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No singin’ the Blues: Negaunee Blue starts strong in 15-5 win over Marquette in Little League Minors playoff

Neguanee’s Morgan Robar, left, gets Marquette’s Vitalie Collins out at second base during a Little League District 11 Minors playoff baseball game Monday evening at the Bernie Rivers Memorial Field in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

NEGAUNEE — Aiden Steele shut down the opposition early with four strikeouts, while the bats gave the Negaunee Blue All-Star baseball team an early 6-0 lead on Monday night at Bernie Rivers Memorial Field.

That propelled the home team to a 15-5 win over Marquette in an elimination game in the Little League District 11 Minors tournament.

With the victory, Negaunee Blue stays alive in the tournament and will face Houghton-Hancock’s Portage Lake at 5 p.m. today. Portage Lake defeated Keweenaw 8-1 in Monday’s nightcap.

In the finale of the winner’s bracket set for 7 p.m. today, Ishpeming will face Ironwood-area Penokee Range with the winner earning a berth directly into Thursday’s district championship game.

The loser will have to face today’s early-game winner on Wednesday, and that winner will have the unenviable task of having to defeat the winner’s bracket champion twice to capture the district crown.

Marquette’s Kyle Moyer pitches against Negaunee Blue in a Little League District 11 Minors playoff baseball game on Monday evening at the Bernie Rivers Memorial Field in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

On Monday, Negaunee Blue head coach Jeffrey Martin said his team’s offense looked on-point after struggling at the plate in their last few games.

“That’s normally how we play,” he said. “We usually come out and get the runs in the first couple of innings. We just haven’t been getting those bats going or runs going in our previous couple of games and we’re finally glad to get that back.

“Marquette is a tough team and it feels really good to get our bats going again against a really good team like Marquette.”

Martin added that it’s back to basics as his team looks to keep alive again today.

“Same thing we do every day,” he said. “Just keep working on batting and keep working on our fielding.”

Marquette head coach Shane Cromell credited Negaunee Blue with a good all-around performance.

“They’re (Negaunee Blue) a good team,” he said. “We played them a couple of weeks ago in Escanaba and won 4-3, they just had a better day today.”

Cromell added that he’ll miss coaching his group of players every day.

“These kids are awesome,” he said. “They’re the best group I’ve worked with in years.”

Marquette was the designated home team and pitcher Kyle Moyer got Negaunee out 1-2-3 in the top of the first.

With Marquette unable to get anything going in the bottom half of the first, Negaunee Blue came alive in the second.

Aiden Martin led the inning off with a triple to the left field fence and came home on a wild pitch to give them a 1-0 lead.

After a walk and a fielder’s choice, two runners were on when Tristen Slater notched a base hit to left field, scoring Roman Yohas and Evan Dellangelo for a 3-0 lead. Then with Slater on second, he scored on a base hit from Morgan Robar. Robar eventually came home on a wild pitch for a 5-0 Negaunee Blue advantage.

Negaunee Blue tacked on another run in the third, and Marquette finally got on the board in the bottom half of the inning.

Halen McCollum got things started for Marquette with a one-out base hit to center field. That’s when Devin Jurmu took the mound in relief.

After McCollum moved to second on a wild pitch, Vitalie Collins hit a ball which slipped past the shortstop and into left field allowing McCollum to score.

Collins moved to second on the throw home and eventually stole third. Desmond Gleason then knocked a base hit to right scoring Collins for a 6-2 game.

That’s as close as Marquette came, as Negaunee Blue followed that up with a three-run fourth to make it 9-2.

Negaunee Blue added six more runs over the final two innings, and Marquette added one in the fifth and two in the sixth for a slim hope for a rally, but the game ended when Dellangelo, who took the mound with one out in the bottom of the sixth, struck out Grant Simon to seal the victory for Negaunee Blue.

Martin, who had two triples and a walk, said he had to quickly adjust to Marquette pitching.

“Their (Marquette) pitchers were kind of faster than I expected and I just kept my hands kind of low and drove at the ball,” he said. “It was lots of fun.”

Steele said his strong pitching performance to start the game came with good defense, and preparing for today’s contest means lots of rest.

“A lot of it was because the defense behind me was really good,” he said. “Now it’s just getting a lot of sleep and eating good.”

Robar went 3 for 4 for Negaunee Blue, while Jurmu was 1 for 2 with a walk.

Leaders for Marquette were McCollum, who went 2 for 2, and Collins, who was 1 for 2.

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.

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