Pitching Aces Deliver Lakeshore Title
June 17, 2017
By Andy Sneddon
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Baseball purists would have loved it.
Almost as much as Stevensville Lakeshore coach Mark Nate did.
Max Gaishin won a classic pitchers’ duel with Alex Dingee on Saturday as Lakeshore defeated Bay City John Glenn, 1-0, in the MHSAA Division 2 championship game at Michigan State’s McLane Baseball Stadium.
The victory capped a 36-6 season for the Lancers, who completed a magnificent run through the tournament that saw their pitchers surrender just five runs.
Lakeshore won its Quarterfinal, 7-1, on Tuesday with Connor Brawley on the mound and on Thursday captured a Semifinal, 3-0, with Joel Brawley on the hill.
“I am so proud of my pitchers,” Nate said. “We gave up five runs all tournament. That might be a record. Seven games, giving up five runs.”
Gaishin, a senior left-hander, surrendered six hits and struck out five. He did not walk a batter, extending to three Lakeshore’s streak of games during which its pitchers did not issue a base on balls.
“We knew this pitch-count rule was coming,” Gaishin said in regard to the MHSAA pitch-count limitations which took effect at the beginning of the season. “So (from) day one it was, ‘Get the ball over the plate.’ And we knew we had outstanding defense so it’s get the ball over the plate, let the defense work. That has been the motto from day one.”
It was the second MHSAA baseball title in Lakeshore history. The Lancers captured the Class B crown in 1990.
“Max pitched his butt off, and I’m so proud of these kids,” Nate said. “It’s theirs. One hundred percent theirs. Right now it hasn’t really sunk in to me; maybe it will in about five minutes. Lot of smiles over there, and they deserve them.”
Dingee, also a senior southpaw, allowed just two hits, struck out two and also did not issue a walk. The game took just 1 hour, 15 minutes to complete.
“Our guy, he mixed his pitches well, he threw strikes and we played outstanding defense behind him,” said John Glenn coach Jeff Hartt, whose team finished 34-9. “My guys never gave up, and that was their MO for the year. This is a tough one. It’s going to take a while for it to sink in, the type of season we had. It was a great year. We came up a run short in the state championship game.”
The Bobcats, who were also Division 2 runners-up in 2012, left seven runners on base including the potential tying run in the sixth inning. Matt Fisher had two hits including a double to lead John Glenn at the plate.
“We got some runners on. We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it, or they got the big play when they needed it,” Hartt said. “It was a great ball game; great game.”
Lakeshore (36-6) scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the third inning. Sean Branch tripled with one out and scored on Ryan Remus’ sacrifice fly.
PHOTOS: (Top) Stevensville Lakeshore's Max Gaishin makes his move toward the plate during the Division 2 Final. (Middle) A Lakeshore runner tries to slide into third base under the tag.
D3 Finalists End Long Waits to Return
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 12, 2015
EAST LANSING – Except for a couple of hiccups, Jackson Lumen Christi coach Phil Clifford’s game plan could hardly have worked better Friday.
And now Clifford has his rotation all set for the MHSAA Final.
Pitching on two day’s rest, Zach Mehelich went four innings and gave up two runs as Lumen Christi defeated Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker 7-3 in a Division 3 Semifinal at McLane Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University.
Chris Cooper’s triple produced the game’s first run, and he scored on Connor Mogle’s single to give the Titans a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Cooper’s drive to right fooled the outfielder as he came in a few steps before retreating, but the ball went over his head.
“I just go up there and swing the bat,” Cooper said. “I go up there to hit, not take pitches.
“I saw (the outfielder) charge it a little bit. I just kept on running, hoping I wouldn’t catch Joe (Mehelich).”
Lumen Christi (23-16), winners of seven straight, will play Buchanan (24-7) for the title at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Titans added another run in the third inning and broke open the game with a four-run fourth.
“Zach threw 130 pitches and went 10 innings on Tuesday,” Clifford said. “We wanted to get some innings out of him today. We wanted four, and we got four.”
Saturday’s will be the Titans’ second MHSAA Final appearance. They won the 1978 Class B title with a 10-6 victory over Spring Lake.
Clifford’s plan is to use Mehelich, 10-2 now after earning the victory, in relief if needed. Clifford might go with Josh Iocca, who threw the final three innings to get the save Friday, or go with Josh Fleming, who started at catcher.
“It’s the Final,” Clifford said. “Anyone who can pitch is available.”
Normally a strong team defensively, Lumen Christi committed three errors. The first two didn’t play into the scoring, but the third one did.
Trailing 3-0, the Lakers (22-11) broke through with a run on Austin McCabe’s RBI double. McCabe then scored on an infield error to make it 3-2 going into the bottom of the fourth.
Lumen Christi’s defense saved at least one run during the previous inning. With one out, Jacob Periso reached base on an infield error and went to third on Brady Post’s single. Dustin Kady then hit a fly to fairly deep right field, where Zach Spicer made the catch and threw one hop to Fleming, who put the tag on Periso to end the inning.
“I thought I’d be late on the bounce,” Spicer said. “It was pretty cool. It was great for our confidence.”
Despite the loss, this was the Lakers’ best season. They had never won a Regional before this spring.
Laker coach Adam Grybauskas said Spicer’s throw was perhaps the key play of the game.
“The throw from the outfield was a perfect throw,” Grybauskas said. “A foot here or a foot there and he’s safe.”
Buchanan 6, Gladstone 4
Buchanan trailed Gladstone 3-0 after two innings before Kyle Leazenby relieved Jarrett Thomas and held the Braves to a run on five hits.
The Bucks haven’t been to a Final since 1985, when they defeated Grandville Calvin Christian, 3-2, for the Class C title. Buchanan also lost in the 1981 and 1982 Class C Finals.
Buchanan scored two in the third inning Friday and took its first lead, 5-4, in the bottom of the fifth scoring three runs, two unearned.
Thomas had the big hit in the inning, a two-run double that tied the game at 4-4. Thomas stole second and came home on Chad Adkerson’s sacrifice fly.
“I never found myself on the mound,” Thomas said. “I had to keep focusing. I had to do something else to help the team. With two men on, I had to do the job.”
Thomas moved to shortstop after being relieved. He threw 145 pitches during Saturday’s Regional and seemed tired. He walked five and threw 63 pitches Friday.
Leazenby, a sophomore, set the side down in order in the third and seventh innings, and did not walk a batter.
He had worked four innings in Tuesday’s 7-4 Quarterfinal victory over Lansing Catholic.
“I feel I had a lot more left after Tuesday,” Leazenby said. “I was very pumped up. It’s a lot different than Tuesday.”
Jake Peterson went the distance on the mound for Gladstone (28-10). He also had three hits and two RBI.
Gladstone is expected to field another fine team next season as coach Don Lauscher had just two seniors and two juniors this spring.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Lumen Christi hitter turns on a pitch during Friday’s Division 3 Semifinal. (Middle) Buchanan's Kyle Leazenby prepares to fire during his relief appearance Friday.