D4 Finalists Ride Pitching to Saturday
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 17, 2016
EAST LANSING – No one knows better how good of a pitcher Andrew Manier is than Sterling Heights Parkway Christian catcher Alex Julio.
“He was something special today,” Julio said. “He’s a good pitcher, and has been. But today he was special.”
Manier didn’t allow a hit until there was one out in the fourth inning, and the senior lefthander went the distance as Parkway Christian defeated reigning runner-up Centreville, 5-1, in a Division 4 Semifinal on Friday at McLane Stadium on Michigan State University’s campus.
The Eagles (22-11-1) will return to the Final for the first time since 2009 and play Portland St. Patrick (34-7) for the championship at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Neither school has won an MHSAA title in the sport.
Manier was never in serious trouble Friday. Parkway Christian scored four runs in the top of the first inning, and Manier did the rest. He walked two and struck out four, and the only inning he allowed two batters to reach base safely was the seventh when Centreville scored its run.
“In a big game like this you have to step up, calm your nerves,” Manier said. “I had two walks but I had great fielding behind me. The curve was working well. You have to keep the hitters off balance. I love the responsibility.”
The first inning gave Parkway Christian the 4-0 lead and momentum. Montana Essian executed a suicide squeeze that scored Manier, who doubled, for the first run. Julio followed with an RBI single and Jacob Bambrick had a two-run single.
Julio had another RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
Collin Kirby had an RBI single for Centreville (28-4).
The Bulldogs started Coletin Gascho on the mound but he lasted just one inning. Coach Mike Webster went with Alex Meyer for the final six.
Webster said Manier was one of the best pitchers his team had faced this season.
“He’s definitely top three,” Webster said. “He’s a competitive kid. That was the most talented team we’ve faced all year.”
Parkway Christian coach Rick Koch said this Semifinal victory was something that had been building for the past three years. The Eagles lost in the Quarterfinals in 2014 and reached a Regional Final last season.
“We thought we had the potential all three years,” he said. “We play for one run per inning. We know our pitching is solid. It is nice to get those four (runs). It helps to get the butterflies out.”
Portland St. Patrick 2, Gaylord St. Mary 0
St. Patrick coach Bryan Scheurer went against conventional thinking and went with a freshman, and not his senior ace, in Friday’s Semifinal against Gaylord St. Mary.
Nathan Lehnert made his second cousin look like a genius, as Lehnert went six innings and allowed five hits, all singles, and walked only two.
St. Patrick will go for its first title after finishing runner-up (in Class D) in 1971, 1973 and 1993.
And Scheurer will start Travis Moyer against Parkway Christian. The Eagles are also expected to go with their ace, Riley McManus, in the final.
Moyer relieved Lehnert, walked the first batter and retired the next three in order.
“All he’s done as a freshman is to go 8-0 with an ERA of 1.00,” Scheurer said of Lehnert. “Some people say that was taking a risk. I don’t see it that way. To bring Travis back twice after three days’ rest was too much.”
Moyer went seven innings last Saturday in Regionals, then came back Tuesday and pitched seven innings in a 3-2 Quarterfinal victory over reigning Division 4 champion Muskegon Catholic Central.
“I talked to Travis and he said he was sore,” Scheurer said. “He said he’d go, but I looked at his body language.”
Dan Mackowiak’s bunt single scored Brendan Schrauben to give St. Patrick a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
St. Mary (31-6) loaded the bases with one out in the second before Lehnert struck out John Paul Zeilinski and got Ethan Szymanski to bounce into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
The Snowbirds also loaded the bases the next inning but couldn’t come through with a two-out hit. Adam Nowicki reached base on an error to start the inning, and when Mackowiak made a diving catch of Nicholas Torsky’s line drive in the next at-bat, the momentum stayed with the Shamrocks.
St. Patrick added a run in the fifth, and St. Mary left the bases loaded again in the sixth to end Lehnert’s day.
“We just went at it as any other game,” Lehnert said. “Our game is revolved around small ball.
“Nervous? Yes. When we started to make plays, I wasn’t so nervous.”
Torsky pitched well for St. Mary as he also gave up five singles and he walked three.
“We hit some hard balls,” St. Mary coach Matt Nowicki said. “And they made some great plays. That’s baseball.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Parkway Christian’s Andrew Manier prepares to unload a pitch during Friday’s Semifinal win over Centreville. (Middle) St. Patrick’s Nathan Lehnert makes his way toward the plate while pitching the Shamrocks to the Division 4 Final.
D2 Semis: Finals Veterans Book Return
June 12, 2014
By Andy Sneddon
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Dillon McInerney delivered at the plate for Richmond on Thursday.
On Saturday, it may be his arm that helps bring the Blue Devils an MHSAA Division 2 championship.
McInerney’s sixth-inning RBI double broke a 1-1 tie and lifted Richmond to a 2-1 win over DeWitt in their Semifinal at Michigan State University’s McLane Baseball Stadium.
Richmond (35-3) will play Mount Pleasant (31-8-1) in the title game Saturday. The Blue Devils, ranked No. 10, could turn to McInerney – or any number of standout arms – as they try to take the step that eluded them last season when they lost, 3-0, in the Final to Grand Rapids Christian.
“We just want it more this year because we lost last year,” said McInerney, who had two of Richmond’s eight hits. “We’re hungry. We’re not done yet, that’s for sure.”
Zach Leach went the distance for the win, striking out five, walking two and surrendering four hits. Leach improved to 11-1, while McInerney is 12-0 with a 1.00 earned run average and could get the ball in Saturday’s Final.
Third-year Richmond coach Scott Evans would not tip his hand as to who would start, but did say his players know full well what it’s going to take to win their 33rd consecutive game Saturday.
“You’ve got to have that stud rise up, and (Leach) was our guy today,” Evans said. “When it comes time for Saturday’s game, one of our studs has to play like a stud. Last year, no one stepped up for us in that final game.”
Leach stepped up big time when his team most needed him Thursday. Trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning, DeWitt loaded the bases on a Chris Ruby single and two walks. Ruby scored on a wild pitch, but Leach regained his composure and got the final out of the inning on a called third strike, stranding runners at second and third and keeping the game tied.
“I’ve just learned to clear my head and not worry about the base runners or what’s going on behind me and just throw the next strike,” Leach said. “(The umpire) gave me a low strike call, and I thank him for that because that was definitely a tight spot and if I wouldn’t have gotten that call it would have been bases loaded with two outs.”
“That was a good opportunity,” DeWitt coach Alan Shankel said. “It was a close call and it didn’t go our way. That’s the way the game is. It’s an uncontrollable factor. We don’t worry about those things, and you go to the next opportunity. They did a great job of keeping us off balance and limiting our opportunities.”
It didn’t take long for Richmond to regain the lead. Evan Kratt singled with one out in the top of the sixth inning, and then McInerney smoked the ball over the head of the centerfielder for a double, scoring Kratt with the go-ahead run.
Leach held the fort one last time when the Panthers threatened in the bottom of the seventh. Timmy Lowe doubled and reached third with two outs, but Leach got a game-ending grounder.
Evans stuck with Leach, a senior right-hander, despite several relief options, including Ryan Boyd, his shortstop and closer.
“He’s a four-year starter,” Evans said of Leach, “and he’s a guy that when you go out to talk to him at about 85 or 90 pitches, he says ‘I’m just getting loose Coach, get back to the dugout.’”
Leach doubled with two out in the second inning and scored on a Boyd single to break a scoreless tie.
Sam Smith struck out five and walked two in taking the loss. DeWitt, making its first Semifinal appearance since 2003, finished 23-11. Click for the box score.
Mount Pleasant 7, Richland Gull Lake 1
Hunter Buczkowski had three hits, drove in three runs and pitched a complete game in leading the Oilers to their first MHSAA title game since 2008.
Buczkowski struck out four, walked three and allowed five hits.
Dean Marais also had three hits including a two-run double off the top of the fence in right field in the first inning, staking the Oilers – who had 12 hits – to a 2-0 lead.
Joe Genia added a pair of two-run singles for Mount Pleasant, which will vie for its third MHSAA title and first since 2007.
The Oilers fell in the Quarterfinals last season.
“They weren’t playing not to lose; they came here to win, and that’s what I’m most proud of,” Mount Pleasant coach Luke Epple said. “We thought we could have been here last year pretty easily, but we didn’t execute at the end (of the Quarterfinal loss) and we didn’t throw strikes.
“This year we’ve played much better defense and our pitching has been strong just like last year, but you’re seeing some of our young guys swing the bat and hit with men on. These are big games for us. Five of our (starting) guys today were underclassmen. We have confidence in them, and we know that they’re going to be good ballplayers.”
Buczkowski, one of four sophomores in the Oilers’ lineup Thursday, issued all three of his free passes and hit a batter in the seventh inning when the Blue Devils (30-10) scored their only run.
Buczkowski struck out Gull Lake cleanup hitter Jarod Burton with the bases loaded to end the game. Epple twice visited Buczkowski on the mound in the seventh.
“He said, ‘This is your game and I want you to finish it,’” said Buczkowski, who threw 115 pitches in improving to 8-2. “That seventh inning was the longest inning I think I’ve ever played.”
Walter Graf walked two and struck out two in taking the loss for Gull Lake. Click for the box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Richmond hitter connects during his team’s 2-1 Semifinal win over DeWitt on Thursday. (Middle) Hunter Buczkowski threw a complete game for Mount Pleasant as it advanced to Saturday’s Division 2 championship game.