Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Landon Pepin, Gavin Winters, and both team's managers.
GLADSTONE---The Gladstone Braves and Iron Mountain Mountaineers baseball teams braved the cold, windy conditions Thursday night to play a rather entertaining game at Don Olsen Field in Gladstone. The Mountaineers played their best game of the season, especially defensively, and led 2-0 entering the final inning.
But the Braves bounced back with their backs to the wall to score twice to send the game into extra innings, and then pulled out a 3-2 win on a walk-off double by sophomore Landon Pepin with the bases loaded.
The second game saw Gladstone score three runs in the first inning and cruise by the Mountaineers, 11-1, in a game shortened by the mercy rule to four innings.
But that first game was an outstanding battle between two teams that have struggled this season. Iron Mountain came in with a 2-7 record, with both wins coming against L'Anse, and Gladstone was 6-9 but riding a four-game losing streak.
“Big moments force you to step up, and we did today,” Braves Manager Tyler Swanson said after his team's second extra-inning, come-from-behind win of the season. “I'm glad to see it. I would have liked to see it before extra innings, but we'll take 'em any way we can get 'em. We put the ball in play, but they made every play that was hit at them, so credit to them. They made the plays they needed to make to keep it close.”
Iron Mountain Manager Mike Pickett was happy with his team despite the tough loss.
“We've been working towards this,” Pickett said. “I knew they had it in them. We just needed to change the attitude. They've got the talent, and it shows today. I'm glad they came out and played. We're coming around, we're putting the team together, and we're playing.”
Mountaineers pitcher Max White threw three perfect innings to start the game: nine up, nine down. Brayden Kassin came in to throw from there, and had runners reach base against him in every inning.
In the fourth inning, Pepin got a one-out single to break up the “no-no” and with two out, Carter Sanville got a base hit, but Pepin was thrown out at third base by IM center fielder Charles Anderson. In the fifth inning, Kassin hit two batters with pitches, but he got a 1-4-3 double play off the bat of Chuck Cameron to end that threat.
Meanwhile, Cooper Sanville was humming on the mound for the Braves, striking out 12 batters and allowing only three base hits before maxing out at 105 pitches with two out in the sixth inning. An RBI single by Gavin Winters gave IM a 1-0 lead in the first inning, then Connor Pickett singled and scored on an error in the third inning,
It looked like that 2-0 lead would hold for the Mountaineers, but the Braves didn't give up. Cooper Sanville drew a one-out walk, and Pepin flew out to center field. Aiden Burie came through with a run-scoring double to center field to bring home the first Gladstone run, and then Carter Sanville's pop fly base hit brought home runner Braylin Carter.
Carter Sanville was thrown out trying to adavance to third, so the game went to extra innings, and Nick Proehl was brought in to pitch for the Braves while Kassin continued for the Mountaineers.
The seventh inning was quiet for both teams, but the eighth inning was far from it. In the top of the eighth, the Mountaneers loaded the bases when Proehl walked two batters and hit another with a pitch. But he bounced back to get a pop up and strike out, leaving eth bases full. The Mountaineers stranded ten men on base in the game.
In the bottom half, Vinny Rebholz beat out an infield hit. Number nine hitter Quinn Carlson was asked to bunt the winning run into scoring position, but he fouled off both bunt attempts. With two strikes on him, Carlson lifted a blooper into center field for a single, giving the Braves two men on base with nobody out.
“He obviously didn't execute that, but it worked out,” Swanson said. “Quinn came up big for us.”
Kassin then hit Cooper Sanville with a pitch to load the bases, bringing up Pepin in a game-winning situation. And the sophomore delivered with a shot over the left fielder's head for a walk-off run-scoring double.
“Fastball, a little inside, and I just turned on it,” Pepin said. “I was just thinking about all of the off-season work I've put in, and made sure that, you know, I'm the guy, and I got it done. All year, we've kind of been like that (not getting enough hits to build a lead) and we've been trying to figure it out as a team, how we can get better and find the barrels. And towards the end there, we got it going.”
The Mountaineers played strong defense all night, especially from freshman catcher Gavin Winters. Winters was solid behind the plate, blocking everything.
“I had a good game back there,” Winters said. “Nerves don't really get to me too much. It was definitely a fun game. I did my best. We were all just thinking: no errors. We all played great. Everyone played amazing defense. Best game we've ever played (this season). Made a lot of great plays. Stopped them on the base.”
In the second game, the Braves pounded out 14 hits and won on the mercy rule. Xavier Leipzig had three hits and drove in three runs, and he pitched all four innings, allowing only one run on four hits. Carter Sanville contributed three hits, while Proehl and Rebholz both had two hits. Charles Anderson took the pitching loss on the mound, and Lane Wender finished the game for the Mountaineers.
Gladstone (8-9) continues its homestand next week with games on Tuesday against Menominee, Wednesday against Negaunee, and Thursday against Marquette.
Iron Mountain (2-9) has a rivalry game at home next Monday against Kingsford.
