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Alpena baseball team defeats Hurons in debut

News Photo by James Andersen Alpena's Logan Guthrie (center) is mobbed by teammates after driving in the winning run in a game against Rogers City on Thursday at Alpena High School.

It wasn’t perfect, but the Alpena baseball team will take it.

On a day that saw some Alpena shake off some early season rust, all that mattered for the Wildcats Thursday was that they started the 2017 season off on a winning note against Rogers City. Alpena topped the Hurons 7-6 in eight innings in the first game and 12-1 in five innings in the nightcap.

“At the beginning it was pretty rough, but towards the end I think we played really well,” Bailey Marquardt said. “We just had to clear our minds. The errors were really getting to our heads, so we had to clear our minds and get back to playing baseball.”

In contrast to the first game, the Wildcats seized control early in the second game and never trailed. In the third inning, the Wildcats scored 10 runs on just three hits to take a commanding 11-1 lead.

Alpena sent 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of third inning and benefitted from seven walks and two hit batsmen to add to their lead. Two of three hits came from Logan Guthrie and Cam DeCaire, who each had a two-run single.

After the Hurons scored a run in the top of the fourth inning, Alpena added another run in the bottom of the inning as Bruz Copping drove in DeCaire.

Lucas Crosby pitched a solid game for Alpena, striking out eight and allowing two hits on one run. Chris DeRocher took the mound in the fifth inning and pitched a 1-2-3 fifth to end the contest.

“We’re really deep pitching-wise and I think we’re good defensive,” Marquardt said. “The hitting will come around. Once we get rolling, hopefully we’ll string together some wins.

Guthrie tamed the Hurons on the mound and at the plate in the opener. At the plate, he drove in Cam Cosbitt with one out in the bottom of the eighth for the winning run. On the mound, he pitched the final three innings, allowing no runs, no hits and striking out five.

Alpena collected plenty of hits in the early going, but had trouble scoring. The Wildcats finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring three runs.

Marquardt came through with a two-run single and Josh Lucas added a run on a passed ball.

Neither team generated offense in the seventh inning, pushing the game to the eighth inning before Alpena won.

Rogers City took advantage of some early Alpena rust to score twice in the top of the first inning and added a run in the top of the third inning. Chris Tulgestka had an RBI for the Hurons in the first inning and later scored on a steal attempt.

Rogers City pitcher Alex Altman kept Alpena at bay for several innings, even as the Wildcats continued to hit. But early season miscues caught up to the Hurons as well.

Alpena scored a run on an RBI triple from Lars MacArthur in the third inning and added two more on errors in the fourth inning to tie the game 3-3. Rogers City took the lead back in the fifth inning as Tulgestka and Matt Altman had RBI singles and Caleb Karsten scored on a passed ball.

Tulgestka had two hits for the Hurons and Marquardt led Alpena with three.

Cam DeCaire pitched the first three innings before Ben Budnik took over in the fourth inning.

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

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