Cheboygan baseball holds off Rudyard in opener, but settles for split

CHEBOYGAN – The first game was the right result for the Cheboygan baseball team.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs, game two didn't go their way.

As a result, the Chiefs split with Rudyard during a Straits Area Conference doubleheader on Thursday.

After falling behind 2-0 early, the Chiefs (3-7, 3-1 SAC) rallied quickly and eventually held on for a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Bulldogs in the opener. However, they fell behind and couldn’t take advantage of their offensive opportunities in a 7-3 defeat in the nightcap.

Patrick Smith was Cheboygan’s hero in game one, smacking a two-run single that gave the Chiefs a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second inning. From there, the Cheboygan pitching settled down and contained the Bulldogs the rest of the way.

“We did a nice job,” said Cheboygan coach Kevin Baller. “We gave them two runs on some errors in that first game on our part, and luckily, we were able to pull it out. I was very impressed with our pitching. I thought our pitchers did a nice job. They forced Rudyard to put the ball in play. Towards the later part of the game, we started making plays on it, and had some timely hitting.

“Patrick (Smith) ended up getting that hit, that was a big hit. There were two outs, he came up to bat, and he hasn’t had a hit all year, so that was his first hit. Driving in those two runs was big.”

Earning the win on the mound was Sean Postula, who tossed three innings of relief with four strikeouts, one walk and no hits allowed. Freshman Charlie Godfrey struck out the final Rudyard batter of the game to pick up the save. Starting the game was Jacob Jankoviak, who struck out five, allowed two hits and walked one in 2 2/3 innings thrown.

Baller praised all three of his pitchers, who did a solid job against a dangerous Rudyard offense.

“They’re doing a great job of contributing,” Baller said. “Sean (Postula) didn’t get many innings to pitch last year because of Daniel (Wilcome), Henry (Stempky) and Tyler (Balazovic), that group, and at times, if you look at him, you forget he’s a sophomore. He steps up and does very well, he’s got decent velocity, and he’s tough to hit when he controls the strike zone, and I thought he did a very good job of that today, just controlling the strike zone and mixing his pitches, and we had Charlie (Godfrey) coming in and finishing it off with a strikeout in a very close ballgame.

“I can’t take anything away from JJ (Jankoviak), who did a great job. We had a couple errors behind him that were pretty routine plays, but being that we’ve got a tournament we’re going to this weekend, we had to be mindful of our pitch counts so that we were still able to have some pitchers for Saturday."

Eli Couture finished with a hit, scored a run and stole a base for the Chiefs, who also received a hit from Dylan Balazovic. Jankoviak added an RBI sacrifice fly and scored a run.

However, the Chiefs couldn’t muster up enough big hits in the nightcap, while Rudyard gained momentum by building an early lead and never looking back.

For Cheboygan, Couture doubled and scored a run, while Blake Blaskowski and Postula tallied a hit apiece. Jankoviak and Balazovic each chipped in with an RBI sac fly.

Godfrey took the loss on the mound, striking out two, allowing seven hits and walking one in 1 2/3 innings pitched. James Charboneau pitched two innings of relief, striking out three, allowing three hits and walking one, while Evan Brantley threw 1 2/3 innings and walked one.

“It’s tough to take a loss,” Baller said. “I gave Charlie (Godfrey) the start, but they hit him around a little bit. I give our kids credit. I don’t want to see any quit, I want to see them continue to battle, and the boys did that. We had the opportunity to do some damage and put some runs up on the board, and it just didn’t happen.

“The boys battled and got themselves in that spot, and that’s all I could ask for.”

Cheboygan heads to the Trenton tournament on Saturday. The Chiefs will face Anderson High School at 10 a.m., Trenton at 12:30 p.m. and Woodhaven at 3 p.m.

“I’m very excited to go down there, just to give us an opportunity to go down there and play some other schools. I always look forward to that opportunity to get the kids out,” Baller said. “We have that opportunity to play on two turf fields. Trenton has a turfed-in field, and Woodhaven has a fully-turf field, and just to be able to play some good, quality competition will be great. It’s always a learning opportunity for all of us, coaches and players."

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan baseball holds off Rudyard in opener, but settles for split