Orchard Lake St. Mary's, Grosse Pointe North Follow Aces to D1 Final
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2022
EAST LANSING – For the final time during his high school career, the Brock Porter show did not disappoint.
There was a lot of anticipation for the second Division 1 Baseball Semifinal between Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern on Friday. Casual baseball fans, other teams, and of course professional scouts were in attendance at McLane Stadium to get a look at Porter, a senior pitcher for St. Mary’s and possible first-round pick in this summer’s Major League Baseball Draft.
In his final high school appearance, Porter tossed a no-hitter to help lead the Eaglets to a 9-0 win.
St. Mary’s (43-0), which won the last two Division 2 championships before moving into Division 1 this year, tied a state record for most wins in a season, and will look to set the record and finish this spring unbeaten in Saturday’s Final against Grosse Pointe North.
Porter didn’t blow away Forest Hills Northern (24-12) with strikeouts like he has so many other opponents this year, recording only six. But he walked just two and didn’t allow much hard contact.
“I kind of knew it was coming along once I was pitching a little bit,” said Porter, who has committed to play in college for Clemson, pending his draft situation. “I was just trying to go out there and give everything for my team.”
St. Mary’s opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning when senior Jack Crighton stole home on a double-steal play and senior Ike Irish hit an RBI single up the middle.
The Eaglets tacked on another run in the second inning on an RBI single by Crighton to make it 3-0 before delivering a crushing blow in the fourth.
With the bases loaded and two outs, senior Nolan Schubart blasted a grand slam over the fence in right field to give the Eaglets a 7-0 lead.
“That was a huge hit for us,” St. Mary’s coach Matt Petry said. “It’s a 3-0 ballgame, and to make it 7-0 gave us some breathing room and some room for error.”
St. Mary’s added a single run in the sixth inning to round out the scoring.
Scubart, Crighton and Irish all finished with two hits to lead an eight-hit attack for the Eaglets.
Forest Hills Northern coach John Dolce praised his players for getting the program to the state’s final four for the first time. But Porter was just too much.
“Obviously he’s an incredible pitcher,” Dolce said. “He gets every pitch across. He’s a competitor, and we just ran into an incredible baseball team today. I told our players
it’s not life and death and to just enjoy the experience. We enjoyed the opportunity.”
Grosse Pointe North 8, Battle Creek Lakeview 0
North coach Kevin Shubnell said his team lost the coin flip that determined whether it would be home or away for the first Division 1 Semifinal against Lakeview, but he wasn’t all that disappointed.
“Our philosophy the whole tournament has been to be the visiting team,” Shubnell said. “We’ve won the toss a few times and chosen to be visitors because we felt like our lineup could put up a run or two and give our starting pitcher a little cushion.”
The Norsemen did just that, scoring two runs in the first inning and five runs in the second to jump out to a big early lead.
Grosse Pointe North (23-7) advanced to its first Final since winning it all in 2006.
After getting staked to a big lead, North junior ace Jordan Arseneau – who entered having allowed just one earned run all year – was able to pitch relaxed the whole game.
“It puts a lot of pressure off of me,” Arseneau said. “It puts me into a good mindset that I just have to do my game, throw the ball over the plate and let my defense make plays.”
Arseneau finished with a five-hit shutout, striking out five and walking two.
Grosse Pointe North loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning on two walks and a hit batter, and then made it 1-0 when senior Luke Babcock walked with the bases loaded.
North then took a 2-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Brennan Hill.
The Norsemen took advantage of more Lakeview pitching miscue in the second inning, taking a 4-0 lead on a passed ball and a bases-loaded walk to senior Jake Tedesco.
Babcock drove in another run on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-0, a lead which grew to 7-0 following a sacrifice fly by Hill and an RBI single by senior Bryan Carney.
Grosse Pointe North added another run in the fourth inning on another bases-loaded walk.
“We didn’t play terrible, but we didn’t play great,” Lakeview coach Kyle Kracht said. “It was a tough time for us to not play our best baseball, but these kids have nothing to hang their (heads) on. They did a great job and had a great season.”
PHOTOS (Top) Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Brock Porter makes his move toward the plate during Friday’s second Division 1 Semifinal. (Middle) Grosse Pointe North’s Drew Hill tracks a fly ball during his team’s Semifinal win.
Grand Blanc, Portage Central Rally Early in Semifinal Wins
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2021
EAST LANSING – Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice might have been making its third-straight trip to the MHSAA Semifinals and Grand Blanc its first ever, but Grand Blanc certainly wasn't nervous to start Thursday’s second Division 1 game at McLane Stadium.
Excited and ready from the first pitch, Grand Blanc scored four runs in the first inning, which set the tone for a 9-1 win.
“It can be a double-edge sword in certain situations,” Grand Blanc Kevin Hubbs said. “We kind of told our kids the pressure was kind of on them in a way because they’ve been here so many times. This is our first time. We just told the kids to come out and have fun regardless of what happens. If you’ve seen our kids in the dugout all season, win or lose, they are going to leave the ballpark having fun.”
Grand Blanc (32-11) jumped on Brother Rice in the top of the first inning, sending 10 hitters to the plate.
The Bobcats built a 3-0 lead just five batters into the game, and rolled from there in advancing to meet Portage Central in Saturday’s 9 a.m. championship game.
Following a leadoff double, Jonah Meleski scored after a bunt single by AJ Maxwell and subsequent throwing error. Following a walk to David Lally and a strikeout, Nathan Fidelino lined a two-run double down the right field line to make it 3-0 Grand Blanc. Brother Rice answered with a run in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI groundout by Will Shannon.
Grand Blanc kept up the pressure in the second, loading the bases and taking a 6-1 lead on a two-run single with two outs by Dylan Bowen. The Bobcats added a run in the fourth inning when Tim Welsh walked with the bases loaded to make it 7-1. They then made it 9-1 in the fifth inning with a two-out rally after the first two men were retired; Fidelino hit an RBI single to left, and then pinch hitter Kyle Keener hit an RBI single to right.
The damage done by Grand Blanc actually could have been worse. In addition to 12 hits, the Bobcats drew 10 walks and had three batters hit by Brother Rice pitching.
Fidelino finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored, and Bowen added two hits and two RBI to lead the attack for Grand Blanc.
“It’s surreal,” Fidelino said. “I’ve never felt anything like it. We had a whole city on our back today. It felt great. This is the best team we’ve ever had, and this is the furthest we’ve ever gone. Every game, we leave it all on the field.”
Lally, who has committed to Notre Dame, allowed four hits and struck out five in six innings of work on the mound for the Bobcats.
Brother Rice finished its season 29-11.
Portage Central 5, Midland Dow 1
The last high school start for Portage Central senior ace Gavin Brasosky went just like his other starts this year, with him dominating and winning.Signed with Tennessee, Brasosky was in complete control Thursday, allowing one run, four singles and striking out 10 to lead Central to a 5-1 win over Midland Dow.
Brasosky didn’t give up a hit until Dow’s Tom Biacagalupo singled with two out in the fifth inning.
Central (35-4) advanced to the championship game for the first time since 2002, when it defeated Warren Mott to clinch the Division 1 title.
“I was a little sore,” Brasosky said. “But as I kept going, I felt a little better. I was trying to win so we could play on Saturday, and that’s what we did.”
Brasosky’s performance was needed, as Central’s normally high-powered offense generated only five hits against Dow pitching.
“I told him that he couldn’t have picked a better way to finish his career on the mound,” Central head coach Cory DeGroote said. “We really had to grind at the plate. They gave us a lot of different looks with a lot of different pitchers. We had to use our bunt game.”
Portage Central opened the scoring in the first on an RBI sacrifice fly by Zach MacDonald, then added two more in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead on a two-run single by Will Sachwitz.
The Mustangs added another run in the fourth on an RBI sacrifice fly by Luke Leto.
Dow did rally in the sixth inning and got on the board, cutting Central’s lead to 4-1 on an RBI single with two outs by Logan McCoy. But with runners on first and second, Brasosky induced a popout to end the inning.
Central added insurance in the bottom of the sixth, taking a 5-1 lead on an RBI squeeze bunt by Cole Mason. Dow (27-15) also put runners on first and second with one out in the seventh inning, but Brasosky shut down that threat with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Blanc’s Nathan Fidelino rounds second base during his team’s Semifinal win over Brother Rice on Thursday. (Middle) Portage Central’s Gavin Brasosky makes his move toward the plate.