GILMAN BASEBALL - Pirates take positive early steps with wins over Rockets, Trojans
GILMAN BASEBALL
MATT FREY
SPORTS EDITOR
The Gilman Pirates improved in each of their first three baseball games under new head coach Derek Nichols, earning a 2-1 record and getting clutch offense in the fifth inning Tuesday to earn their first Eastern Cloverbelt Conference win in the league opener.
The Pirates surprised visiting Spencer 7-4, using the four-run fifth to answer a two-run rally the Rockets put together in the top half of the inning to briefly tie the game.
Played on an extremely windy afternoon, the game ended early when storms started to roll through in the bottom of the sixth. But that was more than enough to consider it a completed game, giving Gilman its first baseball win over Spencer since the end of the 2019 season.
Dawson Grunseth got the win with five solid innings on the mound. The sophomore left-hander struck out four, walked three and allowed five hits and three earned runs. The Rockets got a run on three hits off Dalton Wisocky in the sixth, but he limited that damage, getting one strikeout.
Connor Nichols was three for three to lead Gilmanâs nine-hit attack. Tony Syryczuk and Tate Krizan had two hits each.
The big fifth inning started with walks issued by Spencer starter Carter Luepke to Talyn Podolak and Joey Syryczuk. Wisocky greeted reliever Tyler Peterson with a double to left that scored Podolak with the go-ahead run. Nichols singled to right with one out to score Syryczuk. After Nichols stole second base, Krizan grounded out, scoring Wisocky and advancing Nichols to third. Nichols then stole home with the fourth run of the inning.
Nichols singled in the second inning and scored on a clutch two-out single by Grunseth. The Rockets tied the game in the top of the fourth. Gilman went ahead 3-1 in the bottom half. Nichols and Krizan started the inning with singles. They stole second and third, putting Nichols in position to score on Grunsethâs groundout. Krizan scored on a double to left by Tony Syryczuk.
Spencer fell to 0-3 in conference play and 2-6 overall with the loss. The Rockets were coming off a 3-2, eight-inning win over unbeaten Auburndale the previous night. Peterson led the Rockets by going three for four. Luepke took the loss. He allowed seven hits and five earned runs while striking out six and walking two in four-plus innings.
The Pirates will carry their mini twogame winning streak into a Friday home game with Greenwood, a team they beat three times last year. The rematch at Spencer is set for noon on Saturday. The Pirates will be tested with an ECC doubleheader at Loyal Tuesday that starts at 4:30 p.m.
Gilman 4, New Auburn 3
The first squeeze bunt call Derek Nichols made as Gilmanâs head coach didnât go as planned, but it got the hoped result, bringing in the winning run in an eight-inning, 4-3 home victory over New Auburn Friday afternoon.
The Pirates got out to a 3-0 lead by scor-
