Liggett Caps Memorable, Meaningful Run
June 18, 2016
By Andy Sneddon
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Dan Cimini led Grosse Point Woods University Liggett to its fourth MHSAA baseball championship Saturday.
None of the previous three could come close to matching the emotion of this one.
Matthew Gushee fashioned a six-hitter as the Knights downed New Lothrop, 12-0, in the Division 3 title game at Michigan State University’s McLane Baseball Stadium. The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
It was Liggett’s fourth MHSAA crown since 2011. But for Cimini and his players, this one was more meaningful.
Cimini, who is in his 13th year at Liggett, lost his father Danato to cancer on the eve of the District tournament.
“It’s very emotional,” said Cimini, who added that he began tearing up with New Lothrop down to its final out in the bottom of the fifth inning. “I was crying there with two outs, just thinking of my Dad. He’d have been sitting behind (the plate) screaming ‘Come on Dano.’
“I’m going to miss that. I’m going to miss that the most. And I’ll never get to hear that again. It’s tough, but I know he’s here with me, and he’s here with this team.”
University Liggett leadoff man Connor McCarron had three hits while teammates Sean Fannon, Noah Miller and Anthony George added two apiece. McCarron, Fannon and Alec Azar had two RBI each.
The Knights, who were ranked No. 1 throughout the season and finished 32-4, collected 12 hits off three New Lothrop pitchers. The Hornets, who won the Division 4 championship in 2014, finished 41-4.
University Liggett plans to move up to Division 1 next season.
Gushee struck out one and walked three. The Knights did not commit an error behind him and were the only team of the eight who played in the four MHSAA title games Saturday to finish errorless.
Quentin Taylor, Cam Pope and Carter Hamgesberg had two hits each for New Lothrop.
Liggett scored in every inning and its lead was 8-0 by the bottom of the third.
“This is a team (New Lothrop) that was down 5-0 the other day in the Quarterfinals and came back and won 6-5,” Cimini said. “I told these guys ‘You’ve got to get a lead, step on them.’
“For our team to do what we did this season and save their best game in the biggest game, it just tells you about these kids. To rise to the occasion in the biggest moment of their lives and play their best game of baseball for five innings against a really good baseball team – that was no joke of a baseball team right there.
“I think the game was won before it started (because of) the confidence that these kids had. Nothing was going to stand in their way.”
Fannon, a senior, said the players kept their emotions in check, but were well aware of what it meant for Cimini.
“He deserves it so much,” Fannon said. “He puts all of his time into us. He had to push some of his problems to the side, so it’s really awesome that he got to do this. We did it for him, we did it for the team, we did it for the program.”
PHOTOS: (Top) University Liggett celebrates its Division 3 championship that closed the 2016 season. (Middle) A University Liggett runner charges toward first base.
Beal City Sets Tone, USA Enjoys Prime Time
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 15, 2018
EAST LANSING – The moment. The venue. It all got to Beal City’s Keegan Haynes as he took the mound to begin his team’s Division 4 Semifinal against Gaylord St. Mary on Saturday.
Haynes retired the first batter, gave up a base hit and proceeded to throw 10 straight balls walking the bases full before going 2-0 on the fifth batter, Alex Pudvan. Aggies coach Steve Pickens came out to talk to his junior pitcher, settle him down and hopefully instill some confidence.
Haynes threw a strike and then got a bouncer to start a double play, pitcher to home to first. Just like that, the Aggies escaped the top of the first inning unscathed – and that changed everything.
Beal City scored twice in the bottom of the inning and tacked on four more runs in the second on the way to defeating St. Mary 7-3 at McLane Stadium to advance to Saturday’s championship game, which will be its first since 2014.
Beal City (22-8), winners of three previous MHSAA baseball titles, will play first-time finalist Unionville-Sebewaing (22-15) at 2:30 p.m. USA scored four in the first inning and went on to defeat St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic, 5-1, in the second Semifinal.
“That pretty much defined the game for us,” St. Mary coach Matt Nowicki said. “That first (inning) could have been promising for us.”
Instead of scoring a run or more, and perhaps knocking Haynes out of the game, St. Mary was deflated.
Conversely, Beal City got pumped up. Run-scoring singles by Haynes and catcher Cameron Lynch staked Haynes to a 2-0 lead. When the Aggies added four the next inning, keyed by Kollion Sharrar’s two-run triple, Haynes and Beal City were in command.
“I told (Haynes) to trust his defense,” Pickens said. “With that double play, we were only one pitch away from getting out of the inning.
“Hey, that’s a good team over there. We scored a number of runs today with two outs. We’re getting some timely hitting. We were moving the ball. We didn’t strike out much (four times) today.”
St. Mary (26-6) scored all of its runs in the fifth inning, stringing together five consecutive singles to knock Haynes out of the game. That was good and bad news for the Snowbirds. They finally got on the board, but the run also prompted Pickens to bring in his ace. Senior Brett Upton, 11-2 on the season, fanned the first two batters he faced, then got a pop out to shortstop that stranded two runners.
Upton, who threw 23 pitches in retiring all five batters he faced, will be ready to start on the mound in the title game.
“I had all the confidence in the world in (Haynes),” Upton said. “I wasn’t coming in at that time anyway. We had all the confidence in the world in our offense and that we’d come back and score. That double play was a big momentum swing. That was huge for us. The plan for me today was to come in for an inning or so and get used to the mound. I’m ready.”
Aaron Schafer relieved Upton in the sixth and got the final four outs.
Haynes got credit for the win and he also went 3 for 3 with two RBI.
“The nerves got the best of me in that first inning,” Haynes said. “(Pickens) said to me to throw strikes and calm down. Giving up no runs in the first, that was the best-case scenario. This is the biggest game I’ve ever pitched in.”
For St. Mary, Drew Long went all six innings and pitched well after the first two. Joseph Moeggenberg had two hits and an RBI.
Unionville-Sebewaing 5, St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic 1
Brendan Prime went the first 5 1/3 innings for USA to earn the victory. He survived a shaky start, and when his pitch count ran out, Devin Riskey came to his rescue. Riskey, likely Saturday’s starting pitcher, allowed one hit and struck out two in his 1 2/3 innings of work.
Prime allowed three hits and one run in the first inning, and allowed just one hit after.
“I don’t think I was in a groove yet,” Prime said. “After those four runs, when they got that one, I didn’t think about it much.”
Last season USA scored a bunch of runs early in a Division 4 Semifinal but failed to close out Portland St. Patrick. USA led 7-3 after three innings in that one before St. Patrick came back to win, 12-8, and go on to claim the championship.
“I thought back to St. Patrick last year,” USA coach Tyler Bader said. “We talk about getting to teams early. We wanted to stay on top. Stay on top. Stay on top.
“I felt we were going to do well in the tournament in the Districts. We’re not done yet.”
USA batted around in the first inning; the big hit was Braden Carter’s two-run single.
For Lake Michigan Catholic (27-4), starting pitcher Matthew Defay had a triple and scored on Jacob Kissane’s sacrifice fly. Defay gave up all five runs, but only two were earned.
VIDEO: Unionville-Sebewaing's four-run first inning was highlighted by this two-run single by Braden Carter.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Beal City runner tries to beat a throw to third base during his team’s Semifinal win over Gaylord St. Mary. (Middle) Unionville-Sebewaing’s Brendan Prime delivers a pitch as the Patriots earned a trip to Saturday’s championship game.