Negaunee #3 Brenten Belanger winds up to pitch in the second game against Marquette in American Legion baseball action Tuesday in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Travis Nelson)

NEGAUNEE — The Marquette Blues went on the road to Irontown Field in Negaunee and took care of business with a sweep over the Negaunee Diamonds in a Legion baseball doubleheader on Tuesday evening.

Marquette outscored Negaunee 19-3 in the two games, with wins of 9-0 and 10-3 respectively. With a combination of the solid pitching of Peter VandenAvond giving up only two hits in the first game, and the offense coming alive in both, it can be deemed a successful night for the Blues.

Game 1

To get a second game in, the game was called after five innings with the Blues running away with the 9-0 victory.

As well as VandenAvond pitched with nine strikeouts and only two hits allowed in five innings, the Blues’ explosive fourth inning put the game away with five runs.

Marquette’s fourth inning put the game away, but two runs in the top of the first inning gave the Blues the lead for good. With Parker Maki at third, Gibson Jezewski knocked him in with an RBI base hit to score the game’s first run.

After stealing second, Jezewski advanced to third following an error. On the same at-bat, VandenAvond hit a sacrifice-RBI to score him.

Not only did the Blues score five runs in the fourth, but four of them came with two outs. Brock Taylor scored from third following an error, but Kyle Frusti was thrown out at third on the next pitch. After what proved to be a chaotic at-bat, Jake Toyras struck out for the second out with nobody on. Marquette started to get base runners following Dallas Cobe drawing a walk and Brody Caster hitting a single to put two runners on. Nash Riipi broke the game open on the next at-bat with a 2-RBI double to make it 5-0.

Maki was up next, and he hit a single up the middle for another run to score pinch runner Ian Sheltrow. Jezewski connected on a single to put runners on the corners, and Maki scored on the next at-bat from VandenAvond on a passed ball. Negaunee got out of the inning after VandenAvond popped out to right field.

In the fifth inning, the Blues scored two more runs to add to the convincing victory. After striking out in the fourth, Toyras came up big in the fifth with an RBI single to score Taylor from second. After advancing to second on the throw, Toyras got to third on an error, and finally scored after a sacrifice RBI from Cobe.

Joe Mallett took the loss on the mound for the Diamonds, giving up the two first inning runs in his three innings. Keith Juidici had the tough fourth inning on the mound, while Brenten Belanger came in relief to pitch in the fifth.

Game 2

The Blues had a big inning in the second game of the doubleheader, and it just so happened to be the first. Maki continued his strong hitting for Marquette with a solo homer off of Belanger to leadoff the game to make it 1-0. Taylor followed up a few batters later with a sacrifice RBI to score VandenAvond, and made it a two-run game. After back-to-back singles from Frusti and Cobe, Riipi came through again with another 2-RBI hit, this time a single, to make it 4-0.

The only difference in this game from the first is that Marquette rotated through pitchers. Cobe started the game, while Caster, Sheltrow and Toyras pitched in relief. Negaunee was also able to get runs on the board with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Morgan Robar connected on an RBI single off of Cobe. Following a walk to load the bases, Mallett was walked to score Ian Engstrom to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Marquette responded in the third inning with three more runs to put the game out of reach. RBI singles from Riipi and Caster in back-to-back at-bats scored a couple of more runs to make it 6-2. With two outs, Caster scored from third to score the Blues’ third run of the inning.

Negaunee made a pitching change from Belanger to Mason Banfield, but the Blues scored three more runs in the fifth, and all came with two outs. With runners on second and third, an error by Banfield scored Sheltrow. After consecutive hit-by-pitches, Caster connected on a 2-RBI single to extend the Marquette lead to 10-2. The Diamonds added a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it the final score of 10-3 in the six-inning game.

Belanger took the loss for the Diamonds on the mound, while Cobe got the win for the Blues in his 1.1 innings pitched.

Travis Nelson can be reached by email at tnelson@miningjournal.net.