Huron baseball reaches 25-3 with 20th straight win

With one doubleheader left on the schedule before district play, coach Howard Madsen?s team shows no signs of letting up. The Huron victory train stayed on the tracks, as it rolled to four more wins last week. At 25-3, the Hurons have won 20 games in a row with great pitching, team speed, sound defense, and clutch hitting. Rogers City hosts its last regular season home game Friday as the Onaway Cardinals come to town. Madsen?s squad hopes this will not be the last games on the home turf, as Rogers City hosts the regional tournament June 10. To get there, the Hurons have to get by a strong field of teams at the Hillman district June 3. Posen and Atlanta square off in a pre-district game Tuesday in Hillman, with the Hurons taking on the winner on June 3.

Onaway plays Hillman in the other half of the bracket with the winners playing for the district title. The Hurons are ranked third in the latest Michigan High School Baseball Coaches association poll behind number one Homer and number two Climax Scotts. Hillman is ranked seventh as the only other northern Michigan school mentioned in the Division IV poll.

AFTER LAST week?s games with Posen were rained out, the Hurons won two games on Saturday and two more on Tuesday in Newberry. First at Glen Lake, the Hurons topped Pine River 3-1 in the opening game behind the pitching of senior Cody Wenzel. He went all six innings, allowing four hits, and two walks. The Hurons had six hits, paced by designated hitter Greg Peacock?s two doubles and two RBIs. In the second game of the day, for the tournament championship, the Hurons scored 11 runs in the last three innings to earn an 11-1 win over Clare. Chris Santini pitched a complete game, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out one. The Huron bats got working late in the game led by Justin Wilbert, Jake Bellmore, Jackson Bruning, and Wenzel with two hits each. Wenzel and Bellmore each drove in three runs. Peacock, Wilbert, Bellmore, and Evan Vogelheim were each named to the all-tournament team.

IN NEWBERRY Tuesday, the SAC conference champs swept a pa

ir from the Indians in convincing fashion, 14-0, 11-0. Santini threw a shutout in the opener, striking out 10 with no walks and three hits allowed. On the other side of the plate, the Hurons notched 15 hits with Bret Karsten getting three. Scott Grulke, called up recently from the junior varsity, had two hits, including a two-run homer. Tyler Schuiteman had two hits including a solo home run. Centerfielder Justin Wilbert added two hits in the game. Austin Fairbanks and Grulke combined for a no-hitter in the second game. Fairbanks threw no-hit ball over the first three innings, striking out four with no walks.

Grulke worked the last two innings in his varsity debut, walking three and striking out one. Wenzel, Peacock, and Fairbanks each had two of their team?s 12 hits.