Grand Blanc Claims Most Grand Baseball Prize for 1st Time

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

June 19, 2021

EAST LANSING – Pitching and defense have been staples of the Grand Blanc baseball team during its postseason push.

Those two elements combined with timely hitting to help carry the Bobcats to an 8-3 victory over Portage Central in Saturday’s Division 1 Final at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.

Grand Blanc allowed only seven runs over its seven postseason games.

“That’s been our MO most of the year and definitely through this playoff run for sure,” Bobcats coach Kevin Hubbs said. “We’ve counted on several kids, and today it was (pitcher) Nate Helms, and our defense has been stellar. 

“We know that will keep us in any ball game, and the last couple games our bats have come alive, too. We’re a tough ball club when we’re clicking on all cylinders like that.”

The win capped off a season of firsts for the Bobcats (33-11), beginning with their first Regional title.

“We played an extremely tough schedule all season long, especially nonconference, to get to this point,” Hubbs said. “We knew we would take some lumps along the way, but we knew it would prepare our kids ultimately to play in games like this.”

Grand Blanc senior center fielder Jonah Meleski, who had a hit and scored two runs, said the team peaked at the right time.

“This postseason has been insane, and we haven't given up very many runs at all,” he said. “The pitching has been dominant, and everyone defensively has been locked in.

Grand Blanc baseball“We’ve always been a good team, and we played the best competition in the state. We were always looking for competition, and we didn’t settle for easy wins. That’s why we are here, and this couldn't be any better, especially as a senior.”

Freshman Nathan Fidelino’s two-out RBI bloop single gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Moments later, Hunter Ames scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. 

On defense, Grand Blanc left fielder AJ Maxwell made an amazing diving catch in the bottom of the inning to prevent at least one run from scoring.

“That was huge,” Hubbs said. “He doesn't catch that ball, then it’s a triple and a 2-1 ball game. It changed the momentum and kept it in our favor.” 

The Bobcats broke it open in the fifth with six runs on five hits. They also took advantage of two Portage Central errors to go ahead 8-0.

“Everyone got hot at the right time, and everyone took their job seriously,” Meleski said. “It was just a great moment, and the momentum shifts completely.”

Grand Blanc made a habit of grabbing early leads and not relinquishing them.

“We haven’t played from behind yet this entire postseason run,” Hubbs said. “Our kids only know how to play with a lead, so it gets tough on other teams when we are playing like that with a lead.”

Helms, a junior, was brilliant on the mound until the sixth inning, when the Mustangs (35-5) touched him up for three runs.

Luke Leto scored on an infield single and Gavin Brasosky belted a two-run homer over the right field fence.

“That’s the character of this team,” Mustangs coach Cory DeGroote said. “They were frustrated, but they didn’t quit. They didn’t like the fifth inning, either, and I love that.

“The (six total) errors were uncharacteristic of us to have those happen, but that’s baseball, and we just couldn't figure their pitcher out.  We couldn’t get good swings and string anything together.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Blanc players welcome teammate Hunter Ames (24) back to the dugout during Saturday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Grand Blanc’s AJ Maxwell leaps for a run-saving catch in left field.

Record Board Celebrates Hastings Record-Setters Over 7 Decades on Diamond

By Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com

May 29, 2024

Bernie Oom had no intention of letting the past slide into history.

Mid-MichiganSo the 88-year-old retired longtime Hastings baseball coach embarked on a meticulous two-year labor-of-love project that recognized the Saxons’ record-breaking ballplayers from the last five decades.

The result is an impressive 63-by-52-inch record board attached to the baseball field's press box located directly behind home plate. The board chronicles a myriad of individual pitching, hitting and team marks derived from Oom's 22 years as coach as well as statistics from his six successors.

Included are records from the top players in Hastings history, including a former Saxon who collected the last hit off hall-of-famer Nolan Ryan, a slugging catcher who was drafted by Seattle and Cincinnati and spent time in the Boston organization, and a Hastings pitcher who owns the oldest mark when he fashioned a 0.35 ERA with just two runs allowed in 40 innings in 1969.

Oom, a member of the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association (MHSBCA) Hall of Fame, always kept close track of statistics and records as a coach. Two years ago when his son Wayne began a similar project with the Hastings track program, Oom thought it was time for his former diamond stars to be recognized. While a handful of schools may post scattered records in gymnasiums, it's extremely rare for a school to post records at a baseball field.

"I always liked statistics, and I decided I wanted to keep that kind of stuff up. I'm kind of a stickler for remembering things; details are important to me," said Oom, who compiled a 272-188 record with eight West Central and Twin Valley titles as coach from 1966-87.

"I talked to a lot of my old players, and they thought this was a great idea. But part of the real value is having a ninth grader looking at this and saying, 'I see this, and I want to be up there some day.' I think it will spur things in the program."

In collecting info for the board, Oom went through his 22 seasons of statistics and records, then contacted the six coaches who followed him, including one, Jeff Simpson, who now lives in Arizona. Oom and his son visited local schools such as Grandville and Grand Rapids South Christian for ideas and decided to work with a company called School Pride out of Columbus, Ohio, to produce the board. Oom and the company took two years to get it right, Oom said.

The result are 12 team, 10 offensive and nine individual pitching records as well as a list of the program's all-staters noted on the board.

A Battle Creek Enquirer story from 1991 discusses Nick Williams' accomplishments.Point to any records and the still razor-sharp Oom will have a story about the player or the team that produced the mark. Among them is the 15 doubles clubbed by star Dann Howitt in 1982. Howitt, who played 115 major league games across six seasons with six clubs, has a unique claim to fame as the last player to collect a hit of Nolan Ryan on Sept. 22, 1993. A 46-year-old Ryan, who finished with 324 wins and 5,734 strikeouts, walked the bases loaded against the Seattle Mariners, bringing up Howitt, who promptly drove a Ryan fastball over the left field fence. Ryan, a right-hander, tore a right elbow ligament pitching to the next hitter and exited the game, never to pitch again.

Oom remembers Howitt more as a line-drive hitter than a power threat. He actually hit more homers as a major leaguer (five) than he did as a Saxon (one in 120 at-bats over two seasons). The doubles record is the only time Howitt appears on the board, despite batting a combined .392 as a junior and senior.

"Teams would pitch around Dann," Oom said of Howitt, whose other claim to fame is backing up stars Mark McGwire, Tino Martinez and Frank Thomas at the major league level.

Among the other records are indicators of arguably the greatest season ever produced by a Hastings hitter. Nick Williams owns program records for batting average (.591), hits (52), homers (8), RBIs (42) and runs (47) all set in 1991. Williams said among his sharpest memories from that spring is struggling through his only hitless game of the season. He went 0-for-3 in the finale to drop below .600 for the only time all spring. At the time, no Michigan high schooler had batted .600 for one season.

"The ball looked big to me all year," said Williams, who was drafted out of high school by the Mariners, out of Central Michigan by the Reds after his junior season and eventually signed with the Red Sox as a free agent. "I had a pretty good high school career, and I was pretty confident as a senior. I had put a lot of work in hitting on a tee in our garage. Then I would play ball all summer. I improved steadily, and I saw the results that summer."

Former Saxons pitcher Steve Pocernik holds the oldest mark on the board after surrendering a meager two runs in 40 innings for a 0.35 ERA in 1969. After 55 years, Pocernik isn't completely sure but thinks the runs came in one game against St. Johns.

"I didn't throw hard, but I had a curve and I could put the ball where I wanted," he said. "(The record) kind of took me by surprise. I think it's super that Bernie had done what he's done. It's a nice thing for the guys who played for him."

Does keeping the record for five and a half decades come as a surprise? Kind of, Pocernik said.

"Yes and no," he said. "Yes in that it's been a lot of years. No because I don't think pitchers today pitch like we did. There are a lot of guys who've come after me."

Another of the Hastings pitching marks is the tiny total of 12 walks in 57 innings by Mike Hause in 1979. That's an average of just 1.4 walks over seven innings. Like Pocernik, Hause said he didn't throw hard. He mixed a curve with a fastball that rode in on righthanded hitters. Speed aside, Hause explains the low number of walks with having a definitive plan as a pitcher. He remembers focusing on throwing first-pitch strikes and then keeping hitters off-balance with an occasional knuckleball.

"I would work on hitting my spot even in the preseason in the gym," he said. "We put up a strike zone mat with holes in it, and I would try to throw the ball through that spot. I didn't throw as hard as some guys, but I threw strikes."

PHOTOS (Top) Retired Hastings baseball coach Bernie Oom stands with the record board he’s created that is displayed at the school’s diamond. (Middle) A Battle Creek Enquirer story from 1991 discusses Nick Williams' accomplishments. (Photo by Steve Vedder.)