The umpire indicates the "out" sign after Glen Lake's Kyle Klumpp applied the tag to St. Mary runner Ryan Korson at second base in the Leelanau Classic Saturday.

If St. Mary were David — and some comparisons to the Biblical story seem appropriate — then Goliath was slain twice over the weekend.

Smaller St. Mary took on two traditional Northwest Conference powerhouses in baseball at the Leelanau Classic, and came out on top both times.

“Oh, boy, were they close,” said Eagles’ coach Steve Plamondon. “But it was a nice weekend for the boys.”

Playing at Suttons Bay because of poor field conditions at original host Leland, St. Mary rallied in the final inning to set back Glen Lake 6-5 in the opener, then held off Suttons Bay 4-1 in the title game to claim the trophy in the four-team tournament.

Credit the play of pitcher Colin Korson, named tourney most valuable player, in setting back the Norsemen. “He had a real good game, and also helped himself at the plate,” said Plamondon.

Korson scattered 6 hits, walked just one and struck our four on the mound, and gave himself some breathing room with a two-out, two-run double in the third inning to push the St. Mary lead to 3-0. The Eagles moved the lead to 4-0 in the fifth.

But Suttons Bay didn’t roll over.

In the bottom of the sixth, Danny Holmes and Kristopher Marin singled, followed by a run-scoring single by Shane Kaufman. With the tying run at the plate, Korson got out of the jam with a pop-up to first base.

Matt Pasch gave up 6 hits, walked two and struck out six to collect the win over the Lakers, who rallied to take the lead in the fifth inning. Walked and hit batters put two Lakers on the basepaths. Joey Galla sent one home with a sacrifice fly, and a passed ball scored the other for a 5-3 Glen Lake lead.

St. Mary got one back in the bottom of the fifth, then tied the game in the sixth with a line-drive double off the bat of Kienan Sutton, ironically a transfer student from Glen Lake. An infield chopper that rose over the pitcher’s glove off the bat of Ray Platts scored the game winner.

Platts and Mike Kalchik each collected two singles for St. Mary. Galla sparked Glen Lake with two hits and three RBI.
Suttons Bay advanced to the championship game by dispatching Leland, 15-5, in their first games of the day. Winning pitcher Josh Feickert allowed five hits and struck out eight to earn the win. He was also a force at the plate, driving in three runs. Anthony Stewart had three RBI.

Comet Ryan Paulton smacked three hits including a double, and knocked in two runs. Matt Rinehart had four stolen bases.

Leland bounced back to win the consolation game over Glen Lake, 7-3, behind the arm of Michael Nachazel who yielded just three hits and three walks. He struck out nine and walked three.

Paulton was again perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a double while knocking in four runs. Rinehart singled twice and drove in two runs; Nachazel swatted a RBI double.

“Mike helped himself out there,” said Leland coach Hank Burch.

Jacklin had three hits while Galla and Buchan had two each for the Lakers.