Jeffers’ Chad Isaacson takes a lead off second with Houghton's Brody Donnelly keeping him close during the championship game Saturday at the John Bostwick Memorial Field in Houghton. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The second annual John Bostwick Memorial Tournament took place at the baseball field named in his honor at Houghton High School on Saturday. It featured four familiar foes – the Calumet Copper Kings, Hancock Bulldogs, Houghton Gremlins and the Jeffers Jets.

When all was said and done, it was the Jets who flew above their opponents not allowing them to score. They beat Hancock 8-0 in their first game and shut out Houghton in the final game, 4-0.

“We are playing well,” said Jets coach Luke Paul. “Cody (Turner) threw well and didn’t let guys on. If they did get on, we played good defense to keep them from scoring.”

Game One

In the Jets’ (18-6) win over Hancock, Blake Heltunen earned the win on the mound. He went four innings and struck out one and walked one.

The Jets scored one run in the first, five in the second and two in the third.

Swinging a big bat in the second were Brogan Turner, Chad Isaacson and Cody Turner. All had singles, and all scored. Heltunen had a two-run RBI double as well.

Game Two

The Gremlins (12-4) advanced to the title game with a 12-7 win over Calumet. The bats were hot as Houghton tallied 12 runs on 15 hits.

This included a five-run first, four-run second and a three-run third inning.

Joel Durocher and Brody Donnelly were both three for three at the plate. Brycyn Nettell was two for four but had an impressive five RBI game. All scored multiple times.

Latham Salmi earned the complete-game victory on the mound Houghton. In six innings of work, he struck out three and walked three while allowing seven runs.

Championship game

The two semifinal games set the stage for the Jets and Gremlins to face in the title game. In their victory over Houghton, the Jets got on board in the third with their first run.

With two outs, Brody Turner singled and eventually made it home on a defensive error.

An inning later the Jets added three more runs. A walk to Heltunen led to him scoring on a sacrifice bunt. The Jets’ Nick Andrews walked and Isaacson was hit by a pitch from Gremlins’ starter Rylan Isaacson. They both scored on a misplayed grounder to second. The Jets led 4-0, and that is all they needed.

Paul said that those three runs summed up their style of play this season.

“We are a ‘small-ball’ team,” he noted. We are aggressive on the bases and we like to bunt. We work on it all the time.”

Houghton coach Kevin Bostwick would have liked to see his Gremlins play better.

“Some misplays here and there, and that cost us the game,” he noted. “The Jets are a good team, and they beat us at our game. We had two hits, and 11 strikeouts isn’t going to win you games.”

Up next

This is the last week of the regular season for baseball. The Gremlins will face the Kingsford Flivvers Monday at home. The Jets will close out the week on the road against Lake Linden-Hubbell on Thursday.

Houghton baseball huddles up between innings during the championship game Saturday against Jeffers at the John Bostwick Memorial Field in Houghton. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)