News Photo by James Andersen Alpena’s Bruz Copping pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against Standish during the MacKenzie Invitational on Saturday at Alpena High School.

It was the sort of deja vu the Alpena baseball team wasn’t hoping to experience again.

Porous defense.

A lack of hitting.

Momentum-crushing errors.

Added up, it spelled defeat for the Wildcats as they settled for runner-up honors at their annual MacKenzie Invitational on Saturday after losing 7-2 to Grosse Pointe North.

After losing to the Norsemen on Friday due in part to mid-game errors and a lack of clutch hits, Saturday’s game played out almost as a near replica. Alpena committed six errors-four in the fourth inning alone-and stranded nine base runners with at least one left aboard in each inning.

It was the type of game Alpena coach Phil Schultz was hoping he wouldn’t see again any time soon.

“It was almost a carbon copy of what we had yesterday, except we didn’t hit as well as we did yesterday,” Schultz said. “My issue is we had the opportunity to put pressure on them and we got ahead early 1-0 and it looked like we were going to be in position to score some more runs, but we just didn’t get the key hit.”

The Norsemen broke open the game in the fourth inning, scoring three times while taking advantage of four Alpena errors. Chad Lorkowski had a two run double for North and the Norsemen added another run on an error.

Alpena (11-7) started the inning off on a rough note as North’s first three batters got on after a hit by pitch, an outfield error and a double. With one out, Alpena appeared to catch a break on a routine ground ball, but an error at third base and a follow-up error at shortstop allowed Lorkowski to score.

“It was a little like deja’ vu. We can’t make those fielding errors against a team like this,” Alpena sophomore Aidan Goike said. “It can get to you, but you’ve got to have short memory and move on to the next play.”

Dominic Vandoorne had an RBI single in the sixth inning to give North a 4-1 lead and the Norsemen tacked on three more runs in the seventh inning. After Nik David singled to lead off the seventh, two of the next three North batters laid down bunts for singles and Lorkowski and Ryan Mazzola added RBI singles later in the inning to add to North’s lead.

After struggling on defense, Alpena ran into an equal amount of bad luck on offense. Alpena finished the game with two runs on six hits, but left nine runners stranded and couldn’t get timely hits when it needed them.

After Chris DeRocher scored on an error in the second inning to give Alpena a 1-0 lead, the Wildcats didn’t score again until the seventh inning when Goike scored on a failed double play attempt.

Lars MacArthur and Chandler Lantz led Alpena with two hits each, but too often when the Wildcats made contact, the balls hung up in the wind or were hit right at a fielder.

Alpena starter Cam DeCaire pitched three scoreless innings to start the game even as Alpena committed two errors, but the fourth inning breakdowns proved too much to overcome.

DeCaire pitched into the seventh inning before Ben Budnik came on in relief.

The tournament began much smoother for Alpena as the Wildcats opened the day with a 7-0 victory over Standish.

Goike and Bruz Copping each had a two-run single and Bailey Marquardt had three hits.

Copping earned the win for Alpena after allowing four hits and striking out six. He pitched into the sixth inning and Budnick came in to record the final four outs.

Copping pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second inning, inducing a fly ball to end the inning after the Panthers loaded the bases with two outs.

Lantz singled home Goike in the first inning and Alpena added another run in the second inning after Logan Guthrie scored on a passed ball in the second inning to give Alpena a 2-0 lead.

Copping singled in two runs in the fourth inning and Goike scored on a passed ball in the sixth inning before he singled in two runs in the sixth inning.

Even with the runner-up finish, Goike said playing a team of North’s caliber will help the Wildcats, especially as they move into the heart of their conference schedule.

“It will help us going (forward), playing against teams like the (Traverse City schools), Petoskey, it will definitely help us in our conference games,” Goike said.