Houghton's Ethan Hainault connects for a base hit on Friday in a game against Iron Mountain at John Bostwick Memorial Field in Houghton. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Gremlins baseball squad added two more wins to their ledger on Friday with a sweep of the visiting Iron Mountain Mountaineers (3-13), as they earned the victories with scores of 10-2 and 9-3.

According to Gremlins coach Kevin Bostwick, hitting the ball well was key in both games.

“We hit the ball hard, and we ran the bases well,” stated Bostwick. “Also our pitchers threw strikes, and that is what we needed.”

Pitching was “bullpen by committee” for the Gremlins as they used four pitchers each in both games.

“We have a tournament on Saturday in Negaunee, and I did not want to use up our pitchers today (Friday),” noted Bostwick. “If I could keep my pitchers to 25 throws or less, then they could pitcher on Saturday.”

In the first game, Rylan Isaacson was the winner as he threw the first inning — a frame in which the Gremlins (8-2) scored six runs. This included back-to-back doubles by lead-off hitters Joel Durocher and Eli Heathman. Then came three singles by Jackson VonDoloski, Hudson Markham and Ethan Hainault. All of these batters scored as the Gremlins went through the lineup against Iron Mountain’s starter Ian Marttila.

While the Gremlins added three more in the third, the Mountaineers posted two in the fourth. Max White hit a sacrifice fly to center which scored Martilla for their first run. Evan Mendini was the second run, and he came in on a walk. 
It was 8-2 after four. The Gremlins added two more in the fifth for the win.

“Hats off to Houghton in that first game,” noted Mountaineers coach Jeff McLean. “We pitched well, but they hit the ball well.”

It didn’t stop in the first contest. In the second game, the Gremlins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Errors by the Mountaineers led to Markham and Hainault both getting to on the base paths and eventually scoring.

Houghton (8-2) added one more in the third before the Mountaineers rallied for four two in the fourth. Scoring that inning for Iron Mountain were Joey Wahoviak and White. It was now 3-2 game, but that was short lived as the Gremlins added three more in their half of the fourth. Errors contributed to at least two of those runs but a sacrifice bunt by Isaacson which allowed Markham to score from third proved that Houghton was the better team. They went on to win this one 9-3.

“I thought we played better in the second game,” stated McLean. “Charlie Anderson threw well. We need to clean up our errors.”

Saturday success

The Gremlins continued their winning streak on Saturday as they defeated the Negaunee Miners, 5-3, and the Marquette Sentinels, 10-0.

In the win over the Miners, Heathman was the only Gremlins hitter with multiple hits as he went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Brycyn Nettell, VonDoloski, and Latham Salmi also had hits.

Markham knocked in two runs despite not recording a hit.

VonDoloski got the win, going 5 2/3 innings on the mound, striking out five and walking two, while giving up eight hits. Isaacson threw 1 1/3 innings of relief, walking one and giving up one hit.

Against Marquette, Houghton scored all 10 of their runs between the second and fourth innings.

Markham and Donnelly both had two hits each. Heathman had a double. Durocher and Isaacson each collected a hit as well.

Heathman went the distance on the mound, striking out four and giving up one hit in four innings of work.

Up Next

The Gremlins will face Hancock at home on Wednesday.