Jamie Glenn/Daily Mining Gazette Copper Country Elks’ Hayden Matteson delivers a pitch during a game against Xpress Self Storage in Portage Lake Little League Minors action Wednesday in South Range.

SOUTH RANGE — Xpress Self Storage came out strong in Portage Lake Little League minors play on Wednesday with a 10-2 win over the hosting Copper Country Elks at Veterans Field.

Xpress (6-1 overall) got their bats rolling to start off the contest. Benny Keranen drew a walk three batters in, giving them their first baserunner. After Davis Moyle singled, Thora Beier walked to load the bases. Branson Anderson doubled, bringing in two runs.

In the bottom of the first, the Elks cut the lead in half when Terrance Nolan singled. Unfortunately for the hosts, they were only able to add one more run in the fourth when Everatt Matteson scored.

Andy Moyle, assistant coach for Xpress, was happy with how quickly things came together offensively.

“We practice a lot (and have) a great group of kids,” he said. “We have a good group of very talented players (with) a mix of people who are really intense about the game.”

Brody Donnelly homered in the third to give Xpress back its two-run advantage. That was the way things stayed until Matteson’s run cut the lead back to one, 3-2.

That all changed in the fifth, when Xpress’ bats came alive and the team scored six runs.

Moe Rajala got the rally stared by getting on base. Sylvia Aho also worked her way on. Both scored. Roy Wakeham reached, setting up things for Alex Freeman, who walked. Donnelly followed with a walk as well, setting up a bases loaded situation for Gunnar Gullstrand.

Gullstrand drilled a ball over the fence for a grand slam, pushing the lead to seven, 9-2.

“Tonight we had excellent hitting, but the other team did their job knocking it down and keeping the game fun,” said coach Moyle. “Gunnar Gullstrad’s grand slam was awesome and everyone else got on base too.”

Beier saw an opportunity to steal home from third to bring in the last run of the matchup in the top of the sixth inning.

Coach Moyle enjoyed seeing his team string hits together and looks to prepare for their next game on Saturday in Dollar Bay.

“Today’s game, everybody was hitting,” he said. “We didn’t have a single player that didn’t hit, which is awesome.

“Our next game is on Saturday against a very good team, and we’re going to prepare for it by doing what we always do: practice, practice, practice.”

Despite coming up short, Elks assistant coach Jason Evans liked his team’s defensive pressure and hopes to strengthen their outfield.

“Our kids played really good defense today and they were up there swinging, so we were really happy with them,” he said. “We want to work on our teamwork as far as fielding and (just) helping each other out. I thought they all played really well. It was a good team game today.”