Another game two walk-off win helps Cheboygan baseball earn split against Gaylord

CHEBOYGAN – Last Friday, the Cheboygan baseball team delivered a walk-off win to seal a split with Boyne City.

Six days later, it was another walk-off ending for the Chiefs, who avenged a 7-3 game one loss to Gaylord by coming from behind to earn a 4-3 victory at home on Thursday.

This time, the Chiefs (14-15) didn’t need a hit to pick up the game two win. Instead, freshman Nolan Schley was hit by a Gaylord pitch, which allowed senior Blake Blaskowski to score in the bottom of the sixth inning. Cheboygan tied the game in the same inning when Phoenix Gomez scored a run after James Charboneau reached base on an error.

"I've been finding out with these boys that they don't quit. They keep going," Cheboygan coach Kevin Baller said. "It doesn't matter what the score is, they keep battling it out until the end. It brings up a lot of anxiety toward the end of games, but it's still fun. They bounced back well."

Offensively, Charlie Godfrey’s two hits and an RBI led the Chiefs, who received a hit and an RBI apiece from Dylan Balazovic and Charboneau. Luke Munger added a hit and Schley recorded an RBI and scored a run.

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Charboneau was the winning pitcher, tossing a six-inning complete game with five strikeouts and six hits allowed.

The Chiefs certainly had their chances to make game one interesting, but multiple errors proved too much to overcome against a Gaylord team that put in the ball in play.

Down 3-0 in the bottom of the second, Cheboygan cut its deficit down to one after Gomez smacked a two-run single. However, runs were tough to come by for the Chiefs the rest of the way.

Balazovic had Cheboygan’s other hit, ripping a double. Jacob Seaman, Schley and Charboneau scored a run apiece.

Balazovic took the loss on the mound, striking out seven, scattering nine hits and walking one in six innings of work.

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Cheboygan returns to action when it hosts Inland Lakes on Monday, May 20.

"We have some teams coming up," Baller said. "We have Indian River coming up, and they're very good. We have Kingsley, who's a very good Division 3 team, and then we've got the Black Sox from the Sault. They always play good baseball up there, so I think the resiliency for us is going to continue to grow, and I think that helps any team as they're looking to make a run in the playoffs."

Thursday night was also parents night for the Cheboygan team.

Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf atjgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter@sportsCDT