Houghton Building Supply-Stanton pitcher Aaron Froelich throws against Craig Heinonen Coldwell Banker during Copper Country Twilight League action Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in Hancock, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — Houghton Building Supply-Stanton got back on the winning track Tuesday with a 7-1 win over Craig Heinonen Coldwell Banker.

The key to victory, said HBS-Stanton player-manager Daron Durocher, was pitching. Aaron Froelich threw a complete game victory, striking out 10 and walking just one.

“Aaron pitched a gem,” Durocher said. “After the first inning, he maxed out at four batters (an inning) for the rest of the game. That’s impressive. As well, we made the plays that needed to be made behind him to keep them off the score board.”

Coldwell Banker’s brief lead was in the bottom of the first. Leadoff hitter Brady Turner got on board with a hit and crossed home two batters later with a Brian Joupperi base hit to right. However, that was as good as it got for Coldwell Banker (4-6) as HBS-Stanton (3-6) answered with a six- run top of the second and didn’t look back.

In that frame, the name of the game was small ball as the boys from HBS generated six singles while they went through the lineup.

Coldwell Banker’s player-manager Ross Kinnunen said Tuesday’s loss followed a similar pattern for that has hung over his team all throughout this season.

“We always seem to have one bad inning where the opponent gets a few runs and then it snowballs into a deep hole,” he said. “They (HBS) didn’t have big hits; it’s just that they found the holes in a six-run inning. We need to clean that one bad inning up as we wrap up the year.”

HBS 060 010 0 – 7

CB 100 000 0 – 1

REL, Inc.-MT 0, Northern Driveline 11

STANTON — Northern Driveline needed just one run to shut out REL-Mohawk Technology on Wednesday night as they went on to win 11-0 in a “mercy-rule” five-inning game.

While Northern Driveline’s (5-5) winning run came in the second, they got plenty of assurance in the third as they added seven more.

“We hit the ball really well tonight,” said Northern Driveline’s player-manager Evan Larson.

Six of those runs came before REL’s(5-4) defense could get a first out. They would go on to add three more runs in the fourth inning.

Larson added that he was pleased with the pitching of starter Chad Nordstrom.

“He threw strikes, and we made the plays in the field,” he said. “This was a fun one as it feels good to be back on the winning side.”

REL 000 00 – 0

ND 017 3x – 11