Kingsford’s Cooper Kreski, with second baseman Drew Tomasoski looking on, gets set before launching a pitch home against Gladstone during the Little League All-Stars Majors District 10 tournament in Escanaba on Monday. The Gladstone Major Boys All-Stars got the better of the action and slugged their way to a 10-2 win. (Todd Rose/Daily Press photo)

ESCANABA — The Gladstone Major Boys All-Stars used big at-bats to defeat Kingsford 10-2 on Monday evening in Escanaba during the Little League All-Stars Majors District 10 tournament.

Eight of Gladstone’s 10 runs came in the third and sixth innings with several key at-bats that drove in runs.

Starting pitcher Landon Pepin put his team ahead in the third with a bases-loaded pop fly single to drive in Braylin Carter.

With the bases still loaded Kolton Breitzman hammered a double to drive in three runs as Pepin, Nick Proehl and Carter Sanville all crossed the dish.

Jaxsyn Lancour (2 run RBI) and Henry Sholten (1 run RBI) each collected hits to score runners in the sixth to make it 10-2.

“I’m proud of the boys,” said Gladstone coach Mike Sanville. “We’ve had very short practice. This tournament is so close after the end of little league one week ago. Mixing a bunch of new kids together, so that’s always interesting. … This group, all 12 of them went up there, swung the bat and put the ball in fair play.”

Coach Sanville added his team’s efforts to recollect themselves after mistakes on defense and get outs as a bright spot in the team’s game.

“On defense, usually kids this age they make an error, and it gets in their head, and it cascades,” he said. “They made an error, picked it up and got the next kid out.”

Pepin pitched into the fourth inning and was relieved by Logan DeMay with Proehl closing.

Pepin commented on the win and how it felt knowing the bats were backing up his pitching and teammates’ defensive efforts.

“(It feels) great. We had a very nice team win,” Pepin commented. “It feels great when your team is rolling on the offensive side. I mean, it carries from batter to batter, and you just keep getting base hits and runs.”

Kingsford was able to push two runs across the plate early in the game as Cooper Kreski hit a double for a one-run RBI to score Carson Chrisman in the first.

Another run followed in the second when Logan McCoy crossed home on a single from Promice Setner.

“They hit it where we weren’t,” said Kingsford coach Brent Buchcuski. “We’re a pretty good defensive team. But, if there was a gap, they found it and we didn’t. We’ve got to hit the ball a lot harder if we want to do anything in this tournament.”

Buchcuski gave kudos to Gladstone and their offensive performance.

“We’ve played them a couple times in travel ball, and they’re a very good hitting team,” he said.

Both teams are back in action at Dickson field in Escanaba today.

While the Kingsford boys will play Escanaba at 6:30 p.m., Gladstone will face Norway at 4:30 p.m.

Landon Pepin commented on the Gladstone boys’ familiarity with the Norway team.

“We’ve played their travel ball team a couple of times and, yeah, they’re pretty solid, so they’re going to come out to play for sure,” he said.