Northern Driveline pitcher Chad Nordstrom throws against Garnet Garage during Copper Country Twilight League action Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — It was a rare combination of rain and a strong throw to home plate that put Garnet Garage’s bid for a comeback win over Northern Driveline on hold Tuesday night in Houghton.

The game ended in a 3-3 tie after seven innings. Both teams agreed to finish the game the next time they meet Aug. 11.

Down 2-3 in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, Garnet’s Justin Norkel was at the plate with runners on first and second. With a steady rain shower now covering the area, Justin Norkel launched a 1-2 fastball deep to left center.

Northern’s Justin Heinonen took three steps back, but misjudged the ball and it ricocheted off his glove, allowing Garnet’s player-manager Kevin Bostwick to score easily from second.

Right behind Bostwick was Brandon Norkel who was on first. However, he was stopped 10 feet from home with a spot-on throw from the outfield to Northern’s catcher Buzz Rajala who punched him out with a tag and the final out.

After a brief rain daily and realizing the rain was not letting up, both teams agreed to pick up the game in the top of the eight at the next matchup on the eve of the league tournament.

While happy with his team’s play overall, Northern Driveline’s player-manager Evan Larson would have liked to see this game as a tally in his squad’s win column rather than a tie.

“We should have won it,” he said. “We had good pitching from Chad (Nordstrom) and no errors in the field, but we left too many men on base.”

Northern (4-5) was down 2-0 after the first inning as Garnet posted two runs in the bottom half of the opening frame. Those runs came from catcher Mike Saari and Bostwick, who belted a triple.

Northern got on the scoreboard in the second and tied it in the third on a sac-fly ball hit by Buzz Rajala which allowed Justin Heinonen to cross home.

Then in the fourth Northern took their first lead of the game. Base hits by Chad Nordstrom, Austin Kinnunen and Simon Rajala loaded the bases for Larson who hit into a fielder’s choice and allowed Chad Nordstrom to score and put his team up 3-2.

Garnet had their chance to tie or even go ahead in their half of the fourth with runners on first and third but 90 feet to home was as close as they got.

“We couldn’t get the big and we had too many strikeouts,” Bostwick said. “They got the big hit, but we were able to scratch back in the seventh, and that was good So we will see what happens at a further date.”

Houghton Building Supply-Stanton led REL, Inc.-Mohawk Technology 9-3 when rain suspended the game.

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