×

Alpena keeps it close

The Alpena High baseball team has made a habit of keeping games close this season.

That pattern held true on Saturday, but at the end of the day all that mattered was that the Wildcats walked away victorious.

The Wildcats (16-9-1) held off seventh inning rallies from Melvindale at Alpena High School during a doubleheader and beat the Cardinals 6-5 and 5-3.

Fifteen of Alpena’s games have been decided by three runs or less and the Wildcats are 11-4 in those games.

“That’s the way we’ve been playing it, tight to the cup all year long, so it was nice,” Alpena coach Phil Schultz said. “This is a quality team; they play some tough competition from down south, so it was nice to see some new competition.”

In the top of the seventh inning in the second game, the Cardinals got their first hitter on base after he was hit by a pitch and he was driven home with one out to make it 5-3. Melvindale subsequently drew a pair of walks and Kolby McGill singled to load the bases with two outs. With the winning runs on board, Alpena pitcher Dylan Tucker got Kyle Stringer to ground into a fielder’s choice to preserve the win.

Tucker finished off a solid performance by Alpena starter Nick Skiba, who pitched 6 2/3 innings. Skiba allowed two runs on three hits, struck out 11 and walked six, while throwing 55 of his 105 pitches for strikes.

Alpena’s offense got to work quickly in the first inning and scored twice. After Melvindale pitcher Bob Adkins struck out the first two batters he faced, Alpena drew four straight walks, allowing Bruz Copping to score on the fourth walk. Ben Matteson then reached base on an error, bringing Tucker in to score.

The Wildcats added a run in each of the next three innings, twice taking advantage of a double steal to score a pair of easy runs. Rhett Limback pulled off the move with Copping and scored in the second inning and Alpena did it again in the fourth inning as Limback teamed with Copping again to score.

“We’ve been working on that because defensively we weren’t really sharp on that, but when you do work on you’re also helping yourself offensively and we had the right people on base, so it worked really well,” Schultz said.

The Cardinals scored on an error in the third inning to make it 3-1 and added another run in the fourth inning on an RBI triple by Justin VanAllen.

Limback, Matteson, Skiba and Braeden Werth each had a hit for Alpena and Joe Ayala had a pair of RBI.

Melvindale nearly rallied again in the opener after trailing 6-1 early on. Trailing 6-5 in the top of the seventh inning, Melvindale loaded with the bases with one out after two batters were hit and another walked. The threat ended as quickly however. Jeff Dingess got caught in a rundown between third base and home for the second out and Anthony Ochoa grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

An inning earlier, the Cardinals began their rally attempt, scoring three runs after again loading the bases with one out. Rudy Ochoa hit a two-run double to right field and McGill added an RBI groundout.

Alpena got hot early once again, scoring six runs in the first four innings. Werth scored on an error in the first inning to make it 1-1 and singled home Matteson in the second inning to give Alpena the lead. In the third inning, Ayala singled home Tucker and Lars MacArthur had a two-run single to put Alpena up 5-1.

Bailey Marquardt singled home Skiba in the fourth inning to make it 6-1.

The Cardinals scored once in the first inning and loaded the bases in the fourth with two out, but a fielder’s choice ended the threat. Melvindale scored another run in the fifth to make it 6-2.

Marquardt had two hits and an RBI for Alpena and Limback and Skiba each had two hits. MacArthur added a hit and two RBI.

Cam DeCaire pitched the first 3 2/3 innings for Alpena and allowed a run on three hits with three walks. MacArthur, Ben Budnik and Tucker took their turns in relief to finish the game.

In between games, Alpena honored its seven seniors-Tucker, Werth, Ayala, Matteson, Limback and Skiba-and Schultz praised their efforts and hard work this season.

“It’s a great group of kids. They’ve worked hard and battled all the time. They improved and I think they’re solid leaders,” Schultz said. “They didn’t play a lot last year because they were behind some quality players, (but this year) they’ve filled the positions well and done well.”

Alpena hosts Boyne City for a doubleheader starting at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today