Iron Mountain's Luke Decker (8) hauls in a pop fly as Escanaba's Chase Cloutier (10) makes his way to first base Saturday in Escanaba. (Justin St. Ours/Daily Press photo)

Tied at 8 in the bottom of the ninth, Mountaineers’ relief pitcher Tony Kralovec caught a pop fly for the first out and struck out the next Esky batter to put the game close to another extension.

However, two walks later, Escanaba’s Scott Hiller stepped up, and, sitting on two strikes, drove a fly single into right field, scoring Ben Johnson and ending the game with a walk-off.

“Scotty Hiller hung in there, and we worked the other day on opposite-field approach, and (to take) that ball opposite field for the win was pretty amazing,” Escanaba manager Scott Hanson said. “This is probably one of the more memorable games that I won’t forget.”

The Eskymos were down two in the bottom of the seventh, and an opening walk put Trent Lawson on first. A ground out let Lawson advance to second, and a single from Bon LaChance let Lawson cross home plate to cut Esky’s deficit to 6-5.

Iron Mountain's Evan Haferkorn pitches against Escanaba Saturday in Escanaba. (Justin St. Ours/Daily Press photo)

Johnson then reached on a line drive single to center, and both Esky runners advanced on a passed ball.

The Eskymos tied it up on Matthew Zimmerman’s single to drive in LaChance, but two quick outs halted their momentum.

A walk, hit batter and an error loaded the bases early for Iron Mountain in the top of the eighth, and another hit batter and a walk put the Mountaineers ahead 8-6 before the Eskymos pulled off a double play to stem the bleeding when third baseman Eli Gardner picked off a line drive and took the opportunity to tag the base and force Burgoon out.

It was Lawson who tied it up in the bottom of the eighth with a line driven single into a gap in center field that allowed Hiller and Trenton Turchin to cross home.

After an early run apiece, the teams remained tied until the top of the fifth when Iron Mountain piled in five runs to jump ahead 6-1.

“We were ahead by five runs, but when we’re playing innings that are four or five out innings, we had five errors in this game,” IM manager Paul Julian said. “I’m going to put it down to cold weather in this game, but for the Iron Mountain Mountaineers to hold up against a D-1 high school pretty impressed.

“What it really showed is that both these teams from the U.P. are willing to fight to win. To see that this early in the season was really rewarding.”

After a quick strikeout, the Mountaineers’ Ezekiel Runsat and Lucas Maxon each singled, and Niko Burgoon drew a walk to load the bases.

Esky then switched pitchers, Adam Willette entering in relief, but Iron Mountain took advantage. A wild pitch allowed Preston Roberts to score, and another walk kept the bases loaded.

Iron Mountain’s Beau Kralovec took advantage with a three-RBI line drive double to put the Mountaineers up 5-1 with only one out.

Iron Mountain added one more before the switch, and the Eskymos one. Esky then kept the Mountaineers off the board for the next two, adding two in each itself.

Chase Cloutier earned the win for the Eskymos over four innings, allowing two hits, two runs (1 earned) and three walks while striking out two. LaChance was the opener and stayed in for four and one-third, finishing with two hits, four runs (3 earned) and four walks while striking out eight.

Willette pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief, with two hits, two runs and two walks along with one strikeout.

“Cloutier had a base running mistake at third, and then he’s got to come back out and finish on the mound,” manager Hanson said. “That’s extremely difficult to do. He kept his composure and kept us in the game on the mound as a sophomore.”

Hiller, Lawson and Zimmerman each notched two RBIs, and Hiller and Zimmerman finished with three hits. Lancour, LaChance and Cloutier collected an RBI apiece.

Tony Kralovec shouldered the loss over one and one-third innings, allowing three hits, one run and three walks while striking out two. Runsat pitched three, with four hits, three runs (1 earned) and one strikeout. McLean went two and two-thirds, finishing with two hits, one run (none earned) and one walk with two strikeouts. Evan Haferkorn relieved for one and two-thirds, allowing four hits, four runs (3 earned) and two walks with one strikeout.

“Win or lose, player of the game was Carson McLean,” Julian said. “He held a nice lead on the mound, and he did a great job.”

Beau Kralovec collected four RBIs on one hit, and Luke Decker and Tony Kralovec each notched one apiece. Runsat finished with two hits.

“We had some opportunities to make some plays early in the game, and we didn’t,” manager Hanson said. “It’s early in the season. Things are going to happen. Just the fact that we hung in there and didn’t give up. We had some tough breaks.