GL prevails late over Bear Lake in regional semifinal; advance to regional finals

Glen Lake second baseman Levi Lamb finally broke through the Bear Lake defense as he laid down a sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning that scored two and catapulted Glen Lake to the regional final with a 5-1 MHSAA D4 regional semifinal win Wednesday hosted by Suttons Bay.
“We played just well enough. We left a lot of traffic on the bases early,” Glen Lake coach Kris Herman said.
The battle between the Laker teams was exciting all the way through the regional semifinal, as both teams left it all on the diamond.
Glen Lake was led by a gem performance from senior pitcher Tanner Crick as he went five and one-third innings, giving up four hits, zero earned runs, three walks, and 10 strikeouts.
“In the first inning, we got the bases loaded with one out and couldn't score. We didn't get down. It was still early, and it's a good sign when you can get runners. I went out to pitch and basically got in the same situation on defense, then we got out of it to get some energy going. It was a grind, and I was focused on staying steady the whole time, doing the little things right, ” Crick said. “I had nerves in the first inning, being a senior. Once the nerves got off, I settled into the game and was just dealing.”
Herman admitted they were debating limiting Crick to a pitching limit, but wisdom prevailed with the season on the line, keeping Crick for a senior performance to remember.
“Bear Lake is a good team. We knew that last year when we saw them; we knew it was gonna be tough tonight,” Glen Lake coach Kris Herman said.
“(Crick) was the only one that was keeping us in the thing until the fourth or fifth inning. If you make a move there and pull him out to try to save him for something later, that's not going to work out for you because any kind of spark they would have gotten, it would have wasted (Crick’s) performance. 
So he did the same thing today that he did on Saturday in the district championships. He just went out and acted like a bulldog and got it done.”
Both teams had runners in scoring position early and often, but Bear Lake and Glen Lake wouldn’t let anyone cross home plate.
Glen Lake had the bases loaded in the top of the third, which was turned away from a Bear Lake  catcher Cam Lambert home-to-first double play to get out of the inning.
In the bottom of the third, Glen Lake retired multiple batters while runners were in scoring position to go into the fourth inning still tied, 0-0.
Glen Lake senior Fletcher Middleton reached first in the fourth inning after beating a throw on a bunt, then advanced to second after the throw went wild.
Bear Lake would make a pitching change from Myles Harless to Landyn Kequom, who ended the inning. Harless had an impressive outing with 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K.
In the bottom of the fourth, Crick got the Lakers out of another jam with runners in scoring position after Easton Kequom started the threat with a lead-off single for Bear Lake.
Glen Lake would finally break through in the fifth inning as the Lakers loaded up the bases.
Glen Lake second baseman Levi Lamb laid down a perfect bunt that scored Colton Newman and Sully Atkins to take a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Glen Lake senior pitcher Tanner Crick had two strikeouts to retire Bear Lake into the sixth inning.
Glen Lake would tag relief pitcher Sully Atkins after Crick's quality start. Atkins would get the Lakers through the sixth without giving an inch, taking a 2-0 lead to the seventh.
Glen Lake would tack on three more runs in the seventh before holding out in the bottom of the inning and advancing to the regional final Saturday against Portland St. Patrick at Central Michigan University (10 a.m.).
Bear Lake wouldn’t give up in their last breath as Landyn Kequom hit a lead-off double before Myles Hallead hit an RBI single to send Kequom home.
Glen Lake capped off the regional semifinal with a blazing throw from senior catcher Jacob Peplinski snagging a Bear Lake runner stealing.
“That throw was pretty sweet. I like doing stuff like that in high-pressure moments … I feel we executed well today. We're going to see some pretty hard teams at regional finals, so we're gonna have to practice hard this week and get our reps in,” Peplinski said, and Crick added. “It means a lot as a senior to win this game. I don't want this to be done yet …
We're kind of a young team, but we don't play like one. We’ve come back from behind; played with leads; we've seen a lot, and we are prepared for a lot.”
Bear Lake ended its season with a 16-11 record and advanced to the regional semifinal after starting the season 0-6. Coach John Prokes tips his cap to the seniors who have started on the team since they were in eighth grade and as freshmen. This class went on to win a district championship in back-to-back years, despite many doubting it.
“They work so hard and to lose is painful. But that pain just means you're alive, and you've had the opportunity to do something that meant something … This will help you get stronger so that you can overcome all those hard times in life,” Prokes said to his team after the regional semifinal loss. “Once you have that pain, you can overcome that because of the hard work you put in. You learn, and you can overcome anything. These guys have come farther than any Bear Lake baseball team in 41 years of playing. It hasn't come easy, and there’s been a lot of hard work … I can't say how proud of them I am, but the experience that they had is a lifetime of memories. That's worth the pain.”