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Major LL: IM North edges Gladstone to reach district final

Iron Mountain's Niko Burgeon celebrates after drawing a bases-loaded walk that scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning against Thursday in Gladstone in the Little League Major (11-12) district tournament. (Mike Mattson/The Daily Press)

ESCANABA — The Escanaba Major Boys’ Little League All-Stars (age 11-12) kept their postseason hopes alive Thursday night with a 3-2 win over Norway in the District 10 tournament.

Iron Mountain North edged Gladstone 3-2 in Thursday’s opener.

Esky hosts Gladstone in an elimination game tonight at 6. The winner returns to Karl Dickson Field Saturday at 7 p.m. EST to face Iron Mountain in the title round.

Ryan Erickson and Blake Holmes walked to open Norway’s half of the sixth inning in the nightcap.

Austyn Dwight, inserted as a pinch runner for Erickson, was forced out at third on Ryan Elhart’s grounder to the pitcher. Lancour then struck out the final two hitters to preserve the victory.

“Noah made a real good play to get their runner at third,” said Esky manager Paul LaChance. “That definitely gave us some momentum. The kids felt they should win it at that point.”

Esky starter Gavin Sommers pitched 3 1/3 innings and Johnson worked the next 1 2/3 frames.

“We talked to our pitchers about being around the plate,” LaChance said. “We wanted to stop Gavin at 50 because we knew we had Ben for 20, and Noah provided a change of speed.”

Norway led 2-1 after three innings before pinch runner Nolan Bink tied the score on a wild pitch in the fourth. Trent Turchin then scored the game-winner on John Weinert’s ground out to first.

“The two runs in the fourth got our guys fired up,” LaChance said. “We’re starting to hit the ball a little better and our defense did real well tonight.”

Bon LaChance gave Esky a 1-0 lead on a throwing error in the second.

Norway tied the score on Shawn Schutte’s double to left-centerfield, then sent the Dickinson County team ahead on Ian Popp’s sacrifice fly to right in the third.

“I thought we were in good shape,” said Norway manager Tracy Haferkorn. “From 1-9 we have hitters on our team. After we got the first two runners on in the sixth, we expected to hit. We thought we’d be able to get to their last pitcher, but the change was a smart move on their part. Escanaba is a very well coached team. They’re always a tough out.”

Norway finished with four hits, including two by Schutte. Esky had three hits. Each team committed an error.

Johnson became the winning pitcher and Alex Ortman, the second of three Norway pitchers, took the loss.

Esky pitchers combined for seven strikeouts and four walks. Norway’s hurlers fanned five and walked two.

Iron Mountain scored the game-winner in improbable fashion in the sixth inning of the opener, drawing four straight walks after its first two hitters struck out.

“We always preach to the kids about keeping their heads in the game on every pitch,” said North manager Jim Kralovec. “They all took a strike and I credit them for executing the game plan. Gladstone is a great team. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw them again.”

Nathan Young gave Gladstone a 2-1 lead on Tyler Darmogray’s sacrifice fly to right in the fifth.

Beau Kralovec tied the score on Carson McLean’s sacrifice fly to left in Iron Mountain’s half of the fifth, setting the stage for the game-winner.

“Beau really hustled on that play,” said manager Kralovec. “He sprinted home from second and I credit him for being heads up. Our defense was very solid. We have to rely on our defense and it came through for us today. I also credit our pitchers for trying to keep them off balance.”

Young opened the scoring on a single to center by Nick Mathews in the third.

Iron Mountain, cashing in on two errors, tied the contest in its half of the third.

“We didn’t hit the ball extremely well and the errors in the third inning really hurt us,” said Gladstone manager Erick Hansen. “When that happens your pitch count goes up and Nathan (Young) eventually had to come out of the game.”

Young worked 4 1/3 innings, struck out two, walked four and gave up two runs on three hits. Darmogray relieved in the fifth, but absorbed the loss despite combining on a two-hitter with Young.

Young had two of Gladstone’s five hits, including a triple to right-center in the fifth off starter Fulton Stroud, who whiffed five and walked two through five frames. McLean relieved in the sixth and retired the side in order.

“We’re evenly matched, but we didn’t locate his (Stroud’s) fastball the whole game,” said Hansen. “We have to get up in the morning and get some batting practice. We need to hit the ball better.”

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