Garnet Garage's Eli Heathman shows bunt in a game against Coldwell Banker Craig Heinonen Tuesday at the Hancock Driving Park. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

HANCOCK — If baseball was a distance horse race, Garnet Garage took an early lead out of the gate, only to lose it in the second lap to their opponent, Coldwell Banker Craig Heinonen. However, they picked up steam on laps four and six and came in first with a 5-2 victory on Tuesday.

“We did all the little things right,” said Garnet’s player-coach Kevin Bostwick. “Guys got on. We got them to second and third, and then we got balls into play to score them.”

It was a 1-0 game after one courtesy of Garnet Garage’s bats.

Coldwell Banker’s only lead came in the second inning as they tallied two. It started with a walk to Ross Kinnunen. He advanced on a hit-by-pitch to Kyle Heltunen. Then a base hit by leadoff batter Andrew Kinnunen put his team up by one at 2-1.

It was a brief lead though, as Garnet struck with two in fourth and two more in the sixth.

Eli Heathman was the pitcher of record when Garnet scored their winning run. He got the win and was their third pitcher. He came after starter Brody Donnelly and then Kade Farrell both did what they could.

“Eli came in and saved the day,” noted Bostwick.

Up next

The Twilight League will host the annual Leo Durocher Tournament this weekend in Stanton. It will open with a game on Friday night and tournament pool play on Saturday. Semifinals and finals are slated for Sunday.

“We are excited,” stated Bostwick. “We lost a close one to Stanton, but we are gunning to win it back.”

Garnet Garage’s Kade Farrell stands on third and talks over strategy with third base coach Chris Saari in a game against Coldwell Banker Craig Heinonen Tuesday at the Hancock Driving Park. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)