By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — All’s well that ended well for the Marquette Reds on Thursday as the team opened its season with a doubleheader sweep at home against the Escanaba Junior Cubs.

That wasn’t the case entering the final inning of Game 2, however. The sweep wasn’t clinched until Blake Walther — who was also the winning pitcher — hit a walk-off, two-run double on an 0-1 count and nobody out in the bottom of the sixth inning.

That lifted the Reds to a 7-5 victory after they won the opener 7-2.

In the nightcap, Walther pitched the final two innings, not allowing a run nor hit, though he walked three and hit a batter while striking out four.

He followed starter Jason Kanerva, who went 2 1/3 innings and allowed three runs, all earned, and middle reliever Logan Peterson, who went 1 2/3 innings and allowed two runs, though only one earned. Kanerva and Peterson each allowed two hits and struck out two as Kanerva walked three and Peterson two.

Marquette trailed for most of the game after the Cubs took a 4-0 lead in the middle of the third after scoring three times that inning.

But the Reds tied it 4-4 in the bottom of the third, which included singles by Braiden Noskey and Dallas Cobe. The Cubs regained a 5-4 lead in the fourth before Marquette again tied it 5-5 in the fifth, setting up Walther’s hitting heroics.

Walther finished the game going 2 for 2, including his double, with two RBIs, a run scored and two of the Reds’ seven stolen bases.

Peterson also swiped two bases while going 1 for 3 with two runs scored.

Cobe, Noskey, Jack Quinnell and Nick Pantti each had an RBI.

In the opener, the home team blew open a 1-1 game with six runs in the fifth. Quinnell knocked in the go-ahead run with a single.

That made a winner of Marquette hurler Isaac Sarles, who threw the six-inning complete game, allowing two runs — just one earned — on six hits and two walks as he fanned 10.

His biggest nemesis was Cubs’ second baseman and leadoff hitter Eli Gardner, who went 3 for 4 with a steal.

Noskey led Reds hitters, going 2 for 2 with an RBI, two runs scored and two of his team’s six steals. Brody Caster added a double while knocking in three and stealing a base, and Quinnell had a single, RBI, runs scored and steal. Both Pantti and Peterson had a single and scored a run.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.