Garnet Garage starting pitcher Chris Saari readies to deliver a pitch during game against Northern Driveline Thursday in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — It was a back-and forth battle on the Houghton baseball diamond Thursday with Garnet Garage pinning Northern Driveline down in the sixth with a 6-5 lead, and then holding on to that lead for the win after seven innings. With the win, Garnet remains undefeated on the season and atop the Copper Country Twilight League.

Meanwhile, Northern Driveline fell to 2-2 and is now in third place.

Both teams started off strong with runs in the first. The visiting squad from Northern Driveline took advantage of a lead-off walk to starting pitcher Alex Nordstrom. He followed that up with a stolen base, and he later scored on a fielder’s choice.

In the bottom of the first, Garnet Garage countered with their own run. Eli Heathman was hit by a pitch. He then advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. He crossed home a batter later, with ease, thanks to his older brother, Reed, smacking a double off the left-center fence. After one it was a 1-1 tie.

The second inning ended up as goose eggs for both teams, and then Garnet Garage took the lead, slowly but surely.

They scored one run in the third, fourth and fifth to make it a 4-1 game in their favor by the start of the sixth.

“We played small ball and took advantage of their mistakes,” said Garnet Garage catcher Mike Saari. “It wasn’t pretty, but it gave us a cushion of a lead.”

However, their lead came to an end in the top of the sixth as Northern Driveline scored four and made it a 5-4 tilt in their favor. With Junch Heinonen and Chad Nordstrom in scoring position, player-coach Evan Larson slammed a single to left and both scored. Two more runs came in thanks to a hard-hit grounder up the middle by Alex, and the game was Northern Driveline’s to win.

“We did well in the sixth, but we should have done better earlier on,” said Larson. “We were streaky at the plate and struggled to chain hits together. As well, we gave them too many outs in the field.”

On the other bench, Garnet Garage kept their run streak going in the bottom of the sixth. Walks to Cody Budweg and Eli proved to be the nail in the coffin, as they both came home on a collection of errors. Those two runs made it a 6-5 game for Garnet Garage, and proved to be enough to win it as they held Northern Driveline scoreless in the seventh.

UP NEXT

Garnet Garage will face Craig Heinonen Coldwell Banker at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27, at the Houghton High School field. Northern Driveline will take on Houghton Building Supply-Stanton on the same date and time at the Stanton Field.