Hurons look past losses to Rudyard to focus on districts

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

Coach Howard Madsen is confident his team can forget all about what happened last week at Rudyard and get back to playing solid baseball. After getting word the Straits Area Conference title was out of reach, after league leading Cheboygan swept Sault Ste. Marie last week, the Hurons dropped a pair in the Upper Peninsula. Saturday the 17-12 Hurons take on Onaway in the first round of district play, with the winner to play the winner of the Hillman vs. Posen game. An early season contest with Onaway was rained out. Onaway was 9-9 heading into play last weekend. ?We like our chances. We just have to play our game and it will fall into place,? Madsen said at practice Tuesday.

The district is set for Hillman with the winner to play in the Rogers City regional. THE GAMES Madsen hopes the team forgets are the two games played last Thursday in the bitter cold and wind of Rudyard, games lost by scores of 13-3 and 12-11. In the first game, Rudyard had 11 hits and scored seven unearned runs off starter Jordan Zempel and reliever Alex Lemmon. Zempel went the first 4 2/3 innings, striking ou

t two and walking four. Lemmon pitched one-third of an inning, surrendering five runs, but only two earned.

Rogers City scored two runs on its only three hits in the second inning. Singles by Scott Grulke, Matt Mertz and Josh Curtis led to the only runs of the game for the Hurons. Game two saw more Huron runs, but Rudyard?s bats stayed hot. Rudyard scored three runs off Grulke, who would last only five outs into the game. He allowed nine runs, four of them earned, six hits and two walks. Kevin Fairbanks, Cody Elowsky and Lemmon finished the final 4 1/3 combining to allow four hits and three more runs.

LEADING HITTERS for the Hurons were Ben Tulgestke, Zempel, Curtis, and Grulke who each had two hits. Rogers City had 11 hits in the game. The team has a makeup game scheduled with Alpena Thursday at home.

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