Lumberjacks Fall Twice at Jackson in Tight Doubleheader

JACKSON, Mich. — The Alpena Community College Lumberjacks traveled to Jackson College on Saturday for a non-conference doubleheader and came away with a pair of tough losses, falling 6-2 in Game 1 and 6-5 in Game 2. In both contests, ACC showed the ability to put runs on the board in the late innings, but a combined five errors across the two games came back to haunt the Lumberjacks each time.

Lane Gross started for ACC and took the loss, yielding two runs over two innings. The Lumberjacks cycled through five pitchers for the game — Gross, Zachary Holifield, Mason McQuillin, Jacob Davis and Ethan Bergstein.

Bergstein threw a perfect inning of relief and McQuillin yielded only an unearned run.

Jackson wasted little time getting on the board. In the bottom of the first, the Jets pulled out to a 2-0 lead. A two-run third — capped by an ACC error in left field that let in a run — pushed the lead to 4-0, and Jackson added one more in each of the fourth and fifth innings for a 6-0 cushion heading to the sixth.

ACC finally broke through in the top of the sixth. Back-to-back walks to Isaac Zocco and AJ Wheelock set the stage for Kaden Benaske, who lashed a hard ground ball to left to score two runs and make it 6-2. But the Lumberjacks couldn't generate any further traffic in the seventh, stranding one.

Benaske was the offensive standout for ACC, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Aiden Bishop contributed a double and a single from the two-hole, and Corbin Allen added a double of his own. Seven hits in total, but the Lumberjacks left seven runners on base and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position outside of Benaske's big knock.

If Game 1 was frustrating, Game 2 was heartbreaking. The Lumberjacks rallied from a 1-0 deficit to take a 3-1 lead in the third inning and still led 4-3 after six — but a three-run Jackson sixth and a walk-off two-run seventh sent ACC home on the wrong end of a 6-5 final.

Miguel Salcedo was the hero of the third inning. With Aiden Bishop on first, having singled to plate Nate Gould to tie the game, Salcedo launched a two-run home run to left field to give the Lumberjacks their first lead of the afternoon at 3-1. It was a shot that energized the visiting dugout.

Jacob Brohl started and threw a clean first inning for the Jets. ACC's first five pitchers threw one inning each — Brohl, Kaleb Donajkowski, Charlie Best, Caleb McEwen and Dylan Klein — and then Ivan Kosmerick came on in the final frames. 

The Jets rallied in the sixth, taking advantage of three Lumberjack errors to take a 4-3 lead. 

Down by one in the seventh, ACC loaded the bases and got two of them home. Zocco reached on a throwing error by Jackson's third baseman, scoring both McCarty and Salcedo to put ACC in front 5-4. 

But it didn't last. In the bottom of the seventh, back-to-back hit batsmen put the tying and winning runs on base for Jackson, and following a sacrifice bunt, a Jackson pinch hitter delivered a walk-off single to right to score both runners and end the game 6-5.

Gould was ACC's best offensive performer in the nightcap, going 2-for-3 with a double and scoring twice. Bishop went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks, two stolen bases, and an RBI. Salcedo's home run was the biggest swing of the game for the Lumberjacks.

Saturday's doubleheader was a tale of two themes for the Lumberjacks: timely hitting in the late innings and defensive miscues that proved too expensive to overcome. ACC committed five total errors across the two games — two in Game 1, three in Game 2 — and multiple runs scored directly off those miscues.

On a brighter note, Salcedo's home run in Game 2 was one of the more impressive individual moments of the doubleheader, and the Lumberjacks showed they can rally in critical moments, twice fighting back late in Game 2. Bergstein, Brohl, Donajkowski, Klein, Best, and McEwen each delivered solid one-inning relief stints for their respective games.

ACC will look to regroup and get back on track as they travel to Sandusky, Ohio for the ACC Northern Conference round robin next weekend as they will face all five conference opponents in three days of baseball.