Pitcher Saves Best for Team's 1st Final
June 15, 2013
By Andy Sneddon
Special to Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Connor Foley saved his absolute best for last, much to the delight of longtime Bay City Western coach Tim McDonald.
Foley put on a gutsy mound performance Saturday in pitching the Warriors to a 1-0 win over Birmingham Brother Rice in the MHSAA Division 1 Final at C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek.
“Best game I’ve pitched in my life, and I couldn’t have picked a better day to do it,” said Foley, who went the distance in limiting a formidable Rice lineup to six hits while striking out four and walking one. “Every single pitch – if I wanted it on the outside corner, it was going there; if I wanted it on the inside corner, it was there.”
It was the first MHSAA baseball championship for the Warriors and the first for McDonald, who is 564-198-7 in 21 years at the school. He was recently inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
“We wanted to get him his first ring,” Foley said. “He just got inducted into the hall of fame, so we wanted to give him something else to be happy about.”
Western got the game’s only run when senior Grant Bridgewater drew a two-out walk in the top of the sixth inning. Bridgewater, Western’s catcher, gave way to courtesy runner David Fegan, a sophomore, and Fegan was balked by Rice’s Dalton Greyerbiehl to second – the first of two costly Rice miscues in the late innings. On the pitch after the balk, senior Brendan Harrison smacked a solid single to center, and Fegan slid home well ahead of the throw.
The confident Foley did the rest. And, as is the case with any good pitcher, he got some help from his defense.
“Once I got that run, I knew,” he said, “I knew we were getting it.”
Foley allowed a one-out single in the sixth, but the courtesy runner was doubled off of first after a long flyout to center fielder Briton Ott to end the inning.
“Throw to contact,” Foley said of his pitching philosophy. “I’ve got a great ‘D’. I knew to throw to contact and they’d take care of it. Before the game I was telling the guys we’d probably need four or five runs because, you know, I’m pitching. But all we needed was one today. Inexplicable.”
The Warriors also had their ace in the hole, literally, with University of Michigan-bound lefthander Brett Adcock – who pitched the Warriors to a 2-1 Semifinal win over Sterling Heights Stevenson on Friday – warming up in the bullpen.
After Foley surrendered a two-out single to Bobby Cross in the bottom of the seventh, McDonald went to the mound to speak with his pitcher, but he didn’t replace him. The next hitter popped out to end the game.
“(Rice) had a left-handed hitter coming up in a couple batters, but to be honest, I don’t think I could have pulled the plug on Connor,” McDonald said. “He didn’t throw a lot of pitches. He deserved to close out a state championship.
“Adcock gets a lot of attention, (and) he deserves all of it, but Connor Foley’s been equal to the task. He’s a great complement to Brett and anybody who knows Connor will tell you you know exactly what you’re going to get. He is a gutsy kid, he’s confident and he’s got a little swagger to him, maybe, but it’s all about him wanting the ball. He wants the big game.”
And for Western, there were plenty of them this year. Saturday’s win was its 35th consecutive. Rice finished 32-8-1.
“I told the guys last night, if we had to play (Rice) in a seven-game series, we might not win,” McDonald said. “But we just had to play them once and beat them once and I’m beyond proud.
“I’ve been proud of every team I’ve coached and I’ve coached some incredible teams. But this team separated themselves. They set the bar. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to coach, but I’m not sure if we’ll ever do the things we did this year. … Maybe people can put it into perspective for me, but I don’t know what else to say about what we’ve done.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bay City Western sophomore David Fegan slides into home for the Warriors' deciding run in a 1-0 win Saturday at Bailey Park. (Middle) Senior Connor Foley threw a complete game in earning the win on the mound for Bay City Western. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Record-Setting Offense, Pitching Ace Drive Beal City Finals Run
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 13, 2023
On the way to finishing Division 4 runner-up last season, Beal City produced a record-breaking offensive performance while following one of the most consistently successful pitching aces in state history.
The Aggies set an MHSAA record by scoring 12.5 runs per game in finishing 30-3, also making the team record book with 413 runs total, 78 doubles, 22 triples (tied for third all-time), 345 RBI and a .442 team batting average that ranks second on that list.
Brendan Martin made the career consecutive pitching wins list with 19 over his junior and senior seasons, and senior teammate Brayden Haynes earned listings for two home runs and six RBI in one inning of a win over Lake City. Martin is pitching this spring at Mid Michigan College.
See below for more recent additions to the baseball record book:
Baseball
Over a five-game stretch during April 2021, Kalamazoo Hackett Prep’s Stephen Kwapis got a hit in 13 straight at bats – the fourth-longest such streak in MHSAA history. He began with a hit in his final at bat in the first game of two that April 16 against Watervliet, then went 2 for 2 in the second game, a combined 7 for 7 during a doubleheader against Galesburg-Augusta on April 22, and finished with hits in his first three at bats April 24, 2021, against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern. He piled up five doubles, a triple and four home runs, along with three singles during the streak.
Portage Central’s run to the 2021 Division 1 championship game included record-book accomplishments by three individuals. Senior Luke Leto scored 73 runs over 37 games, good to tie for fifth-most runs in a season. Zach MacDonald was added for seven triples and 15 home runs, both over 40 games, and senior pitcher Gavin Brasosky posted a 0.84 ERA over 66 2/3 innings pitched. Leto is playing at Kansas after starting his college career at Louisiana State, and Brasosky is throwing at Kansas after playing a season at Tennessee. MacDonald is continuing at Miami (Ohio).
In 2016, Concord's Charlie Ropp became the second player from his family on the single-season stolen bases list, with his 63 over 35 games ranking for third-most in his family but sixth-most statewide.
Nearly 30 years later, Jason Knowlton has received his due for a performance April 29, 1994. On that day, he connected on back-to-back grand slams for Bridgman against Eau Claire, in consecutive innings. He’s one of seven to be listed for doing so in consecutive at bats.
Three of the oldest listings in this sport were added, all from Morrice. Jim Pavlica, a junior in 1946, was added for six stolen bases in a game that season against Byron. Pavlica would go on to play in the minors for the Chicago White Sox. He would have two more stolen bases when Morrice swiped 19 total against Byron in 1947, a performance that ranks fourth on the single-game steals list. Morrice also was added for 18 steals in a 1944 game against Byron.
Over the course of 11 days last spring, two Manistee hitters made the record book for steals in a game. Junior Ethan Edmondson tied for third on the list with seven against Bear Lake on April 30. Junior Jeff Huber made the list with six against Muskegon Orchard View on May 10.
Kingsley’s Owen Graves was added to the records for his seven triples as a senior in 2021. He now plays at Aquinas College.
Brighton Charyl Stockwell pitcher Aidan Liedeke was tough to hit last spring, as he struck out more than two batters per inning. He finished with 135 strikeouts over 61 1/3 innings pitching, for an average of 15.41 strikeouts per game – third-most on that record list. A senior this school year, he’s committed to continue at Kalamazoo College.
Jack Lamb brought plenty of speed to Perry’s offense last spring as a senior, making the record book twice. He reached the single-season list with 53 steals over 33 games, and also the single-game list with six steals on May 9, 2022, against Vermontville Maple Valley.
A performance more than four decades old from a school no longer open got its due. Orlando Villarreal hit a combined .451 over the 1979 and 1980 seasons to make the career batting average list for Wyoming Park. He went on to play at Central Michigan.
Jacob Morton became the first player on record since 2017 to hit two home runs in one inning when he did so in the first inning for Adrian Lenawee Christian against Britton Deerfield on May 16, 2022. Morton is a senior this school year.
PHOTO Beal City standout Cayden Smith drives a pitch during last season’s Division 4 Final against Riverview Gabriel Richard.