Houghton's Sento Matsumoto prepares to swing at a Kingsford pitch during a game Monday at Bostwick Field in Houghton. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — If the Houghton Gremlins baseball team had any hopes that a one-run sixth inning would spark a five-run comeback in the seventh inning, it was quickly dismissed before they could get one out. Their opponent, the Kingsford Flivvers doubled their score in their final at bat.

A 9-4 Flivvers lead in the sixth turned into an 18-4 win for the Kingsford squad.

Kingsford coach Joe Kriegl summed up the win as a combination of good play by his team and not so good play by the Gremlins.

“We hit the ball well and had some pretty good pitching,” he stated. “The Gremlins are a good team, but they had too many errors today. They dug a pretty deep hole and were not able to climb out of it.”

The Gremlins (6-10) jumped out to a brief 1-0 lead. A single in the bottom of the first by Brody Donnelly led to him scoring.

The Flivvers (12-10) countered with four runs in the second. A walk to Jack Spreen led to the first run and then a Colin Olsen double scored three more.

A 4-1 game became a 9-1 score for the Flivvers in the fifth as they tallied two runs in the fourth and another three in the fifth. While the Gremlins scored two in the fifth and one in the sixth, they could not stop a nine-run barrage by the Flivvers in the seventh.

A combination of errors, walks and hit batters proved to be the Gremlins’ downfall.

The Flivvers bats certainly helped as well. A sacrifice fly by Devin Miller scored one run. A double by Jacob Deuter scored two and a Jonah Doenier base rap added another run. The Flivvers rallied for 15 hits in the game and seven walks.

Colin Olsen was 1-4 at the plate but led the team with four RBIs.

Donnelly suffered the loss for the Gremlins on the mound. In four innings, he surrendered nine runs (three earned) on nine hits. He walked four and struck out two.

Jack Kriegl was the winning pitcher. The Flivvers’ right hander went three innings, striking out three and walking just one. He allowed one (unearned) run.

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The Gremlins will travel to Negaunee on Wednesday.