ISHPEMING -?The Ishpeming Blue Storm lost a pair of games to the Kingsford Blues on Thursday night at the Ishpeming Playgrounds.

In the first game, Kingsford came up with two runs in the top of the 7th inning to take a 9-7 victory. Kevin Gravel picked up the win in relief of Garth Budek for Kingsford, while Eric Beauchamp took the loss in relief of Jake Dault for Ishpeming, even though he allowed just one hit and one walk in three innings.

Kingsford was led in hitting by Joe Seracatti and Jake Miller with two hits, two RBI's and two runs scored each. Ishpeming was led in hitting by Andy Carlson with two hits and three RBI's, Dan Nelson with a pair of doubles, and Brad Waters and Erik Uhl with two runs scored each.

"This was a good game from start to finish with the game close the whole way," Ishpeming manager Steve Nelson said. "Both teams received some clutch hitting to bring runners in, with Kingsford able to make the key hits pay off at the end.

"We had some real key hits by Andy Carlson, Erik Uhl, and Tyler LaChapell to help us stay in this game," Nelson added. "Brad Waters also made a spectacular play at short to help keep the game close. Overall I was real proud of the way our team played, but we still need to learn to win the close ones."

In the second game, Kingsford's bats came alive in the 3rd and 7th innings to take the game. Key hits for Kingsford were back to back home runs by Jake Miller and Gravel in the 3rd inning, which blew the game open. Kingsford's Riley Miller allowed just four hits for the victory. Dan Nelson took the loss. Key hitters for Kingsford were Jake Miller and Gravel with three hits apiece, and Budek and Jake Church with 2 hits apiece. Ishpeming was led by Waters, Nelson, Kyle Kestila, and Bill Zhulkie with one hit each.

"The 2 big innings by Kingsford killed us," Nelson said. "They have a tough lineup for any pitcher to face. We just couldn't seem to find our hitting against Riley Miller and give him credit, he pitched a good game.

"I consider Kingsford one of the elite teams in the U.P. this year, so I felt good about how we played them, especially the first game tonight."