Blue Storm suffers loss

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ISHPEMING - Gerry Heikkinen said the goal for his baseball team all season was to just make the American Legion District Tournament.

Not only did Hancock make it, but it took an 11-9 win over the host Ishpeming Blue Storm Wednesday in its first game of the tournament to advance into the second round, where the Post 186 team will face Negaunee.

"We played just enough Legion games this year so that we could get into this tournament," Heikkinen said. "We haven't been in this Legion baseball tournament in years. It was our goal this year to get in and enter it, and see what would happen.

"This year, I have a lot of older kids and I knew that we have a good enough team that we can win this."

Hancock started off slowly, trailing the Blue Storm 3-1 two innings into the game. The Hancock bats came alive, however, and the runs started to light up the scoreboard before too long.

"I know we can hit the ball and today, we proved it," Heikkinen said. "The guys can hit, and hope we continue this trend. I'm just really happy."

Hancock batters highlighted their win with three home runs, the first coming from Jeff Caspary in the third inning, a two-run shot that knotted the game at 3-3.

"Caspary had a broken hand all season, but we finally got him back about three weeks ago," Heikkinen said, "and he's just been on a tear."

Alex Johnson followed suit in the fourth inning, as he also hit a two-run homer, the first of his career.

"That kid is on cloud nine right now," Heikkinen said. "He's never hit a home run, ever."

It was Chris Burch who put the exclamation point on Post 186's batting Wednesday, however.

After an Ishpeming error loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning, Burch stepped to the plate and cranked a grand slam to ice the Blue Storm and give Hancock an 11-8 lead.

"I came out nervous," Burch said. "(Ishpeming) came to our place earlier this season and just pounded on us, so I didn't come in too confident.

'But I knew if we played all as a team, and if we hit the ball, we could give them a run."

Six of the nine Hancock batters hit at least a single, with Burch's grand slam the standout play of Post 186's offensive performance.

"Hancock has some good hitters and they hit some nice home runs," Ishpeming manager Steve Nelson said. "We have been doing so well defensively, and we had some good chances, but errors hurt us.

"We had a chance for a double play, but an error allowed the inning to continue, and (Burch) came up and hit the grand slam. That was a big hit. It took the wind out of our sail."

Burch was also Hancock's starting pitcher. He earned the win with eight runs on 11 Blue Storm hits, while striking out four and walking two.

"I came out and got calmed on the mound, and it all worked out for us," Burch said. "As I got a better look at the batters, I started to calm down and got more confident."

Heikkinen wasn't sure which pitcher he was going to use until game time.

"Burch pitched a heck of a game today," Heikkinen said. "I didn't know who to go with (on the mound), but I knew it was either Burch or Matt Heikkinen. I decided to go with Chris, and he pitched a whale of a game."

Jared Monticello came in at relief for Burch in the eighth inning, finishing off the Blue Storm to preserve the win.

" Monticello came in and did a nice job for us in the eighth inning," Heikkinen said. "He's got a good change-up, and he throws hard, and he throws strikes. It was nice for him to come in and close the door on (Ishpeming)."

Jake Dault took the pitching loss for Ishpeming, throwing for 4 innings with nine strikeouts, one walk and seven runs given up on six hits.

Dan Murray was the offensive leader for the Blue Storm. He hit a two-run homer in the first inning.

"We were happy to come down here and get the first win in the first game, it was huge," Heikkinen said. "We're looking forward to playing Negaunee and we'll see what happens."

Ishpeming will face the loser of today's game between Marquette and Kingsford on Friday at noon.

"We've got to learn how to bounce back, and play one game at a time," Nelson said. "We can't save anybody now. Every pitcher has to be out there making pitches and we've got to use everybody.

"We're going to focus on the next game and play our hearts out."