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.
Liggett, GR Christian Zero Out Opponents, Zero In on Championship Day
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 16, 2023
EAST LANSING – Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett senior pitcher Joey Randazzo knew the magnitude of the opposing lineup and opposing pitcher.
But he insisted there wasn’t extra pressure on him going into a Division 2 Semifinal against 2022 champion Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
“My goal is never to put up zeroes,” Randazzo said. “My goal is to pound the zone and let my defense work. My job is just to pound the zone.”
Randazzo did better than that.
He pounded the zone and also happened to put up zeroes, tossing a 5-hit shutout to lead Liggett to a 2-0 win over Forest Hills Eastern in what was the definition of a pitchers’ duel.
Liggett, which won the Division 3 title two years ago, will go for its seventh Finals championship at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Grand Rapids Christian.
The most dominant players all game were Randazzo and Forest Hills Eastern senior Jacob Pallo, who entered the game with a 0.49 ERA and allowed only one hit through his first five innings of work.
After having only one runner get to second base over the first five innings, Liggett finally mounted what turned out to be the deciding rally in the bottom of the sixth.
A single by Randazzo and a double by junior Reggie Sharpe set the table with two outs for senior Oliver Service. On a 3-1 count, Service hit a tapper in front of the plate that was fielded by Pallo, who had to hurry his throw to first to get the speedy Service.
The throw got past the first baseman, allowing Randazzo and Sharpe to score.
In the top of the seventh, Randazzo gave up a leadoff single to Pallo, but a double play and a popout ended the game.
Pallo allowed just three hits and one walk to go along with six strikeouts in what also was a terrific performance.
“He pounds the zone, and he does what I ask him to do,” Liggett head coach Dan Cimini said of Randazzo. “He throws off-speed and moves the ball all over the place. He’s got like 12 different fastballs. He’s just a gamer.”
There will be a new champion in Division 2 with Forest Hills Eastern dethroned, but it was still quite a run for the Hawks over the last two years to win a title and get back to the Semifinal round.
“Just the growth throughout the season to get to this point was tremendous,” Forest Hills Eastern head coach Ian Hearn said. “Hats off to Randazzo. He mixed it up really well and kept us off balance.”
Grand Rapids Christian 4, Flint Powers Catholic 0
It was deja vu for Grand Rapids Christian and senior pitcher Kyle Remington.
Last year, Remington was the winning pitcher in a Division 2 Semifinal, allowing just one run in a complete-game performance.
A year later it was pretty much a duplicate performance, except this time Remington didn’t allow any runs, tossing a 7-hit shutout to lead Grand Rapids Christian past Flint Powers.
Now, the Eagles hope it won’t be deja vu Saturday, when it will try to not repeat the loss in last year’s championship game.
“I understand how difficult the road is getting here,” Grand Rapids Christian head coach Brent Gates said. “We’ve had a goal from day one to get back here and finish the job. We’re one away now.”
The Eagles (35-5) earned another opportunity thanks in large part to Remington, who struck out seven and walked one.
Remington’s biggest moment came in the bottom of the first inning, when he got out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam with a strikeout.
“It was pretty big not to give up any runs in a bases-loaded jam,” Remington said. “I think it was a slider. I can’t really remember, but it was pretty huge.”
Grand Rapids Christian opened the scoring in the top of the second inning, scoring three runs on three hits and an error.
Cam Seth plated one run on a fielder’s choice, and then senior Isaac Hubka hit a single to center that scored two more runs.
In the bottom of the third inning, Powers had runners on first and second with one out, but following a single to center by senior Jack Dawley, a perfect relay to home by Grand Rapids Christian cut down the Powers’ baserunner at the plate.
Powers couldn’t get a 2-out hit, and the game remained 3-0.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Eagles made it 4-0 on an RBI single by junior Parker Seth.
Powers (33-9-2) was making its first appearance in a Semifinal since 1984.
“They played hard all the way to the end,” said Powers’ Tom Dutkowski, who completed his 41st year as head coach. “I don’t feel like we lost so much as we got beat by a team that played a little bit better than us. They had a little more timely hitting and made a couple of plays that were really outstanding. It was a well-played game by a very experienced Grand Rapids Christian team.”
PHOTOS (Top) University Liggett catcher Oliver Service lays out to get to a foul ball Friday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) A Liggett player lets out a yell during his team's win. (Below) Grand Rapids Christian’s Josh Winkle (12) attempts to race home in front of a play. (Photos by John Castine/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)