Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Ewen-Trout Creek third baseman Caden Besonen (3) tries to catch a throw as Ironwood's Parker Osterman slides back into third safely during a Friday doubleheader at Lorenson Field in Ironwood.
IRONWOOD - The Ironwood baseball team won four games Friday and Saturday before dropping one to Chequamegon to wrap up a busy period Monday.
"Good weekend after coming off of five straight losses," Ironwood coach Cody Kurta said.
The Red Devils beat Ewen-Trout Creek 13-6 and 20-6 Friday at Lorenson Field.
Robert Roberts earned both wins on the mound for Ironwood. He struck out seven and gave up two hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings.
Ironwood's Landon Buerger was 4 for 6 with three RBIs and three steals. Parker Osterman went 3 for 6 with four RBIs and nine steals. Osterman is 23 of 23 on stolen bases this year.
"He finds a way to get on base and when on base he is a terror on the base paths," Kurta said. "He is constantly working pitch counts, almost always getting to 3-2."
The Devils beat Menominee 10-2 and North Central 14-1 in Saturday's North Central U.P. Tournament in Hermansville.
"It was also great to get in a tournament setting," Kurta said. "I want to give a big shout out to Jason Mercier at North Central. He put together a heck of an environment for the boys. It was awesome to go over that way and play schools that we haven't played before."
Brendan McCullough was 4 for 8 with four RBIs and Elijah Sprague drove in three runs and had three hits on the day.
Ethan Gallo picked up the win over Menominee. He went 5 1/3 innings and struck out 11 while allowing four hits and two walks. McCullough won Game 2. He walked two and fanned eight in 5 2/3 innings. Sprague and Randall Kashich also pitched.
"I thought our pitching was very good," Kurta said. "Robert, Evan, Randall, Brendan, Ethan and Elijah all came in and threw strikes. It was nice to get a lot of at-bats also. We are getting away from soft contact and starting to really put the ball on a rope at the plate."
Chequamegon beat Ironwood 5-4 in eight innings Monday.
Evan Oja gave up two unearned runs in the eighth and took the loss. Landon Buerger started and went 5 innings with three strikeouts and three runs (one earned) allowed. Kashich also pitched, he struck out two in two innings.
Seven errors translated into four unearned runs for Chequamegon.
"It is no secret that errors have been our issue since the start of the season," Kurta said. "All three of our pitchers did what they were asked, they induced soft contact and ground balls. We have to make plays behind them."
Ironwood (9-9) had a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh. With the game tied, the bases loaded and no outs, Gallo hit a fly ball to center, but the Chequamegon fielder made a great throw to get the runner at the plate.
