Buchanan Baseball Closes 2021-22 Sports Year as Champ for 1st Time Since 1985
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
June 18, 2022
EAST LANSING – Buchanan had no shortage of heroes in its 3-1 Division 3 championship game win over Detroit Edison on Saturday at McLane Stadium.
Among them: Cade Preissing, who walked three times and scored all three runs for the Bucks; Matthew Hoover, who drove in two runs with a pair of doubles and also got the W on the mound, and pitcher Macoy West, who made a stratagem by Buchanan coach Jim Brawley pay off by relieving Hoover twice at crucial times to pick up the save.
“I’m very proud of these young men,” Brawley said. “They've worked their butts off all year. They deserve it. They really do.”
The championship was Buchanan's first since 1985. The Bucks most recently finished Division 3 runner-up in 2015.
They won this game with clutch hitting, scoring runs in the third and fifth innings with two outs.
Both times, Preissing walked, then scored on doubles by Hoover.
“(Preissing) is a smart kid, a great hitter,” Brawley said. “He knows how to get on base, steal the bag, and Matthew brings him in.”
“I just tried to slow the moment down,” Hoover said. “Just put it in play. I’m glad I did. We won because of that.”
Preissing scored an insurance run in the seventh inning. He led off with a walk, went to second base on a fielder’s choice, to third on another fielder’s choice, then scored on a single by West.
Edison, the first Detroit public school to play for a Finals title in baseball since Detroit Western in 1972, continuously answered to stay close.
That’s where Brawley’s stratagem came in.
Noting that Edison won its first postseason game after its opponent had to pull its starting pitcher due to a pitch limit, Brawley opted to replace Hoover with West in the sixth inning to pitch to the lower third of the Pioneers’ order.
Hoover was back on the mound to start the seventh inning.
Edison got things going with a Terrell Crosson single, although he was a force out when Deshaun Williams reached on a fielder’s choice. But two walks loaded the bases.
In came West, who fell behind 3-1 to the only batter he faced – before coming back to get a strikeout and seal the win.
“We had opportunities,” Edison coach Mark Brown said. “It just wasn’t meant to be”
For the Bucks, it was a crowning achievement for a group that grew up playing baseball and reached their sport’s pinnacle.
“I’m just glad we finally did it,” Hoover said, his voice breaking with emotion. “We've been playing since we were 8 years old, playing in summer league, playing in the backyard. It means so much to me”
Jordan Jones had two hits for Edison (25-13), and Gregory Pace Jr. threw the first five innings for the Pioneers allowing two earned runs and striking out six hitters.
PHOTOS (Top) Buchanan players celebrate their Division 3 championship that closed the 2021-22 school sports year Saturday. (Middle) The Bucks’ Cade Preissing (17) takes a throw at second base as an Edison baserunner slides in head first.
Beal City Ace Closes Finals-Filled Career with Perfection in Repeat
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2024
EAST LANSING — Getting to pitch in a state championship game once is rare in itself. Doing so twice is even more improbable.
But three times during a career? Take a bow, Beal City senior Cayden Smith.
Two years ago, Smith pitched two innings of relief in a loss to Riverview Gabriel Richard. Last year, he allowed one run in a complete-game win over Plymouth Christian Academy.
Getting the ball again in a championship game Saturday, Smith saved the best for his last high school game and achieved something no pitcher had done before in a Final, throwing a perfect game in a 10-0 Beal City win over Norway that ended after five innings.
Smith, who will play for Central Michigan, struck out eight batters to earn his second-straight Finals win.
“Nerves are going to get to you every year,” Smith said. “It’s just who can overcome.”
Smith did more than that in a performance that reduced Beal City head coach Brad Antcliff to tears of joy after the game when describing it.
“That’s Cayden Smith,” Antcliff said. “The kid is a gamer. He wants the ball. He had all the command of his pitches today, and he pounded the zone. You have kids that have ‘it.’ I can’t tell you what ‘it’ is. But Cayden Smith has ‘it.’ He’s a bulldog.”
Beal City’s offense was also potent, starting when senior Jack Fussman singled home Smith for the first run in the bottom of the first inning.
Beal City (34-6) then grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second on an RBI single with two outs by junior Owen McKenny.
The Aggies kept the pressure on in the third, scoring four times to take a 6-0 lead. Senior Lane Gross hit a two-run double to the gap in right-center, and then Smith helped his own cause with a two-run double that made it 5-0 Beal City. A walk with the bases loaded gave the Aggies a 6-0 advantage.
In the sixth inning, Beal City took an 8-0 lead on a two-run single by Fussman, and then completed the game via the run-differential rule when a single up the middle by senior Josh Wilson ended up scoring two runs with a Norway throwing error to home.
Fussman finished with four RBI for Beal City, which won its sixth Finals title in school history.
Even in defeat, Norway produced a terrific story.
The Knights (28-4-1) were attempting to become the first team from the Upper Peninsula to win a Finals title in baseball, and getting to the championship game was no small feat, especially after beating a team from the Catholic High School League, Marine City Cardinal Mooney, in a Semifinal.
But Norway simply ran into a buzzsaw in Smith and a Beal City team that was ranked No. 1 in the state for a reason.
“We’re going to cherish it forever,” Norway head coach Tony Adams said. “It was a heck of an accomplishment. We made school history, we made history for the Upper Peninsula, and today’s result isn’t going to diminish that. You can’t take that away.”
PHOTOS (Top) Beal City’s Cayden Smith (26) makes his move toward the plate during his team’s Division 4 championship win. (Middle) The Aggies' Jack Fussman gets under a throw home to score. (Below) A Beal City hitter lines up a pitch.