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Munising Majors unable to make hits count

GLADSTONE – There were a lot of hard hit balls between both teams in Monday night’s Little League Major Division baseball contest between Munising and Gladstone.

The Gladstone all-stars, however, made the most of their opportunities, while Munising was snakebit on a enough of theirs for the host team to pull away for a 12-5 victory.

Gladstone racked up 14 hits in the victory that sends it to Marion Park in Norway on Friday night.

Munising collected two hits in the first inning but was done in by a double play and held scoreless. Munising starting pitcher Mason Smith then put down Gladstone in order in the bottom of the inning before his teammates got his a run on an RBI grounder by Noah Lincoln.

Munising’s momentum was short-lived as Gladstone batted around in the second inning, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs. Nick Martin, Owen Trombley, John Falcon and Rease Dawley each had RBIs.

The outburst was in stark contrast to the weekend, when Gladstone was blanked in a loss to Tri-County.

“We knew coming in we needed to start swinging the bat,” Gladstone manager Mike Falcon said. “I know how good these kids really are when they start swinging, and today was proof positive of that.”

Smith began to struggle with his command in the second-inning rally when he issued a pair of walks and hit a batter. An error didn’t help his cause either.

“We had one bad inning and gave up seven runs, and that ended up being the difference,” Munising manager Terry Kienitz said.

Munising got three more runs back in the fourth inning on RBI doubles from Selby Beauchaine and Mitchell Schieding. It also added a run in the fifth on an RBI single from Jesse Duran, but with four hits in the inning, it could have been more.

On Duran’s single, Caden Kienitz came in to score and CJ Petosky came flying past third to try to score, too, but was tagged out at the plate by Martin.

Munising totaled 12 hits and put rallies together against all three Gladstone pitchers.

“They did hit the ball well,” Kienitz said of his batters, “but they hit it right to the Gladstone players. We had two close games with Gladstone and stayed with them in both games. That’s all I asked of them.”

Gladstone, on the other hand, continued to build on its big second inning, pouring it on late with two runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth.

Cameron Ballard led Gladstone, going 4 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Dawley was 2 for 3 while Martin, Trombley and Falcon were all 2 for 4.

Carter Vanbrocklin, the first of three Gladstone pitchers, earned the victory. He was relieved by Falcon and Dayton Dittrich, who combined for five strikeouts. Smith absorbed the loss for Munising. He was relieved by Kienitz. The pair struck out one.

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