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.
Like Old Times But Also New, Beal City Closes Baseball Finals as Champion
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2023
EAST LANSING – The 2023 season felt like old times and the definition of turning back the clock for Brad Antcliff.
The Beal City baseball head coach from 2007-16, Antcliff returned before the start of this season, and it felt like he never left.
“It did,” Antcliff said. “But I talked to my players about what I needed to do different. It’s their team, and I’m following them.”
Also like old times, Antcliff followed his team to a state championship.
Beal City captured its fifth with a 2-1 win over Plymouth Christian Academy in the Division 4 Final at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium, which also finished the MHSAA's 2022-23 school sports year.
It was the third title as coach for Antcliff, who also guided Beal City to crowns in 2009 and 2010.
“The expectations they met today, it’s hard,” Antcliff said. “It’s hard to get here, and it’s really hard to win it. They met every expectation that we put in front of them this year.”
In what was a well-pitched game between Beal City junior Cayden Smith and Plymouth Christian sophomore Tyler Scott, it was a couple of defensive miscues by PCA in the bottom of the sixth inning that were the difference.
Following a flyout and a single by Beal City junior Jake Gauthier, freshman Blake Walcutt singled. A throwing error put runners on first and second base with one out, and then another throwing error plated Walcutt to give Beal City a 2-1 lead.
The Aggies had the bases loaded with one out, but couldn’t tack on any insurance runs. That didn’t matter, as Beal City (31-8) finished off Plymouth Christian with a 1-2-3 seventh.
Smith got the first out of the seventh inning on a strikeout, but had to be pulled after reaching the 105-pitch limit. Walcutt came in and got the final two outs to preserve the win.
Smith struck out 11, walked none and allowed just three hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.
“My fastball was really there,” Smith said. “My curveball was there. My slider was kind of off. It was down and away and sometimes high. I couldn’t find it. But the curve ball was working, and the fastball was there too.”
Similar to Grand Rapids Christian in the Division 2 title game, Beal City avenged a loss in last year’s Final.
“Since we lost that game, it was our new goal to come and get this one,” Smith said.
After three scoreless innings, Plymouth Christian broke through in the top of the fourth, taking a 1-0 lead on a 2-out RBI single by Scott.
Beal City answered in the bottom half of the fourth inning, tying the game at 1-1 when a run scored on a 2-out error that would have ended the inning.
The Aggies had a golden opportunity in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases with two outs, but a groundout ended the threat.
Scott allowed just four hits, struck out four and walked one in six innings of work for Plymouth Christian (34-8).
While disappointed with the result, Eagles head coach Joe Bottorff is excited for the future of his program despite graduating eight seniors.
“I think everyone knows now that we belong here,” Bottorff said. “We had a JV team loaded with freshman travel players, so we have some guys coming through that are going to be really good. We have a pipeline built where we are going to reload rather than rebuild.”
PHOTOS (Top) Beal City’s players raise their championship trophy Saturday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Jake Gauthier slides into second for a stolen base just ahead of the tag by PCA’s Jordan Scott (6). (Below) Cayden Smith begins to unload a pitch during his winning performance. (Photos by John Castine/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)