Jake McGuire belted a pair of lead-off, solo Homers as the Aitkin Steam beat the Upsala Bluejays 5-3 in Upsala on Sunday. Zack Ehnstrom and Nathan Ehnstrom combined on the mound to limit the Jays to 7 hits while striking out 9.
After a scoreless 1st inning, the Steam got on the board in the top of the 2nd without the benefit of a base hit. Upsala starter Jack Primus issued 4 walks in the inning, including one with 2 outs to John McGuire to force in Jake Ince to make it 1-0.
In the top of the 3rd, Jake McGuire crushed a Primus pitch over the wall in left for a lead-off Homer and put Aitkin up 2-0.
It was still 2-0 in the top of the 5th when the Steam made it 3-0 on a 1-out double from Drew Paulbeck, a single by Jake Ince and a walk to Hunter Hills to load the bases. Relief pitcher Jaxon Bartkowicz then hit Thorin Dunham with a pitch to force in Paulbeck and make it 3-0.
In the bottom of the 5th, Upsala finally got on the board against Steam starter Zack Ehnstrom when Colto9n Burggraff put down a bunt single with 1 out, then scored on a line-drive rbi triple to center by Brady Yourczek to make it 3-1. Yourczek was brought home on a sacrifice fly from Matt Swanson to make it 3-2 after 5 innings.
In the top of the 7th, Aitkin had Jake Ince at 3rd with 2 outs when Thorin Dunham hit a pop up on the infield, but whether the wind was an issue or communication, the ball dropped to the grass for a pop up single as Ince scored easily to make it 4-2.
In the top of the 8th with Matt Swanson now on the mound for Upsala, once again Jake McGuire smashed a lead-off Homer to left as Aitkin increased their lead to 5-2.
In the bottom of the 8th, Matt Swanson led off with a double and was pinch-run for by Isaac Gapinski. Brandon Welinski singled with 1 out, then Gapinski scored on a ground out from Justin Cichon to make it 5-3 after 8 innings.
After Zack Ehnstrom had pitched the first 5 innings for Aitkin, the Steam turned things over to Nate Ehnstrom for the final 4 innings. In the bottom of the 9th, Nate Ehnstrom struck out the side in order to finish off the Steam’s 5-3 road victory in Upsala.
Aitkin 5 8 1 – 5
Upsala 3 7 1 – 3
WP: Zack Ehnstrom 5.0 IP 2 runs 4 hits 4k 4bb
SV: Nate Ehnstrom 4.0 IP 1 run 3 hits 5k 0bb
LP: Jack Primus 2.1 IP 2 runs 2 hits 1k 4bb 1hp
Jaxon Bartkowicz 4.2 IP 2 runs 4 hits 5k 3bb 3hp
Matt Swanson 2.0 IP 1 run 2 hits 1k 3bb
Steam:
John McGuire 0-3 3bb, rbi
Nate Ehnstrom 1-5 2B, bb
Jake McGuire 2-6 Hr(2), 2 rbi, 2 runs
Zack Ehnstrom 0-3 2bb, hp
Drew Paulbeck 2-4 2B, hp, run
Jake Ince 1-1 sac, 2bb, hp, 2 runs
Hunter Hills 0-3 2bb
Mike Olsen 0-4 bb
Thorin Dunham 2-4 hp, 2 rbi
Bluejays:
Colton Burggraff 1-5 run
Brady Yourczek 2-4 3B, bb, sb, rbi, run
Jack Primus 0-2 2bb
Matt Swanson 1-3 2B, sac fly, rbi
– Isaac Gapinski 0-0 run
Jaxon Bartkowicz 0-4
Brandon Welinski 2-4
Justin Cichon 0-4 rbi
– Joe Barkowicz 0-0
Jeremy Mugg 1-2 bb
– Reese Johannes 0-0
– CJ Clear 0-1
Bryce Binek 0-4