News photo by Josh Jambor Alpena baseball player Brady Chapman swings at a pitch in a game earlier this season. The Wildcats dropped both games of their doubleheader against the Gaylord Blue Devils on Tuesday.

ALPENA – The Alpena Wildcats varsity baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader on Tuesday, 4-0, and 5-3, in a Big North Conference matchup with the Gaylord Blue Devils. With the losses Alpena falls to 9-8 on the season.

In game one, Gaylord got on the board in the third inning with an RBI single. The Blue Devils added to their lead in the fifth and sixth innings, adding one run in each of those innings, for the 4-0 lead.

Offensively, Gavin Ross provided Alpena’s only hit, going 1 for 3 at the plate.

Josias Ferrett earned the win on the mound for Gaylord, allowing just one hit, no runs, and striking out 15 batters, in seven innings of action.

In game two, Gaylord jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second inning due to an error. The Wildcats answered right back in the bottom half of the inning when Gaylord committed their own miscue, knotting the game at 1-1.

Alpena grabbed its only lead in the bottom of the third. Brady Chapman ripped a double that plated a run, giving the Wildcats a 2-1 advantage and sending the home crowd to their feet.

Gaylord responded in the top of the fourth inning, taking a 3-2 lead on a groundout from Beau Boutler, and an Alpena error on a strike three call that allowed another runner to score. The visitors added two more runs late in the game to take the 5-3 lead.

Colton Anderson started on the mound for Alpena and turned in a gritty performance. The left-hander pitched four innings, allowing six hits, and one earned run, with five strikeouts.

Eion Eades provided the biggest spark at the plate for the Wildcats, driving in two runs from the seventh spot in the order. Gavin Ross led the offense with two hits in three-at-bats. Alpena also turned one double play defensively.

Alpena Head Coach Eric MacKenzie said the outing was rough for his team and added his thoughts on the games.

“In the first game I thought we played well, just ran into a good pitcher,” MacKenzie said. “In the second game we had our opportunities to take the lead but couldn’t capitalize.”

MacKenzie will be stressing a couple key fundamentals as the team prepares for their next set of games.

“We will continue to work on some defensive situations in practice, as well as work on our hitting,” MacKenzie said.

Next up: Alpena travels to Midland today to take on the Dow Chargers, game one of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at 4pm.