By Journal Sports Staff

ESCANABA — The Escanaba Tournament started Friday afternoon and the Marquette Blues Legion baseball team definitely brought their bats with them.

However, so did their opponents and the Blues were dealt two losses to open up the tournament, 15-12 to Copper Country and 9-6 to Gladstone.

In the first game, the Blues and Flames went toe-to-toe from the start. CC scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but Marquette fought back with six runs in the second.

The Flames weren’t shaken though. CC plated five runs in its half of the second and added two more in the third to take a 9-6 advantage into the fourth. The Blues tried to slowly chip away at the Flames’ lead as they scored at least one run in the next four innings, but couldn’t pull any closer than three runs.

Carter Crouch earned the win on the mound for CC after throwing a complete game with 15 hits given up and two walks with four strikeouts. Peter VandenAvond was dealt the loss for Marquette. He surrendered only two runs on four hits with five walks and three strikeouts over two and two-thirds innings of relief. Cooper Meyer started the game for the Blues.

Several Marquette batters had hits with Blake Henriksen and VandenAvond leading the way.

Henriksen went 3 for 5 with a triple, three RBI and a run scored, while VandenAvond was 2 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Brandon Norkol had three hits, two of them doubles, along with four RBI and a run scored for the Flames.

The second game didn’t go well for the Blues either as two rough innings were the determining factor in the outcome.

Marquette scored first with a run in the top of the fifth, but Gladstone picked up four runs in the bottom of the second. The Blues came back to take the lead and held a 6-4 advantage going into the bottom of the fifth. However, the Indians broke out again with four more runs in that frame and capped off their scoring with a run in the sixth.

Caden Alworden earned the victory for Gladstone after giving gup six runs on nine hits with one walk over five innings. Kyle Frusti was handed the loss for Marquette. He gave up nine runs on eight hits with four walks and one strikeout in six innings.

Marquette was led at the plate by Jakob Peterson, who went 3 for 4 with a run scored, while Frusti had two hits and two runs scored and Jake Allard-Soucey had two hits and a RBI.

Carson Shea went 1 for 4 with three RBI and a run scored for the Indians.

The Blues will continue tournament play today as they face De Pere (Wis.) at 12:45 p.m. EDT and Kimberly (Wis.) at 3 p.m. EDT.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.