Calumet's Trent Halonen takes a lead off of first base with Houghton's Eli Heathman manning the bag on Tuesday at John Bostwick Field in Houghton. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Gremlins baseball squad scored a whopping 26 runs over the course of a doubleheader on Tuesday against the Calumet Copper Kings. They opened the sweep with a 10-2 win, and capped it off with a 16-9 victory.

“We had a couple of errors here and there, but overall, it was a good series,” said Gremlins coach Kevin Bostwick.

While the Gremlins posted the first run of the afternoon in the bottom of the second with Hudson Markham reaching on an error and eventually scoring, the Copper Kings countered with two in the top of the third to take a brief lead.

In that frame, Copper Kings hurler Darin Berg reached on a error to start the error and then advanced with a base hit by Matt Frantti. Berg came home on a single to right by Trent Halonen. John Golus followed suit with an RBI to right, which scored Frantti.

The lead however was short lived as the Gremlins (4-2) countered with six of their own. Joel Durocher started the rally after he was hit by a pitch from Berg. He came home on a Brycyn Nettell double to right. Alex Hebert courtesy ran for Nettell, the catcher, and scored with ease on a Jackson VonDoloski single.

The hit parade continued with Markham knocking in VonDoloski and Eli Heathman knocking in Markham. When this inning was finished, the Gremlins now led 7-2. They went on to score three more in the fifth and keep the Copper Kings at two.

Rylan Isaacson earned the win in the first game. He came in to relieve starter VonDoloski in the third inning. He threw just one 1 2/3 innings — allowing no runs nor walks or hits.

Calumet coach David Yeo was pleased with Berg and frustrated with the errors (five) in the field.

“Darin (Berg) threw strikes, that is what we needed,” stated Yeo. “We had too many errors that led to runs. Some of that has to do with us not being able to be outside for fly balls. There are no bad hops in the gym.”

The second game was a slug fest for both teams. All but two frames had runs crossing home plate. The Gremlins scored five in the first and never looked back.

It stared with a single by Durocher. Then back-to-back doubles by Nettell and VonDoloski led to one run in. A single by Heathman scored two more. Ethan Hainault cleared the bases with a triple to right and came home on a sacrifice bunt by Latham Salmi which scored Hainault.

Like the opener, the Copper Kings took a brief lead in the top of the second. They posted six runs off of Gremlins’ starter Nettell poor pitching and some errors in the field. Nettell walked the four of the first five batters he faced that frame. This included Luke Hamlin who scored first.

Then Drake Niemela scored on an errant throw by Gremlins’ third baseman Latham Salmi. A hit-by-pitch and another walk loaded the bases for Frantti. He provided the only legitimate hit of the inning with a single to left, and that scored two.

The Gremlins countered with two in the second and regained the lead at 7-6. Nettell had an RBI single — his third on the afternoon. He went on to have one more in the fifth, and four RBIs over the two-game series.

“Game ball goes to him,” noted Bostwick. “Brycyn was key for us at the plate.”

The Gremlins tacked on two more in both the third and the fourth and five in the fifth inning. The Copper Kings added only three more. This one ended 16-9.

Houghton’s Heathman earned the win in the second game. He relieved Nettell in the second and threw 3 1/3 innings. He struck out four and allowed just one earned run.

Up Next

The Gremlins and the Copper Kings boys head to Negaunee for an invite on Saturday.