Minor boys one win away from state, Juniors eliminated
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
The Minor Boys? all-stars kept their season going with an exciting extra inning win over Petoskey, 9-8, and are one win away from a district championship and a trip to state. The magic number for Rogers City was eight in Harbor Springs. With the score at 8-8 in the eighth inning, with the clock striking 8 p.m. Tuesday night, the No. 8 hitter, Gavin Veselenak came to the plate and singled up the middle to put the game winning plays in motion. He advanced on a passed ball and came home on a game-winning single by Cody Brownell.
The boys play again today at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Petoskey vs. Cheboygan contest (played Wednesday, past press time). Rogers City is trying to advance to the state tournament in Mattawan, west of Kalamazoo. The Petoskey contest was back and forth. Petoskey has eliminated its fair share of Rogers City?s all-star baseball team in recent years, and it didn?t look good early Tuesday night when Petoskey went up 5-0.
The Rogers City boys settled down, keeping the Petoskey bats quiet, and scoring runs. RC was up 8-5 in the sixth, before Petoskey tied the score to force extra frames. Veselenak had two doubles and two singles, Devin Milliron had two singles and a double; Brownell, two singles; Phil Grambau, single; Andrew Radke, two singles and a double. Trever Kandow got the start and was relieved by Caleb Bade and Drew Budnick, who got the win.
Sunday against Cheboygan, the boys took an easy one, 16-2. Pitching in the game was Bade, Drew Budnick and Matthew Altman, the winning pitcher. ?They are all winning pitchers as far as I?m concerned,? said coach Todd Budnick. Contributing at the plate were: Veselenak, three singles; Brownell, triple; Bade, two singles and a double; Jacob Hilla, Radke, Milliron, a double each; Drew Budnick and Caleb Budnick, single each; Grambau, sacrifice bunt. The boys defeated North Emmet, 8-5, to begin their journey in the District 13 tournament. Caleb Budnick was the winning pitcher. Also taking turns on the mound were Kandow, Bade, Drew Budnick and Jacob Hilla.
Getting hits were: Drew Budnick, two sin
THE JUNIOR Boys? all-stars went 1-2 in the tournament, defeating Sault Ste. Marie 15-5. The victory was sandwiched between a 17-7 loss to Petoskey and an 8-7 loss to North Emmet. In the lone victory, coach Cory Malocha liked what he saw out of his defense. Daniel Lemmon threw three players out from behind the plate as catcher. Alex Andrzejewski did a fine job at short and Casey Szatkowski played well at second, Malocha said. ?We had no problem hitting the ball,? he said.
Lemmon had a solo homer over the left field fence. It was straight into the wind. Jacob Malocha was 3-for-4, Alex Darga 3-for-3 and Brandon Darling was 2-for-4. One of those hits brought in the winning run to end the game early. Tournament stats follow: Paul Wilbert, 11-for-13 (2B), four strikeouts pitching; Lemmon, 9-for-13 (Hr, 2B), 10 K?s pitching; Malocha, 9-12, four RBI; Andrzejewski, 7-for-11, two RBI; Colton Fessler, 6-for-12 (2B), two RBI, three K?s pitching; Szatkowski, 4-for-12; Darling 5-for-11, two RBI; Alex Darga 6-for-11, RBI; Blake Fessler, 6-for-11.