Gladwin looking to find strides, split with Beavers
Gladwin’s Jake Shell pumping smoke from the mound for the G’s against their rivals, the Beaverton Beavers.
GLADWIN – Gladwin and Beaverton went at it in Flying G country and each came away with a victory. The first game went to the Flying G’s, who outlasted the Beavers 3-2 over 9 innings. The Beavers answered and came back to win the nightcap, 6-4 in a 5 inning game shortened by darkness.
Game 1 saw a great pitching matchup between Gladwin’s Jake Shell and Beaverton’s Austin Schnieder. In the 2nd inning, Beaverton got on the board first as Aiden O’Rourke crossed the plate. O’Rourke scored again in the 4th, giving them a 2-0 lead. The G’s answered that run, however, and made it 2-1 in the home half of the 4th. Gladwin tied it up at 2 in the 5th, with Kyler Kigar scoring on a Beaverton error. It was all about the pitching from there. There was nothing doing until the bottom of the 9th, when Gladwin loaded the bases and Ethan Gary scored on a wild pitch to end the game. Shell was strong for the G’s, pitching all 9 innings and giving up just the 2 runs. O’Rourke led all hitters with 2 hits.
Game 2 was another good game, as Gavin Rickford took on Richie Mathis on the mound. This time Gladwin started off the scoring, taking a 2-0 lead of their own. The Beavers came back with a run in the bottom of the 2nd, and then 2 runs in the 3rd, giving them the 3-2 advantage. Back came the G’s though, plating 2 runners in the top of the 5th to regain the lead at 4-3. They were unable to hang on to that lead, however, allowing the Beavers to put 3 on the scoreboard to take a 6-4 advantage in what would be the last inning of the game due to darkness. Rickford got the win, allowing just 3 hits in the game. Seven different Beavers got a hit, but Scotty Longstreth had 2 big RBIs to lead them.
Coaches from both teams enjoyed the exciting night. Beaverton’s John Mishler said after his team’s win, “That was a great doubleheader. Both games came down to the wire and were fun to be a part of. Both sides played extremely well.” On the other side of the diamond, Troy Gary said, “Jake pitched great in the first game and deserved to win. We made some errors in the second game that we didn’t in the first (game) and could have won without them. Against a good team like Beaverton, you can’t give them extra outs.”
Flying G’s Upend Bobcats
Houghton Lake – Gladwin traveled to Houghton Lake on Tuesday, May 8th to square off on the baseball diamond in a double-header. It did not go as the Bobcats would have liked on this night, as the Flying G’s took both games with scores of 19-1 and 4-0.
The first game saw the G’s send senior Landon Grove to the bump and junior Ethan Gary behind the plate to make up the battery. Gladwin did not mess around right out of the gate, as they put up a 4-spot in the 1st inning. Richie Mathis smashed a triple with the bases loaded in the inning, driving in all 3 runners. The offense would not stop there for the Flying G’s as they would go on to score in every inning, and at least 4 runs in four of the five innings. Grove threw a solid game, going 4 innings and allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks. He also struck out 4 Bobcats. Grove led the way at the plate, going 3-5 with a double and a home run, along with a team-high of 5 runs batted in and 3 runs scored. Ethan Gary also brought his big bat with him to the park and used it to go 3-4 with a walk, and adding 4 runs batted in and 3 runs scored. Richie Mathis also hit another triple, giving him a 2-4 mark for the game.
Game 2 was a well-played baseball game by both teams. The Bobcats sent Todd Deslile to the hill to try and slow down the hot Flying G’s offense. He did just that, keeping them off the scoreboard for the first three innings. The only problem was that the G’s sent Stephen Donn out to the rubber to be his counterpart. Donn had himself a day on the mound. He went 7 strong innings and allowed just 2 hits as he carved up the Houghton Lake hitters. Adding 7 strikeouts, the Bobcats could manage nothing against the junior pitcher for the Flying G’s. The offense for Gladwin finally gave Donn some run support, scoring 2 runs in the 4th, and another 2 runs in the 5th to give them what would stand as the final score of 4-0. Michael Fennell hit the ball hard all over the place and got himself a 3-3 mark at the plate with a triple. Landon Grove also led the way in RBIs again, plating 2 Flying G runners. Gladwin coach Troy Gary after the game: “I thought we played well. We hit the ball extremely well in the first game. We played clean baseball in both games but our bats went dead in Game 2. We got the 2 wins we needed and are sitting in a good spot in the conference with Beaverton coming up.”
The two wins send Gladwin to 6-2 in the Jack Pine and 6-6-1 overall on the year. Houghton Lake falls to 4-4 in conference play with the two losses.
Beaverton’s Aiden O’Rourke up at the plate for the Beavers.
