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MIDLAND---The Negaunee Junior Little League All-Star (age 13-14) baseball team scored seven runs in the first inning and then had to hang on at the end, beating the Indiana State Champions from Wabash Little League, 8-6, at Plymouth Park.
Negaunee used six pitchers to get those final outs, and five of which will be available when they face the Tri-Cities Little League out of Kearney, Nebraska, on Friday.
“It got a little tighter than it needed to be, that's for sure,” Negaunee Manager Joe Hermes said. “But, cool, calm, and collected. The boys have been in a lot of situations similar, so we were in pretty good shape. We had to play the pitch count game a little bit, but we've got everybody available for tomorrow except for (Johnny) Juntti.”
Those seven runs in the first inning included three that came home on bases loaded walks, and two others scored on a dropped fly ball in left field. Max Cody and Louie Dix both had RBI singles in the rally. The eighth run scored on a bases loaded walk to Tanner Thompson in the third inning, and Negaunee never scored again.
Johnny Juntti pitched well, going 3 2/3 shutout innings before reaching 50 pitches and being pulled. That led to a caravan of Negaunee pitchers (Louis Dix, Evan Cardinal, Thomas Dix, Nathan Harvala, Eli Daavetilla). None of them went over 20 pitches.
Wabash was finally able to score with a three-run rally in the fifth inning as Negaunee pitchers walked five batters. Thomas Dix got a big strikeout to end that threat, leaving the bases loaded.
“I was ready to throw, I guess,” Dix said. “They weren't swinging much, so I was just throwing strikes to get him out. Our defense is good, so if he hit the ball, we probably would've made the play anyways.”
Indeed, the defense was strong, in particular from Cardinal, who made four plays at second base, and then caught the pop up that ended the game.
“It's a pretty nice field,” Cardinal said. “No really bad hops. Just stay down on it, keep your head down on it, and you'll be fine.”
Then in the seventh inning, Wabash rallied again, with Ethan Mahan ripping a two-run double and Reece Ritter followed with an RBI single.
Wabash 12th hitter Wyatt Selleck popped up with the tying runs on base off a Daavetilla pitch, ending the game, and allowing Negaunee to get a big sigh of relief.
Juntti allowed one hit, walked two, and struck out two, in his strong 3 2/3 innings.
“Johnny came out and he executed,” Hermes said. “He located his curveball very well and kept them off-balance.”
Cardinal, after a nice game of defense, wasn't thrilled with his pitching outing.
“That was pretty bad,” he said, after walking three guys and throwing only six strikes among his 19 pitches. But he was still happy with the win after not winning a game at the Major Baseball Central Regional last year.
“It feels good,” Cardinal said. “Great to come back again, and we're winning games now.”
For Wabash, the starting pitcher, Ryker Wilcox, did not survive the first inning, getting pulled with two out. Seven runs were charged to his pitching total. The lefty, Mahan, did a great job in relief, throwing 5 1/3 innings and allowing one run on three hits.
Negaunee moved into the third round of this ten-team tournament, which was reduced to eight teams after two loser's bracket games Thursday evening. By the time Negaunee takes the field Friday afternoon, there will be six teams remaining in the event.
Game time is set for 2:30, but it is the third game of the day on that field, so it could start later. The game will be broadcast live on FM-100.3 The Point across the U.P.
