhoff worked an easy top of the sixth, and then Finley came on to relieve McLean on the mound. The inning didn’t go well for the UW-Stevens Point recruit, as Finley gave up six runs on multiple walks and wild pitches. Tyler Lawson’s two-run double was the biggest hit of the inning, and the biggest hit of the entire game.
Escanaba had nine base hits in the win, and earned the right to play against the Copper Country’s Twilight League champion for the Upper Peninsula title. It’s unlikely, however, that this game will be played, with many of the players set to head off to college.
