D4 Semis: Finalists Seize Opportunities
June 13, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Beal City baseball went viral this week, thanks to a trick play that played a small part in its Regional Final win over top-ranked Muskegon Catholic Central last weekend.
But the Aggies showed again Friday morning that they are nothing if not opportunistic – and fun to watch.
Fakery wasn’t necessary like the hidden-ball trick against MCC that has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube and made national headlines with coach Brad Antcliff and two of his players interviewed on Fox News.
But Beal City had a run before it had a hit against Kalamazoo Christian, stole six bases and took advantage of five errors and getting hit by three pitches on the way to an 11-1, six-inning Division 4 Semifinal win at McLane Baseball Stadium.
“We like to stay aggressive on the base paths and in the batter’s box. We’ve been talking about that all year,” said sophomore shortstop Tucker Gross, who scored two runs and stole three bases. “It’s a lot of fun, being aggressive, not holding back. We’re just being ourselves and having fun.
“The stakes are higher, but we stay true to who we are and play our kind of ball.”
Beal City (36-3), ranked No. 2 entering the tournament, will play Saturday against No. 5 New Lothrop for its first MHSAA title since 2010. The Aggies were runners-up a year ago to Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, a semifinalist in Division 3 this weekend.
Aggies pitcher Ty Rollin did use an ounce of trickery to end Kalamazoo Christian’s opening rally, faking a pick-off attempt to third base in the first inning and wheeling toward first base before catching a runner trying to advance to second. He got that out and struck out the next batter, and it was all Beal City until the Comets scored their lone run in the sixth inning.
The Aggies scored one run in each of the first three innings before adding six in the fourth. In addition to eight hits, they executed a squeeze for one run, plus a double steal and some hit-and-run to move around the bases and earn a comfortable advantage that allowed Antcliff the luxury of pulling his ace after the fourth inning so he can use him again in the championship game.
Only three of Beal City’s runs were earned.
“We’re going to make the other team make plays. The kids played great baseball; they did exactly what we wanted them to do today,” Antcliff said. “We were going to score as quickly as possible and as many as possible, because I’ve got Ty for six (innings Saturday).
Rollin, who threw all eight innings in last season’s one-run Final loss to Liggett, allowed only two hits in four innings Thursday and also scored twice. Reliever Kurt Gross finished the game and knocked in two runs in his only at bat. Senior Ryan Tilmann had two hits and scored three runs.
Junior rightfielder Greg Harris drove in the lone run for Kalamazoo Christian (18-18).
It probably won’t make national news if Beal City finishes this run with the Division 4 title Saturday. But that certainly will be the most memorable moment for the team and community, even if the recent national hype was a fun highlight along the way.
“It’s cool, but the main thing is we’ve gotta stay focused,” Gross said. “We can’t let it get into our heads. We can’t let it become a distraction. We can talk about it a little bit, but that’s all.”
New Lothrop 3, Maple City Glen Lake 1
Both teams playing in the second Division 4 Semifinal were in a similar history-making position – New Lothrop was playing for its first championship game berth ever, and Glen Lake was playing for its first in forever (1984).
The Hornets have had a lot of success in athletics in 2013-14, and maybe some of that savvy rubbed off on sophomore pitcher Cameron Pope. He struck out 11 and gave up only six hits before yielding to junior reliever Grant Steinborn with one out in the seventh inning.
New Lothrop has risen from Quarterfinalist in 2012 to Semifinalist last season, and now has its firt opportunity to climb the last rung on the historical ladder.
“It’s the chemistry. It’s a small school. Everybody has classes with each other. We just all get along and we love playing with each other,” Pope said of why this year’s team became the first baseball finalist.
“It’s tradition. New Lothrop’s a winning school. It’s just what we do.”
Sophomore rightfielder Quentin Taylor scored two of New Lothrop’s runs and drove in the third. He was the only hitter with more than one for the Hornets, who had only six hits total to Glen Lake’s 11.
The Lakers had one last opportunity in the seventh inning. With runners on first and second bases, two drives down the leftfield line fell foul, one by mere inches. One runner would've scored, and the second would've had a shot at tying the game as well. But Steinborn was able to pick up the final two outs without incident.
Senior shortstop Tristan Williams had three hits for Glen Lake and scored the lone run. Senior Thomas Waning was steady on the mound, giving up only the three hits and striking out five.
“There’s nothing we did or didn’t do in terms of mistakes or anything like that. At the end they got two big hits when they needed to get two big hits, and we didn’t get those hits when we needed to have them,” Glen Lake coach Kris Herman said.
“We felt like we had a real opportunity to do good things here, and we’re very disappointed. We said we’d celebrate when the season was over, and we will, but now is not going to be the time because we felt an opportunity got away from us.”
PHOTO: (Top) Beal City’s Carson Salisbury scores as part of a six-run rally in the fourth inning Friday. (Middle) Cameron Pope unloads a pitch in earning the win for New Lothrop.
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.