BIG RAPIDS - Gladwin senior Lucas Mead threw a complete game with nine strikeouts to help propel Gladwin to a 6-1 victory over Big Rapids in a Div. 2 District opener on Tuesday night.
Gladwin (28-7) and Big Rapids (26-7) were two of the top Div. 2 baseball teams by record in all of Northern Michigan and had to meet in the first round of districts.
Gladwin jumped out to an early 2-1 lead after the first inning and that first inning run would be all the scoring Big Rapids could muster against Mead.
“[Mead] has been struggling with pitch count so completing a game this year has been difficult for him,” said Gladwin head coach Troy Gary. “So he was extremely efficient on the mound [tonight] and, I mean, that’s all we can ask for our pitchers right now at this point of the season.”
The Flying G’s were up 3-1 in the sixth inning when Lincoln McKinnon added some insurance with a towering two-run double to left-center. McKinnon would score two batters later on an RBI single from Connor Ritchie.
Gladwin advances to face Ludington in the district semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m.
“Our goals at the beginning of this year was to win a Jack Pine Championship and we are co-champions with Shepherd and so we already fulfilled one of those goals,” said Mead. “Our next goal was to win a district and so we’re playing pretty well to do so.”
