First-Time Title Winner Guaranteed in D4

By Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half

June 16, 2017

EAST LANSING – Coach Bryan Scheurer figured his Portland St. Patrick team couldn’t play much worse.

The Shamrocks committed four errors over the first four innings of their Division 4 Semifinal and trailed Unionville-Sebewaing 8-4.

“Our motto is to throw strikes early,” he said. “We want to throw strikes and take the outs they give us.”

That wasn’t working. In addition to the errors, St. Patrick issued three walks.

“We weren’t playing well,” Scheurer said. “Another one of our mottos is, losing is not acceptable. We’re going to chip away, grind away.

“We didn’t make it easy.”

The Shamrocks scored four runs in the fifth inning to tie the game and pushed across four more in the seventh to defeat USA, 12-8, on Friday at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.

St. Patrick (28-0-1), a 10-3 loser to Sterling Heights Parkway Christian in the Final last season, will attempt to win the program’s first title when it plays Hudson (27-16) at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Hudson, which had never won a Regional title until this season, trailed Gaylord St. Mary, 2-1, after four innings and then scored two in the fifth and added three in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead on the way to achieving another program first.

St. Patrick had two triples in the fifth inning of its win. Freshman Devin Fedewa’s two-run triple was the key hit.

Graham Smith then started the seventh with a walk, and the bases were loaded with one out after an error and a hit batsman. Dan Mackowiak batted in what proved to be the winning run with a sacrifice fly to center. Nathan Lehnert and Scheurer’s nephew, Brandon Scheurer, had RBI singles, and another run scored on a well-executed double steal.

St. Patrick trailed Bay City All Saints 3-0 and 6-4 in a Regional Final before coming back to win, 7-6. Brandon Scheuer said his team has come back a number of times this season, so the fact the Shamrocks were trailing again didn’t faze them.

“We’ve seen games like that before,” he said. “We try not to hit doubles and home runs. We want to hit singles. We play small ball. We’re good at it. Apparently, they are, too.”

USA (30-8-1) batted around in the third inning and scored four runs to take a 7-3 lead. Scheurer came on in relief in that inning, and though he gave up three of the four runs, he settled down and allowed just two hits and no runs over the final three innings to receive credit for the victory.

Scheurer had four hits, and four of his teammates had two including Brendan Schrauben, Lehnert and Fedewa, all of whom had two RBI.

St. Patrick had 15 hits to nine for USA. Cooper Kauffold had three hits and three RBI for the Patriots.

“That was a heck of a game when you think about all of the back-and-forth play,” USA coach Tyler Bader said. “I told our players you’ve got to use this as a springboard. Not having experience here can add up.”

USA was playing to reach an MHSAA Final for the first time.

Click for the full box score.

Hudson 6, Gaylord St. Mary 4

Jesse Hesistan went the first six innings for Hudson before filling the bases with no outs in the seventh. Coach Jeremy Beal brought in Garrett Gamble from third base and switched Hesistan to third.

The move worked. Drew Koenig hit a grounder to Hesistan, who stepped on the bag and threw to first to complete the double play. Though a run scored, Hudson got what it wanted.

“I was nervous,” Gamble said. “Pitching in relief is never easy. You just have to get it done. You prep for this.”

Brady Hunter singled in St. Mary’s fourth run, but Gamble got the last out on a fly out to center.

“(Hesistan) had enough pitches left to finish,” Beal said. “He was staring at getting us to the Final. That double play was just like we drew it up.”

Hudson’s three runs in the sixth inning proved valuable. Black Borck singled home the fourth run and Gamble, who went 4-4 with four RBI, followed with a two-out, two-run triple.

“We needed to score some runs,” St. Mary coach Matt Nowicki said. “When you get in a hole like that, it’s tough. It would have been nice to take that next step.”

Nick Torsky went the distance for St. Mary (29-8), and Joseph Moeggenberg went 3-3 at the plate.

“We don’t have experience in games like these,” Beal said. “But our athletic department has had success. Wrestling for one. We coach kids in the fall, and it carries over to the winter. We coach kids in the winter and it carries over to the spring.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Portland St. Patrick second baseman Dan Mackowiak throws to first during Friday’s Division 4 Semifinal. (Middle) Hudson puts a tag on Gaylord St. Mary’s Nick Torsky.

Hackett Catholic Prep Closes Spring with Dream Finish

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

June 19, 2021

EAST LANSING – Stephen Kwapis is headed off to Notre Dame next season to play baseball at his dream school.

The Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep senior captain couldn’t leave high school without helping make another dream come true.

The Irish built an early lead and never looked back en route to defeating Marine City Cardinal Mooney 9-2 in Saturday’s Division 4 Final at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.

“It’s unreal,” said a wide-eyed and giddy Kwapis, who went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. 

 “I’ve been dreaming about this for my whole life, and for it to actually happen ... it hasn’t hit me yet, honestly. I can’t believe that just happened.”

It was the first Finals win in school history for Hackett baseball, which reached the championship game for the first time.

Hackett (31-9) scored at least one run in each of the first four innings and received stellar pitching from senior Sam Shea and junior reliever Brenden Collins. 

“It’s surreal to watch these boys accomplish this,” Irish first-year coach Smiley Verduzco said. “They worked so hard, and it’s all about the boys. We’ve had some really tough games, and this was a really good baseball team that we beat. To be able to do this is very special for these young men.”

Shea and Collins combined to limit Mooney to only four hits while striking out seven. 

“They’ve been good all year, and to step on this stage and to come through like that is very special,” Verduzco said.

Hackett Catholic Prep baseballShea wasn’t slated to pitch in the Final after starting the Semifinal. However, the lineup’s big first inning Friday against Glen Lake allowed him to return after throwing only 23 pitches. 

“I’m thankful that I was able to pitch in the last game because I didn’t think that would happen,” Shea said. “It was unbelievable to pitch in the championship game, and it was super important to get those early runs so we could calm down and play our usual baseball.”

Kwapis had a strong belief in his team’s ability to make a postseason run. He said it was apparent early due to the tight-knit bond. 

“I knew the brotherhood that this team had, and that’s what made this team so special,” he said. “We all came together at the beginning of the year, and I just knew by the way we played that we could make it happen.” 

Hackett’s bats were pivotal throughout the tournament, scoring 71 runs over its seven postseason games. 

Isaac Backman also had two hits for Hackett, while Eli Backman and Steven Widger each had a hit and two RBI.

The Irish went ahead 2-0 in the first inning after a Kwapis RBI single and sacrifice fly from Shea.

They extended their lead to 8-1 after four innings.

“They came out hacking,” Mooney coach Mike Rice said. “They were hitting the ball, and we haven’t been squared up like that in a while. We tried our best and gave it our all, but at the end of the day they out-hit us and we made some defensive mistakes.” 

Mooney, also making its first Final appearance, committed four errors on the day and left 10 runners on base.

The Cardinals ended the season with a 28-7 overall record.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep players raise their championship trophy Saturday night at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Sam Shea charges hard to make a catch in right field.