Hurons mercy Atlanta to move to baseball district semifinals
by Richard Lamb– Advance Editor
A 14-run second inning, when the Hurons sent 20 men to the plate, left no doubt about who would advance to the district semifinals Saturday. Coach Howard Madsen?s Huron baseball squad (17-11-2) belted nine hits, had six walks and benefited from two errors in the monster inning?and left three men on base. The result was a 20-5 win over Atlanta, sending the Hurons into a date with Onaway (5-16) Saturday in the second semifinal game at noon. Johannesburg-Lewiston, an 11-1 winner over Posen (see related story), faces Hillman in the 10 a.m. game at Gilpin. The game didn?t start great for the Hurons, with Hillman scoring three runs in the top of the first, largely due to Huron errors. Atlanta scored two more in the top of the third before Joe Finch?s sacrifice fly drove in Matt Peacock with the mercy-rule run. Madsen said he felt fortunate to have played in the pre-district contest, instead of having his team face a long layoff. They last played seven days before, in a doubleheader win over Alpena.
?I think it is a positive because we got to play a game?not because it was Atlanta, but because we got to play. If we had that first inning on Saturday (after a long layoff), who knows, the outcome could have been different. Hopefully, what happened to us in that first inning is over and we can move on,? Madsen said.
THE HURONS responded to Atlanta?s three-run first by scoring five in the bottom of the first inning. Isaac Freel walked and Tyler Schuiteman singled to right. John Rhode drove them both in with a hit and scored on Bret Karsten?s double. Karsten scored when Atlanta?s rightfielder dropped a flyball off the bat of senior third baseman Evan Vogelheim. Greg Peacock and Jackson Bruning were each hit by a pitch, then Vogelheim scored on sophomore shortstop Jordan Zempel?s single. In the 14-run second, Freel, Schuiteman, Rhode, Scott Kowalewsky, and Vogelheim each scored twice. Schuiteman and Vogelheim had two hits each in the big inning. Rhode had a homer, aided greatly by the Atlanta centerfielder, who had it bounce off his glove, while racing toward the fence in deep left centerfield, only to have the baseball skip out like a volleyball set, tipping it over the fence. The Hurons scored three more times that inning, with D. J. Dehring driving in two with a single. Schuiteman had three hits in as many trips, and scored three times.
Freel started and pitched the first two innings. Nick Kowalski w
MADSEN WAS able to use 17 players in the game, which started poorly, but ended with a solid Huron win. The veteran Huron coach thinks the winner of Saturday?s district has a good shot at a long tournament run. Last year a streaking Huron team marched through the district and regional tournaments before bowing out in the Division 4 quarterfinals. Hillman is ranked fourth in the latest Division 4 poll with Johannesburg coming in at number nine. Outside of Pellston, ranked number eight, no other northern Michigan team is mentioned in the coaches? poll.
Johannesburg, with veteran coach Rick Guild at the helm, travels nearly 70 miles to play in the Rogers City district instead of playing its familiar foes such as Gaylord St. Mary and Vanderbilt at a nearby venue. The three teams are each in separate districts this season with St. Mary hosting a district and Vanderbilt playing at Pellston. The winner of the Rogers City district will play the winner of the Rudyard district, which features St. Ignace, Brimley, Pickford, and Rudyard.