Final Cubs Game Is Cancelled; Season Is Over The Escanaba Cubs will not travel to Kingsford on Tuesday for what would have been the team's final regular season game. Cubs Manager Tom Ohman says that Kingsford cancelled the game because several players got hurt in the Mid Pen League tournament last weekend, and they need to heal for this weekend's U.P. Finals. That's the tournament the Cubs and three other U.P. teams were kicked out of due to late paperwork. Ohman says a four-team tournament that had been planned at Al Ness Field this weekend will not happen because not all of the "illegal" teams wanted to play. The Cubs will play the Junior Cubs in an exhibition game Wednesday night to end the season. Esky Cubs Split Doubleheader With Hancock Tim Lueneburg at the plate for the Esky Cubs. (Lisa Dagenais photo) ESCANABA---The Escanaba Cubs played a pair of one-run games on Saturday as the regular season starts to wind down. The Cubs lost to Hancock, 2-1, in the first game of a doubleheader at Al Ness Field. The Cubs then won a high-scoring nightcap, 9-8. In the opener, Alex DeHaan threw six strong innings, but two errors in the first inning hurt him and allowed Hancock to score. The bats were mostly silent throughout the game, with the Cub batters routinely hitting pop ups and fly balls. In the second game, Matt Jensen struggled to throw strikes on the mound and had his shortest start of the season. Tim Lueneburg pitched four innings in relief to earn the victory, allowing only one base hit along the way. Austin Young earned the save at the end in relief. Escanaba (7-15) travels to Kingsford Tuesday night. Then the Cubs plan to host a tournament on Friday and Saturday amongst the four U.P. teams that were ousted from U.P. Zones due to paperwork issues. See the story about that situation below on this web page.

DOWN TO THE WIRE AGAIN                       Escanaba's Ian DeMarse tries to get back to first base, but is tagged out by Gladstone first baseman Adam Hongisto Wednesday. (Lisa Dagenais photo) ESCANABA---The Gladstone Indians scored four runs in the fifth inning to rally past the Escanaba Cubs, 6-3, Wednesday night at Al Ness Field. The Indians took advantage of three walks and two throwing errors, and Cody Darling's bloop double just out of the reach of Cub center fielder Austin Young provided the final margin. "It's fitting, I don't know what else to say," Escanaba Manager Tom Ohman said. "It's been a very difficult season. I still say that this team is a lot better than the way that they've been playing, but we get a couple of mental breakdowns and don't make the play." The game happened just hours after both the Cubs and Indians learned that they had been kicked out of both the Zone and State Tournaments because required paperwork was not turned in by a June 27 deadline. (read separate story below about that issue) For most of the game, it was a typcial Esky-Gladstone battle, and this one was highlighted by good pitching. Escanaba's Trent Schwalbach and Gladstone's Cody Darling both had control of their pitches, and runs were tough to come by all night long. Gladstone took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Matt Weyers got a one-out single. Colin O'Neal's bunt attempt was not a good one, but he reached first anyway when Schwalbach's throw got away. Then Darling put down a perfect bunt up the first base line to load the bases. "It was rolling on the chalk the whole time," he laughed. <<The ball is rolling on Darling's bunt. Paul Tomaszewski singled home the first run, and a sacrafice fly by Jared Stenson made it a 2-0 Indians lead. Escanaba got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Matt Jensen singled and Alex DeHaan doubled. Jensen scored on a sacrafice fly to make it 2-1. But in the fifth inning, they did. This game was played under modified rules, which had a ten-man batting order rather than nine, and there were more liberal re-entry rules. Well, Escanaba's #10 hitter was Bailey Lamb, who was 0-for-15 this year as a Cub. Lamb got his first Cubs hit in style Wednesday, launching a long home run over the 340 sign in center field to tie the game at 2-2. "I took the pitch before and it was right down the middle, and I looked over at Coach (Jon) Bintner and he just shook his head," Lamb said. "I knew I had to do something to make up for that, so the next pitch, he (Darling) threw it right down the middle, I put my head down, and just hit it as hard as I could." "We're gonna write to the State of Michigan and see if we can have a #10 hitter from now on," Ohman said. "He dropped the head on it. It was a great hit for Bailey." Then, as he rounded third base on his first-ever Cubs base hit, and first-ever home run, Lamb had something to say to Bintner. "I just 'sorry'," Lamb said. "And he didn't know why I was saying that. I was just saying 'sorry' for taking that pitch before."  The next man up, Young, ripped a line drive home run to left field. All of a sudden, it was a 3-2 Cubs lead, with two bombs. "I didn't know if Austin's had enough heighth to get over the fence,  because it was just a laser," Ohman said. "It was a nice hit." "Two pitches right down the middle," Cody Darling said. "Oops! My curveball wasn't working as well as I wanted it to today, so I think I threw it maybe six or seven times, and none for a strike, either." So, Darling was lifted for Blake Ballard, and the 16-year-old pitcher responded, striking out the next two men he faced, and pitching a scoreless sixth inning. Matt Jensen scores an Esky run as Indian catcher Cody Frazer waits for a throw. >>> Then came the top of the seventh, as Schwalbach looked for the final three outs to end the ballgame. The seventh started with Ballard walking on a 3-2 pitch. "I thought that Trent had him struck out on the curveball," Ohman said. "But it got called a ball, and that's the umpire, you can't blame him. It switched the momentum, but we made a lot of mistakes." Peyton Jurek followed with a bunt, and Schwalbach's throw was poor, putting two men on base. Cooper Young grounded out (after Cubs catcher Ian Serrer had tried to intentionally walk Young, but was overrruled by assistant coach Jon Bintner after the first two balls were thrown). Then, Adam Hongisto put down a squeeze bunt to score the tying run, and on the play, Schwalbach's throw to the plate got away again, allowing Jurek to also score. Schwalbach then walked Weyers and O'Neal to re-load the bases. Darling made him pay with a blooper just out of Young's reach in center. <<<Escanaba's Alex DeHaan takes a big swing Wednesday. Two runs scored on gthat play, and the Indians had taken a 6-3 lead. Young came on to pitch and got the final two outs for the Cubs to stop the bleeding. In the bottom of the seventh, Ballard got the first two batters, but then he hit both Young and David Falish with pitches. With the tying run at the plate, Ballard got Justyn Doucette to fly out to end it. "That's the way it's been all year," Ohman said. "We just can't get that big, two-out, clutch hit." (You can hear radio replays of Lamb's and Young's home runs, and the play in the seventh inning that won it for Gladstone, by clicking the 'GLADSTONE 6, ESCANABA 3' button on the left side of this page)                   Gladstone's Cody Frazer dives into first base but is called out by umpire Nick Nolde. Below: the Indians huddle up between innings during Wednesday night's game at Al Ness Field. (Lisa Dagenais photos)

DeHaan, Cubs Beat Kingsford; Break Skid Cubs pitcher Alex DeHaan slides in under the tag of Kingsford's Dylan Tengasdahl on a stolen base attempt . (Lisa Dagenais photo) ESCANABA---The Escanaba Cubs are happy to be back in the Upper Peninsula. After losing four games to tough opponents in New Ulm, Minn., at the start of the month, and dropping three more games in Kimberly, Wis., last weekend, the Cubs have been able to see a little success against their Upper Peninsula peers. The Cubs won their third straight game against potential U.P. playoff opponents on Monday, upending the Kingsford Blues, 8-1, at Al Ness Field. This win comes on the heels of wins last week against Menominee, and the week before against Marquette. "They hit the ball pretty good off us in Kimberly and we took a lickin' there," Cubs Manager Tom Ohman said. "But tonight, Alex (DeHaan) did a great job, and it's the first time we've had a starter go that far into a game. "We 're playing some good competiton, so, it just makes us better when we come back here," Cubs center fielder Austin Young added. DeHaan was on his game on the mound on Monday. He retired the first six men he faced before Ian Wienke got a base hit off of the third base bag. He was picked off of first base monents later, and that was a good thing, because DeHaan walked two batters later in that inning. But he got Bryce Kerscher to end the inning when his throw hit Kerscher as he went up the line. Meanwhile, Escanaba scored at least one run in each of the first four innings. Austin Young singled in the first and scored on a ground ball by Nick Vandermissen. In the second, DeHaan singled, stole second, and scored on a hit by Ian Serrer. In the third, Vandermissen got a hit, went to second on an error, and scored on a Matt Jensen grounder. And in the fourth, Vandermissen had an RBI single and Jensen drove in a run on a fielder's choice ground ball. <<<Nick Vandermissen gets a hit as Matt Jensen (9) and Alex DeHaan (4) cheer him on. (Lisa Dagenais photo) The Cubs had a 5-0 lead, and Kingsford pitcher Andrew Kurth was replaced by Josh Brodersen, who will be playing college ball at the College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) this fall. Kingsford scored an unearned run in the fifth inning, then in the bottom of the fifth, Blues first baseman Austin Murdock was hurt when Jared Dagenais grounded out. When Dagenais came down at first base, he spiked Murdock, who fell to the ground in pain. Murdock angrily hopped off the field on one foot, threw his glove, and glared across the field at Dagenais. Dagenais ran back across the field to appologize for the incident. Murdock, meanwhile, needed stiches on his foot, and he is starting to hate playing in Delta County. Earlier this season in Gladstone, Murdock severely twisted his knee while trying to beat out a squeeze bunt that would have tied a game in the seventh inning against the Gladstone Indians. The Cubs scored two runs off of Brodersen in the sixth inning when Young's drive got past a diving Kurth in right field for a triple. He scored on a hit by Trent Schwalbach, and David Falish (who was hit by a pitch for the second time) scored on a DeHaan grounder. Escanaba may have scored eight runs, but Ohman says he's still looking for that clutch hit. The Cubs stranded eight baserunners. "We could have had 10, 11, or more runs," Ohman said. "I've never been through a stretch like this in 29 or 30 years coaching. Back in the early '80's, we struggled quite a bit, but not since then. But this is a good group of kids and they work hard. They are better than their record shows." DeHaan pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing two hits, striking out seven batters, and walking four. Falish got the final two outs to end it. "It was warm outside, so you loosen up quick and I felt good," DeHaan said. "I had a nice rest off of the weekend and the biggest thing today is I was just relaxed. I was playing so tight with everything (at recent tournaments), so it was OK today." Young led the way at the plate with a single, double, and triple. So, what if he would have made it to the plate one more time? "Oh, I wouldn've been swinging for the fences," Young said, referring to a possible "cycle" that a home run would have given him. Vandermissen also had three hits for the Cubs. WATCH ESCANABA vs KINGSFORD LEGION HIGHLIGHTS CLICK HERE   to see Austin Young get a base hit. CLICK HERE  to see Alex DeHaan get a double. CLICK HERE  to see Nick Vandermissen get a base hit.                         Austin Young (17) scores the game's first run as Kingsford catcher Paul Deyeart applies a late tag during Monday night's game. (Lisa Dagenais photo)

Cubs Lose Twice; Finish 0-3 In Wisconsin                     David Falish scores a run during Escanaba's 6-3 loss to Kimberly Saturday night. The Cubs finished 0-3 in the tournament. (Tina Doucette photo) KIMBERLY, Wis.---The Escanaba Cubs lost twice in Wisconsin on Saturday, falling to Ash-Port, 6-0, and losing to Kimberly, 6-3. The Cubs went winless for the second straight tournament, and are now 1-10 in their last eleven tournament games. "The good thing, I guess, is we didn't make any errors tonight," Cubs Manager Tom Ohman said. "The teams that we're playing against can really hit the ball well. And we keep giving up that one big inning. There's a lot of good things. We've just got to put together a full game." Matt Jensen pitched the first four innings against Ash-Port and took the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits. Austin Young pitched in relief and allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits. The Cubs had only two base hits in the game: a two-out single in the first inning by Nick Vandermissen, and a lead-off single by Ian Serrer in the third. Despite that, the Cubs had several chances to score because of two walks and two errors. But Escanaba stranded two runners on base in the first, third, and fifth innings. In all, there were eight men left on base for the Cubs. Cubs shortstop Justyn Doucette gets the ball as AshPort's Josh Sommer steals second. >>> One highlight for the Cubs was in the third inning, when A.J. Dollinger ripped a long bomb toward the 350 sign in the deepest part of Sunset Park. Young raced to the warning track, jumped up, and snared the ball before crashing into the fence. He then threw the ball back in to second base for a double play. The Cubs also turned a 4-6-3 double play in the fourth inning, but couldn't get any offense. Ash-Port, a combined team from the Ashwaubenon and Bay Port in the Green Bay area, improved to 11-2 on the season. In the night game, the Cubs took a 1-0 lead against the host Kimberly Cougars in the first inning as Young used his speed for an infield hit and stolen base. He scored on a Jensen groundout. But Kimberly scored five runs in the third inning as starting pitcher Trent Schwalbach was hit hard. The big hit in that inning was a two-run single by Ben Diedrick. The Cougars had five hits in that inning. Escanaba cut the gap in the sixth inning when Alex DeHaan was hit by a pitch leading off the inning. Jared Dagenais followed with a base hit, and then Devin Barton took a fastball to the face. The ball hit hit right under his right eye, and Barton fell to the ground and was in deep pain. He ended up going to the hospital to be looked at, and the crowd was stunned, silent. Check out Barton's Facebook photo at left. (You can hear radio replays of Young's great catch against Ash-Port and Barton's unfortunate play against Kimberly, by clicking the 'CUBS vs ASH-PORT' button on the left side of this page) David Falish walked with the bases loaded to make it 5-2, then Brandon Dieter hit a sacrfice fly. On that play, Falish tried to go to second base but was thrown out. The Cubs got a walk from Young in the seventh inning, but did not threaten to score any more runs. Ohman liked what he saw from Serrer, who threw out two men trying to steal second base in the first two innings against Kimberly. <<<Tim Lueneburg catches a pop up against Kimberly. Mitch Tourville got the win for Kimberly, which improved to 9-6 on the season. Schwalbach took the loss for the Cubs, giving up five runs on seven hits in three innings. Dagenais pitched the final three innings, allowing one run on two hits. Escanaba is now 5-13. "I give the kids a lot of credit," Ohman said. "I mean, we're 5-13, and there hasn't been a Cubs team in years that's been 5-13. But the kids are staying positive. They know they're playing good teams."               Austin Young pitches against Ash-Port on Saturday. (Tina Doucette photo)

Appleton Smacks Cubs With 15 Runs, 15 Hits                 Appleton's Will Dudley (21) and JoeLeveille (20) celebrate two runs scoring as Cubs catcher Ian Serrer throws it back. (Tina Doucette photo) KIMBERLY, Wis.---The Escanaba Cubs must have thought that they were back in Minnesota as they played their first game Friday in the Kimberly Invitational in suburban Appleton. That's because the guys were getting beat up pretty much the same way they were smoked by four teams last weekend in New Ulm, and the temperatures were almost as hot as they were at that tournament. The Cubs didn't play a poor game, but their pitching was no match for the high-powered Appleton team, and Escanaba lost, 15-2. The game was shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule. It wasn't as if the Cubs threw the ball around or walked a bunch of guys. All 15 of Appleton's runs were earned as the Post 38 crew had two innings in which they sent 12 men to the plate. Eight runs came home in the second inning and seven more in the fourth. And the Appleton hits here at Sunset Park were not cheap ones, either. Courtney Watkins was 3 for 3 with two runs batted in, Ben Morgan had two hits and two RBI, Avery Hintz had a two-run homer and a single, and Will Dudley had three hits. Need to see any more? <<<David Falish pitches for the Cubs Friday afternoon in Kimberly. And Appleton's pitcher, Mason Pingle, is playing Division One ball at Western Illinois University. But the Cubs managed eight hits off of him, including two each by Jared Dagenais and Justyn Doucette. Alex DeHaan, Matt Jensen, Trent Schwalbach, and Tim Leuneburg also got hits for the Cubs, but Escanaba stranded the bases loaded in the fourth inning and left two men on base in the fifth. DeHaan started on the mound, and made it through the first inning without being scored on. But then came an eight-run second inning and David Falish came in to pitch. He did fine in the third inning, but then he was blasted for seven runs in the fourth inning. Jensen eventually came on to pitch, and he kept Appleton off the board with a rarity: four strikeouts in one inning. One batter who he struck out reached base on a passed ball, so Jensen had to face an extra batter. His earned run average is now a team-best 2.28.               Cubs rookie Bailey Lamb bats late in Friday's game. (Tina Doucette photo)

Ben Kleiman Is Back, 68 Days After Crash It was 68 days ago that a horrible traffic accident on Delta County's Old State Road claimed the life of 18-year-old Devin DeGrave. Two other Bark River boys were seriously hurt in that accident, which happened while the boys were on their way to Escanaba Junior Cubs practice. Ben Kleiman and Dane Messersmith are both healing, and Kleiman's recovery has been so good that it allowed him to suit up for the Junior Cubs for the first time on Sunday against the Gladstone Junior Indians. Kleiman played most of the game at third base, but also came on to pitch the final two innings. Gladstone won Sunday's game, 6-0. Ben Kleiman is pictured here in a game with the varsity Escanaba Cubs last season.

TABLES TURNED!                       Escanaba's Trent Schwalbach slides home safely as the Cubs whipped Menominee, 11-0, at Al Ness Field. At left: Jared Dagenais throws a pitch, as part of his one-hit shutout performance Wednesday. (Lisa Dagenais photos) Cubs Rebound From Trip; Pay Back Menominee ESCANABA---The Escanaba Cubs baseball team endured four butt-kickings in Minnesota this past weekend. They played against some outstanding teams, and came home empty-handed from the Upper Midwest Classic in New Ulm, Minn. But Wednesday night at Al Ness Field, the Cubs got to enjoy the other end of the "mercy-rule" game as they pounded the Menominee Red Wave, 11-0. Jared Dagenais pitched a one-hitter, and he chipped in with three hits and two RBI at the plate as the Cubs beat a Menominee team that has had their number the past couple years. The game took just 73 minutes to play. "We had a meeting before we took the field tonight, and talked about, how, 'hey, we got beat up down there' (in Minnesota)," Escanaba Manager Tom Ohman said. "We didn't play the best of ball there, either, we threw the ball around a lot. But the compeition was very tough, so I wanted the boys to know that now we're back up north, we've got to turn up our game. And they did." "They had a lot of good hitters out there," Dagenais said of the Minnesota experience. "Everyone there knew how to hit. It was just great competition. It made us better."  Justyn Doucette makes a play at short, then shoveled it to second. >>> Escanaba jumped on Menominee starter David Beck with four runs in the first inning. Nick Vandermissen drove in one of the runs with a double, then Trent Schwalbach followed with a two-run double to the fence. Dagenais drove in the fourth run with a single. In the second inning, the first five men reached base, including Austin Young's bunt single. Beck left the mound with the bases loaded, and reliever Sean Budzynski allowed all three to score when he walked Vandermissen with the bases loaded and uncorked a wild pitch that scored Matt Jensen. Alex DeHaan's grounder scored another run, then Dagenais singled home a run to make it 9-0. Dagenais was pitching a no-hitter until Brian Bell led off the Menominee fourth inning with a line drive single, just out of the reach of shortstop Justyn Doucette. Doucette made an outstanding effort for the ball, but it glanced off of his mitt for a hit. "It should be a no-hitter," Dagenais teased. "Maybe I can get a 'half-hitter'. It was close. He made a good effort to get it." Dagenais walked Lucas Pederson later that inning, but he got Brett Schacht to pop up to end the threat. <<<First baseman Alex DeHaan (4) catches a pop up as Jared Dagenais gives way at the end. Then, in the bottom of the inning, Escanaba took an 11-0 lead as David Falish got an infield hit, and Schwalbach ripped one to the fence. He may not be the fastest guy on the team, but Schwalbach ran hard for a triple, scoring Falish. Then, he noticed the ball get away on the infield, so Schwalbach made a break for the plate. And he made it! The entire Cubs dugout smiled and cheered. "He (third base coach Jon Bintner) was telling me to stay on third base, but I saw the throw go over his head, so I was just motoring, trying to get in there," Schwalbach said. "It was pretty funny, huh?" Schwalbach said that might have been his first-ever triple. And then? "Well, I figured, 'why not try for four' (bases)?" he laughed. "Ya, he was motoring!" Ohman said. "He was showing some wheels there, like (former Major Leaguers) Lou Brock, or Ron LeFlore! But, it was just good to see Trent swing the bat well, drop the bat on it, and hit it hard." In the fifth inning, two errors gave the Red Wave baserunners, but Dagenais fanned Bell (looking) to end it. And for once, the Cubs had a decisive win against a Menominee team that has owned them (2-5 in last seven games, not including losses in high school season). "When you get a big lead like that, I just told Jared to pound the strike zone," Ohman said. "A first-pitch strike sets everything else up. I thought he did decent. Did a nice job. We've been on the wrong end (of the score) against them, so it's just nice to get a win." David Falish jumps out of the box. He had three hits. >>> Dagenais allowed just one hit and two walks in five innings of work. "I felt great," Dagenais said. "It was my fastball. My curveball wasn't working that much, so I laid off on it."