Crusaders Outlast Centreville for 1st Title
June 13, 2015
By Andy Sneddon
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – When Nicholas Holt needed it, he dug deep.
Holt allowed 17 hits, but got the biggest outs when he needed them Saturday as Muskegon Catholic Central topped Centreville in a 10-8 thriller in the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 4 championship game at Michigan State’s McLane Baseball Stadium.
Centreville scored three runs on five hits in the seventh inning and had runners at first and second when Holt, with his 113th pitch of the game, got a game-ending groundout to touch off the Crusaders’ celebration.
Holt had white-knuckled it home, giving MCC – a winner of 10 MHSAA football championships – its first for baseball.
“Knowing that this is a lot bigger than me, that this has never happened at Muskegon Catholic Central, knowing that there’s eight guys around you trying to do the same thing and they’re working their butt off just like I am,” Holt said of his mindset in the seventh inning, when Centreville sent eight men to the plate and had the crowd on its feet. “The way to get through something like this is to not think about yourself, but to think about the guy next to you.
“I probably could have went 100 more pitches because I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t feel any pain. All I felt was just so much adrenaline and I just never stopped. You don’t think about if I’m hurt, you think about the guy at second base, the catcher – they’re working hard and you’ve just got to battle through whatever’s going on with you.”
It was a battle of heavyweights as both teams came into the Final with just one loss. MCC finished 39-1-1; Centreville, playing in the first MHSAA championship baseball game in school history, went 29-2.
Nicholas Holt and his brother and catcher Jacob Holt finished with three hits apiece. Jacob Holt drove in five runs, while Nicholas had two RBI.
Jalen Brown collected four hits, while Coletin Gascho and Michael Kool had three apiece for Centreville.
Jordan Gest, who started for Centreville, took the loss. He went three innings, allowing six runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out three.
Kool, who was the Bulldogs’ workhorse on the mound throughout their run to their first Final, also went three innings. He surrendered four runs on five hits. Just four of MCC’s 10 runs were earned. Centreville committed four errors.
The teams combined for 18 runs, 27 hits and six errors in a highly entertaining game. It all came down to Holt’s left arm in the seventh.
“He wasn’t coming out of the game,” MCC coach Steve Schuitema said. “We didn’t even warm anybody up. We’ve ridden him for four years now.
“I didn’t even want to look. I was getting physically ill over in the dugout. I just kept saying ‘hang on; just hang on.’ Usually when I say hang on, things don’t hang on. … Luckily we did today.”
PHOTOS: (Top) A Muskegon Catholic Central hitter closes in on a pitch during Saturday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) Centreville catcher Nick Kelley blocks a throw as MCC’s Anthony Woodard slides in.
Bridgman Finishes 'Miracle' Title Pursuit with 1st Championship since 1987
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2023
EAST LANSING - There’s exceeding a coach’s expectations, and then there is exceeding the expectations Bridgman head coach Justin Hahaj had for his team when the 2023 season started.
“I went through the schedule and thought we’d be a .500 baseball team,” Hahaj said.
Bridgman ended up being 24 games – and a Division 3 championship – better than that.
The Bees ended up 33-9, with the last win a 7-1 victory over No. 1-ranked Algonac in the Final on Saturday at Michigan State University’s McLane Stadium.
The title was Bridgman baseball’s first since 1987.
“This is a miracle what happened with this group,” Hahaj said. “It’s just a testament to what happens when people play for each other.”
It was the second time Hahaj had coached Bridgman in Final, with the first in 2013 when the Bees lost to Madison Heights Bishop Foley.
Bridgman hadn’t been beyond the District round of the MHSAA Tournament since, with hurdles such as 2022 Division 3 champion Buchanan and Niles Brandywine always standing in the way during the opening week.
In a District Final this year, Bridgman used an incredible comeback against Niles Brandywine to get past that barrier. The Bees rallied from a 9-1 deficit to beat Brandywine in 10 innings, 10-9.
Bridgman then recorded one-run wins in a Regional Final (4-3 over Grass Lake), Quarterfinal (4-3 over Ottawa Lake Whiteford in nine innings) and Semifinal (3-2 over Standish-Sterling) to earn a shot at Algonac.
“The team that comes out of that District — because we play such good baseball against each other — is just primed and ready for tournament runs,” Hahaj said.
Bridgman completed its long tournament run thanks to the pitching of sophomore Charlie Pagel. By no means a hard thrower, Pagel confounded Algonac with guile and an assortment of breaking pitches, tossing a 3-hitter.
He struck out five and walked one.
“I don’t throw very fast, so I just wanted to keep them off-balance with the off-speed and that was about it,” Pagel said.
Making its first appearance in a Final, Algonac finished 38-4.
In addition to not being able to figure out Pagel, defensive miscues also proved costly for the Muskrats.
“You know every pitcher is going to be a strike thrower when you get to this situation,” Algonac head coach Scott Thaler said of Pagel. “I thought he did a nice job of getting strike one over. His curveball was working, so he was able to get some groundballs. We didn’t really do a good job of adjusting to those curveballs and off-speed pitches.”
Bridgman opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the third inning, taking a 1-0 lead after loading the bases with one out.
An infield popup eluded Algonac and landed fair, and while the batter was out due to the infield fly rule, a run was able to score. Senior Riley Gloe then singled up the middle to score two runs, one of which was earned and another unearned following an Algonac throwing error. Senior Nolan Roberts then blooped a double down the right-field line to score a run and make it 4-0 Bees.
Bridgman added two runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Roberts and a fielder’s choice.
Algonac finally broke through in its half of the sixth, cutting Bridgman’s lead to 6-1 on an RBI single by junior Evan Sadler. But Bridgman got that run back in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double by Pagel to make it 7-1.
Pagel, Gloe, Roberts and junior Alec MacMartin each had two hits to lead the 10-hit attack for Bridgman.
PHOTOS (Top) Bridgman scores one of its seven runs during Saturday’s Division 3 championship game. (Middle) Nolan Roberts (2) and a teammate celebrate. (Below) Bridgman’s Charlie Pagel delivers a pitch. (Photos by John Castine/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)