Justin St. Ours | Daily Press

Bark River’s Antonio Mercier (front) makes it safely to first as Sault Ste. Marie’s Vincent Febles (behind) waits for the ball during the Upper Peninsula Under-19 Championship tournament in Quinnesec. Looking on from second base is Bark River’s Adrian Mercier.

QUINNESEC — The pressure was off the Bark River Bucs as they ended their Upper Peninsula Under-19 League baseball season having fun. The Bucs — who were already out of contention for the title after dropping their first two games of the weekend — fell to the Sault Ste. Marie-based Wood Ducks 7-2 here Friday in the season-ending tournament.

The Wood Ducks — who were also eliminated after losing a three-way tie with Menominee and Marquette — took control of the game early, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

“We got up early,” Wood Ducks manager Kris Bontrager said. “We had some good at-bats to get started, and then we just kind of went on cruise control for the rest.

“I was happy with the pitchers. It seemed like they pounded the strike zone and didn’t give out free bases. If you don’t give up free bases, you’re usually going to play some solid baseball.”

A hit batter and a ground single set up the Sault’s first run. Bennette Swanson hit a ground double to drive in Ethan Mullins. EJ Suggitt was up next and singled on a line drive to left field to push another across home plate. The Wood Ducks added three more before the inning finished with the help of a wild pitch and a sacrifice.

Bark River put the bat on the ball four times in the intervening inning, but it had nothing to show for it.

“I thought the boys did a pretty good job of coming in, being focused and taking care of business. I think the kids have probably done a better job than I have (of being focused). I’m tired,” Bontrager joked. “But no, they came this weekend with a purpose to play. We’ve been doing development most of the summer, and I told them the last couple of weeks we’d go hard. … I think they’ve won five out of their last six or seven out of their last eight, so they’ve kind of been on a roll playing good baseball. If I just stay out of the way, they’ll probably be all right.”

Mullins smashed a deep line drive to right to double and drive in another run to make it 6-0 in the fourth. The Sault added another in the bottom of the fifth, and it wasn’t until the top of the seventh that the Bucs found any traction.

“We definitely had some trouble finding the ball, and we had a couple guys trying out some different spots,” Bucs manager Matt Richer Jr. said. “So we had some errors there. We were out of it anyways, so while we were hoping to win, it was mostly about having fun in our last game. We have some kids who this may be their last game playing baseball, so we just wanted them to enjoy it and have a good time. Sure, we lost, but I think everyone had a good time — for this game and this whole year.”

In the seventh, Bark River’s Ian Gorzinski doubled on a fly ball to right field that almost made it to the fence, and he later advanced to third. Gorzinski kept up his opportunistic streak and made it home on a passed ball for the Bucs’ first run of the game. A walk and two hits then loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly from Nick Javurek drove in Mike Campbell to wrap up the scoring.

“We kind of struggled this year, but we also haven’t had the same lineup show up for multiple games,” Richer said. “It’s kind of hard to win when you always have guys playing new positions every other game, and we haven’t had a lot of practices either. It’s just been a fun year where we can just play and not put too much time into it.

“I hope all the kids have fun, and it was nice that we were able to have a tournament this year. Being able to play baseball and have a good time is all that matters. I thought it was just a good time.”

Javurek took the loss for the Bucs over 4 1/3 innings, allowing five hits, seven walks and seven runs while striking out two. Campbell and Javurek finished with an RBI apiece, and Ian Gorzinski, Aidan Johnson and Noah Gorzinski all collected two hits apiece.

Suggitt earned the win for the Wood Ducks over two innings, allowing one walk, no hits and striking out two. Vincent Febles pitched five innings in relief, allowing seven hits, one walk and two runs while striking out eight. The Wood Ducks distributed their RBIs evenly, with six players finishing with one apiece. Mullins had two hits.

“I think towards the end of the game, we started kind of giving at-bats away,” Bontrager said. “They started chasing pitches and getting a little antsy. You have to have quality at-bats to have success, so we’ll go home and talk a little bit about (that).”