The Houghton Building Supply-Stanton baseball team poses with the Copper Country Twilight Baseball League plaque after defeating Coldwell Banker 4-1 in the league championship game Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — A three-run third inning proved to be the fulcrum point as Houghton Building Supply-Stanton 4-1 topped Craig Heinonen Coldwell Banker 4-1 for the 2022 Copper Country Twilight League championship on Sunday.

“Everybody did their part, and we plugged away and won two games and a championship,” said HBS-Stanton’s player-manager Daron Durocher.

It’s HBS-Stanton’s first Twilight championship since 2020. REL Inc.-Mohawk Technology won in 2021.

REL Inc.-MT scored its lone run in the top of the third as Brian Halonen scored Grant Johnson. HBS-Stanton tied it in the bottom of the sixth. An inning later, HBS’s Josh Merced got an RBI up the middle scoring Devonte Fleming for the walkoff win.

“We played well enough defensively, and Eli (Louma) threw a great game,” said Daron Durocher.

With two 2-1 wins in the book, the stage was set for the championship game between HBS-Stanton and Coldwell Banker. HBS-Stanton led the regular-season series against Coldwell with a 2-1 tilt.

Aaron Froelich was on the mound for HBS- Stanton while Carson Turner started for Coldwell. This final game of the season started out 0-0 after two innings. In the bottom of the second, HBS-Stanton put three runs on the board.

A walk to Fleming, a bunt by Kade Farrell and a walk to Dax Durocher loaded the bases for Erik Nettell. He quickly smacked a double scoring two runs. Nettle’s pinch runner Joel Durocher would be the third run of the inning as he came in on an Froelich single.

“We played some small ball that inning,” said Daron Durocher. “A bunt here, a single there and a sacrifice fly made it a 3-0 game.

In the fourth inning, Coldwell’s Carson Turner smacked a fastball over the fence in right center. It was his second homerun in as many games and his team’s only tally on the afternoon.

Houghton Building Supply- Stanton countered with another run in the fourth and held on for the 4-1 victory.

“To allow just two runs in two games, says a lot about the team effort that went into today,” Daron Durocher said. “This was another fun season as we ended with a seven-game winning streak with today’s wins.”

While he and his teammates would have liked to have gone home with the championship trophy and not empty handed, Kinnunen echoed a similar sentiment on the baseball season.

“It was a fun season,” he said. “We have a number of young guys coming up through the ranks, and so that will be fun to take us into next year and beyond.”

Semifinal games

While the championship game was a good one, the two semifinal games prior proved to be even better.

In the first game of the day No. 4 seed Coldwell Banker faced the regular season first-place team Garnet Garage. Garnet had defeated Coldwell all three times the had played previously, and it appeared that it was going to be the case again on Sunday as they carried a 1-0 lead into the top of the seventh inning.

However, with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Coldwell’s player-manager Ross Kinnunen was hit by a pitch to score the tying run. Three quick outs pushed the game into extra innings. In the top of the eighth, Coldwell Banker again loaded the bases. This time Carson Turner hit a long sacrifice-fly ball which allowed the runner from third to score.

Coldwell Banker’s starting pitcher Malcolm Purdy was still going strong in the eighth and kept the Garnet bats silent to earn the 2-1 extra-inning win.

“Malcolm pitched a gem,” said Kinnunen. “He kept us in this one.”

In the other semifinal following Coldwell Banker’s win, No. 2 seed HBS-Stanton faced No. 3 seed REL Inc.-Mohawk Technology. HBS-Stanton rallied from behind to beat REL Inc.-MT 2-1.

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