News Photo by Owen Kinzey Alpena’s Kaleb Donajkowski throws a pitch during a doubleheader against Traverse City Central on Tuesday in Alpena.

ALPENA — The Alpena High baseball team had its work cut out for it Tuesday facing one of the best players in the entire state of Michigan.

Not only was Josh Klug an incredibly dominant player, but the remainder of Traverse City Central’s roster was stacked.

The Trojans took a 5-0 win in game one but ended up tying the Wildcats in game two on a late-game comeback.

“All in all, we did some really good things today. We also did some things that we need to work on as well. We faced the best pitcher we faced all year, but Kaleb Donajkowski countered him and pitched the best game he’s pitched all year. Overall, I was super happy with how we played,” Alpena coach Eric MacKenzie said.

Game one was a back-and-forth pitching showcase between Klug and Donajkowski.

Alpena led off the game with a hard-hit double into the left-center gap from Gabe Glawe. Klug battled back and struck out the next two, but then drilled Hunter Cohoon to put a runner on first. With two runners on, Klug worked his way out of the jam to keep the game tied.

Central got on the board with a walk from Owen Dawson, who eventually scored on a wild pitch from Donajkowski.

It wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning that the Trojans scored again. A leadoff walk from Andrew Fender and a single from Reed Seabase set up Josef Meyer with two runners on. Meyer drove both runners home to extend the lead to 3-0.

A pitching change by the Wildcats put Brady Kollen in a tough situation during the top of the sixth. Central capitalized on the opportunity and scored another runner on a balk from Kollen.

A final run was tacked on by the Trojans on a sacrifice fly scoring Fender.

Alpena had one last chance to score but was incapable of hitting Klug’s very talented pitch mix.

Game one ended 5-0 where Klug pitched 6 2/3 innings and struck out 15 to get past the Wildcats.

Donajkowski also pitched very well, pitching 51/3innings and striking out nine of his own.

Game two was very similar to the first, where Alpena struggled again offensively.

Traverse City got off to a great start after Klug drew a walk off Caleb McEwen who later scored on a hard ground ball that got past Brady Pagels.

The Trojans extended even further on its lead after a double from Klug scored Meyer. J.J. Dutmers followed that double with one of his own scoring Klug. Central wasn’t done yet as they scored another run on a single from Greyson Spinniken.

With a 4-0 lead over the Wildcats, Alpena needed to respond quickly. Immediately after in the bottom of the third, Alpena scored its first run of the day after Pagels singled, scoring Glawe.

Central got that run back in the top of the fifth after Dutmers singled and scored later on a fielder’s choice.

Down 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth, the Wildcats were determined to put on a comeback. A walk from Jonny Rensberry and a single from Kollen got it started for Alpena. Grant Jarema was then hit by a pitch, setting up the bases loaded. Three straight singles from Glawe, Pagels, and Jake Zann tied the game up at 5-5.

Alpena couldn’t score one final run, resulting in a 5-5 tie, due to darkness.

“I think we still have some adjustments to make at the plate. We know we face some very good pitchers and we just need to be better prepared on fastball and off-speed pitches from those types of players,” MacKenzie said. “I was very pleased with the pitching for us, but there are still things to work on at the plate,”