The Houghton baseball team is all smiles after claiming the Copper Bat in their win over Hancock Wednesday at John Bostwick Memorial Field in Houghton. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The area high school sports scene added another rivaled trophy to its calendar. While the fall has the Copper Spike in volleyball and winter touts Wing Ding on the hockey calendar, spring now has the Copper Bat.

This rivalry made its debut on Wednesday at the John Bostwick Field of Houghton High School as it pitted the Gremlins against the Hancock Bulldogs. The Gremlins won this back-and-forth battle, 5-4.

It was Houghton’s 11th win in a row.

“This game felt like playoff baseball where every pitch and at bat counts,” said Gremlins coach Kevin Bostwick. “You need to be engaged, and we were.”

The Gremlins put their ace Jackson VonDoloski on the mound against Hancock’s Caleb Isaacson. The two pitched three scoreless innings before the Bulldogs got on the board in the top of the fourth. Brayden Larson got on board with a single and advanced to third a batter later courtesy of a Luciano Paoli single to left. Larson came home on an error, and the Bulldogs led 1-0.

However, the Gremlins countered in similar fashion to go ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Brody Donnelly started the rally off with an RBI single that scored Ethan Hainault. Donnelly was the go-ahead run when Bulldogs’ shortstop Ned Larson misplayed a ball hit by Joel Durocher. The Gremlins now had a 2-1 lead headed into the top of the fifth, but it too was short lived.

The Bulldogs posted their biggest inning of the day with three runs to regain the lead at 4-2. Swinging a hot bat that frame was Brayden Larson. His bloop single to right with bases loaded scored Isaacson and Ned Larson. Add to that Vince Heinonen who scored on a Paoli single before out number three. It was now a 4-2 Hancock lead.

“There were a couple of times in this game where this could have gone either way, but our guys dug in and battled,” noted Bostwick.

One of those times was in the bottom of the fifth and again in the sixth for the Gremlins. In the fifth, walks to catcher Brycyn Nettell and VonDoloski put the go-ahead run at the plate. Cael DeVoge pinch ran for Nettle and after ending up on third on a bunt by Hudson Markham, he crossed home on a wild pitch to make the score 4-3.

In the sixth, the Gremlins dug in and buried the Bulldogs with two crucial runs. Durocher started things off with a dropped third strike trip to first. After stealing second, Nettell came through with a line drive base hit to center that scored Durocher. The game was now tied at four. Nettell got on board with a single, and DeVoge came in again as his courtesy runner. He stole second and scored with ease on a VonDoloski single to left.

The Gremlins now led 5-4, and that is how the scored stayed after the Bulldogs went down in order in their final at bat of the seventh.

“Overall it was a a great job by all the players doing what they needed to do to win this one,” stated Bostwick. “Game ball goes to Brycyn and Jackson who got some clutch hits when we needed them.”

Rylan Isaacson was the winning pitcher. He relieved VonDoloski after the third inning. In his four innings of work, he struck out four, walked three and allowed just three earned runs.

“It was a good game,” noted Bulldogs coach Travis Pietila, “but a tough loss for us. We battled and this one could have gone our way.”

Up Next

Both teams will be back on the diamond at Houghton High School for the John Bostwick Memorial Tournament on Saturday.