News Photo by Josh Jambor Pictured are volunteers from Friends Together working the raffle booth during the ‘Strikes Out Cancer’ tournament on Saturday afternoon.

ALPENA – The Alpena Wildcats varsity baseball team fell just short in game one of the Friends Together ‘Strikes Out Cancer’ Tournament after a hard-fought high school baseball game Friday, losing 6-4 to the Negaunee Miners.

Negaunee jumped out to an early lead, scoring one run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly. The Miners added two more in the second inning on an RBI single and a run-scoring groundout, taking a 3-0 lead.

The Wildcats battled back in the bottom of the third inning, using a pair of singles to tie the game at 3-3. Gavin Ross delivered the tying RBI single.

The score stayed knotted until the top of the sixth, when Negaunee broke through, scoring two more runs for a 5-3 advantage. The Miners added one more insurance run in the top of the seventh inning.

Offensively, Gavin Ross paced the Wildcats with two RBIs going one for four from the field spot. Clark Weird had a strong day at the plate with two hits in three at-bats and two stolen bases.