Garnet Garage forces a game three with late-inning comeback
Downs Houghton Building Supply/Stanton 6-1
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STANTON -- Garnet Garage’s season was on the line. They found themselves down to their last six outs Thursday in their playoff game against Houghton Building Supply/Stanton. Stanton led the best-of-three series 1-0 and had a 1-0 lead in Game Two headed into the sixth inning.
However a two-run sixth, and a three-run seventh, kept Garnet’s season alive with a 6-1 win.
"The bats finally woke up for us," said Garnet player-coach Kevin Bostwick. "We needed that as momentum will carry us into Game Three at home."
Neither team scored in the first four innings. Rylan Isaacson was on the mound for Garnet Garage. Houghton Building Supply’s Levi Frahm was their starter.
Both pitchers threw strikes and had good defense to back them up. That was until the fifth inning, when the home team broke the ice with a run.
It started with Stanton’s Clark Aappla earning his way to first on a Garnet Garage error at third. He made his way to third on a Joel Durocher base hit and scored the first run of the game courtesy of a Zach Geborkoff single.
Garnet Garage, however, was not going down easy as they tied it and went ahead 2-1 in the sixth.
"Guys kept doing their jobs at the plate and in the field," added Bostwick. "Little by little, we were able to stay in this one."
It started with a walk to Garnet Garage’s Eli Heathman and followed by a hit by pitch to teammate Mike Saari - all with one out. Heathman scored easily on a hard-hit ball by Will Romano, and Saari followed him home on a single through the left side of the infield by Gaborik Carlson.
After Houghton Building Supply went down one, two, three in the bottom of the sixth, Garnet Garage added four more runs in the final frame.
The first run home for Garnet Garage was Kade Ferrell after he earned his way on with a double. Heathman followed with a base hit, and Mike Saari was again hit by a pitch. Then came the fireworks with two outs. Romano, now up to the plate, cleared the bases and instantly became run-number six with a home run.
"Will put the nail in the coffin, and we needed that exclamation point," said Bostwick.
Stanton was not able to dig their way out of the sizable deficit.
Isaacson went the distance for Garnet Garage, with three strikeouts and just one walk over seven innings.
"Rylan threw a gem for us on the mound," noted Bostwick, "and we were able to cover him in the field."
Up next
Game Three of this series will be on Sunday at the John Bostwick Memorial Field at Houghton High School. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. The winner of this game will play Northern Driveline in a best-of-three championship series beginning on Tuesday.