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Racking up the wins

Blues take early control this time at Negaunee

Negaunee Diamonds’ Dillon Tasson bats against the Marquette Blues Thursday night, June 15, 2017, in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

NEGAUNEE — For the second time in less than a week, the Marquette Blues downed the Negaunee Diamonds in an American Legion baseball game on Thursday night, this time by a 6-1 score at Irontown Field in Negaunee.

Pitcher Blake Henriksen was the winner for the Blues, giving up one run on three hits and no walks as he struck out five over four innings of work.

Marquette head coach Derek Swajanen credited the win to the work of Henriksen and relief pitcher Jacob Rogers.

“Our pitchers did a great job,” Swajanen said. “Our ball-to-strikeout ratio hasn’t been where I want it to be, but I told them just to throw strikes and you don’t always have to throw 100 mph, and it helped their consistency for a really good game.”

The win came just six days after the Blues won 3-2 over their same rivals in a seventh-inning walk-off in Marquette.

Marquette Blues’ John Thomson runs for first base against the Negaunee Diamonds Thursday night, June 15, 2017, in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

This time it was the Blues who lit up the scoreboard first when Hunter Doucette turned a first-inning walk into the game’s opening run by stealing home two batters later.

Austin Wachnicki put up another run for the Blues in the third with Henriksen earning the RBI.

The Diamonds cut into Marquette’s lead in the bottom of the fourth after Eric Anderson reached on an error at first base. Two batters later, Tylor Robinson drove Anderson home with a single to right field to make it 2-1.

But the Blues put the game out of reach with four insurance runs in the sixth, starting with a long double to center field by Jay Oberg that scored John Thomson.

Two batters later with the bases loaded, Rogers sent a fly ball to left field, deep enough to score a tagging Alec Beauchamp for a sacrifice fly.

Austin Wachnicki topped the inning off with a single to right, bringing home Jakob Peterson and Oberg to make it a five-run game.

Swajanen said the early runs allowed his team to play looser.

“It felt good to get the early lead,” Swajanen said. “The last time we played them, we were fighting back all night and we’ve had a lot of close games, so it was nice to get an early lead.

“Even when we gave up a run, I still felt comfortable our bats were going to come around. I told them the only team that can hurt us is ourselves, and sure enough it worked well enough to settle down and bring our bats alive more.”

Negaunee head coach Jason Siik said his team’s sixth-inning struggles were deflating to his team that’s searching for offense.

“It was tough because we were playing them close,” Siik said. “We thought we had a chance to win the game. We’re hitting the ball just not hard enough to find the green.

“We have to work harder in the cage on the tee and find a way to hit it harder. Our pitching and defense are well, we just need to find a better way to start hitting.”

Ray Bressette can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 251. His email address is rbressette@miningjournal.net.

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