(Mitch Vosburg/Daily Press photo) Escanaba junior Lennox Peacock fires a pitch during a game against Norway on Thursday at Al Ness Field in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — Two days prior to Thursday’s showdown against Norway, Escanaba baseball was left with a sour taste in its mouth.

The Eskymos suffered a 9-6 loss to rival Gladstone in the finale of a doubleheader and the third and final meeting between the two in 2025.

Fast forward to Thursday and junior phenom Lennox Peacock was on the mound. The objective was simple — knock off the Knights, who reached the state championship game in Division 4 a year ago and fell victim to a perfect game tossed by Cayden Smith, who now joins Esky graduate Jared Hanson as part of Central Michigan University’s pitching staff.

But Peacock, the young man also known as Badger, was up to the challenge like countless times before.

He surrendered two hits. He surrendered one unearned run gave up just one walk to the first batter of the game.

He also struck out 13 batters across seven innings as the Eskymos earned a 2-1 win at Al Ness Field.

“My defense played really well behind me to get ground balls,” Peacock said. “It was nice to see.”

Peacock struck out the side in the third inning all via swinging strike three calls. He retired the side in the seventh as well, getting Carter Cazzola to swing and miss at strike three while forcing Elliott Kraemer and AJ Gallino to look at strike three.

“I just wanted to stay on the attack, not get conservative with going after hitters,” Peacock said. “I trust myself to beat whoever it is we’re playing. I’ll stay in attack mode the entire time.”

Cole Baij, Owen Baij and Landon Admundson all earned singles.

Cole Baij was tagged with the loss, surrendering two earned runs off three hits with two walks and six strikeouts in five innings of work. Owen Baij allowed one hit, one walk and fanned three in an inning of relief.

The Eskymos jumped ahead in the first inning thanks to a trio of doubles.

First was a one out two-bagger from junior Nolan Bink. Peacock grounded out for the second out, but moved Bink to third in the process.

Then sophomore catcher Mikaiden Hughes, who threw out Cameron Varda trying to steal second moments earlier, ripped a double to left field for a 1-0 lead.

Then junior Ashton Rymkos stepped up to bat. He watched a curveball sail to the inner half of the plate for strike one. He then proceeded to take the next three pitches for balls.

The next pitch was fastball low and in the perfect halfway point between middle and inside of the plate.

“I hammered it,” Rymkos said.

Rymkos’ hit screamed down the third base line, scoring Hughes’ courtesy runner Gavin Wagner from second. Rymkos found himself standing on third base off the throw to home plate, and the Eskymos led 2-0 after one inning and never trailed.

“It’s huge,” said Rymkos, who finished 2-for-3. “This game is big every year. It’s the funnest one of the year, probably my favorite. And Lenny always throws his best game against them.”

And with the win over the Knights the Eskymos can firmly place the loss to Gladstone in the rear-view mirror.

“It felt like a hiccup game,” Peacock admitted. “We came in (Thursday) with a better mentality. We were a lot more fired up in the dugout. We jumped on them early, and that’s all we needed.”

Norway coach Tony Adams described the contest as “another tight one” with Escanaba.

“They had the big hit early,” he said. “We knew it would be an uphill battle with Peacock on the mound and our kids battled to get him to 95 pitches. We were excited with the energy and focus our kids played with today, which has been lacking at times lately,” he added.

“Our focus now turns to the districts,” Adams said.

The Knights (22-4) are scheduled to play North Central at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Felch in an MHSAA Division 4 District 98 first round game.

The winner will advance to play Bark River-Harris at 1 p.m. Friday, also in Felch.

North Dickinson will host the winner of Tuesday’s Stephenson-L’Anse matchup at 10 a.m. Friday. The District 98 championship game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday in Felch.

The Daily News contributed to this report.