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.
Orchard Lake St. Mary's Passes Homer for State's Record Winning Streak
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
April 17, 2023
It initially might be an absurd notion, but this year’s Orchard Lake St. Mary’s baseball team was able to enter this season with a legitimate chip on its collective shoulder.
Yes, the Eaglets began practice last month having won three straight MHSAA Finals championships (Division 2 titles in 2019 and 2021 and the Division 1 title last year surrounding the canceled 2020 season) and set a state record for wins in a season last year in finishing 44-0.
But the Eaglets graduated some unreal talent from that squad, including four players contributing to Division I college baseball programs this spring (Jack Crighton at Clemson, Ike Irish at Auburn, Nolan Schubert at Oklahoma State and Jake Dresselhouse at Michigan State) and another in pitcher Brock Porter, a top prospect in the Texas Rangers farm system after being taking in the fourth round of last summer’s MLB Draft and inking for signing bonus of $3.7 million.
So going into this year, there was a definite hunger and drive for the returning players to show the rest of the state there wouldn’t be any letup in the program despite the roster attrition.
“We have a lot of new guys who didn’t get an opportunity really last year because of how good our roster was,” said senior second baseman Ryan McKay, a co-captain who has committed to play at Michigan State. “But now they are filling in their shoes amazingly. There are a lot of names people don’t know, and those are the guys helping us win these games.”
Proof of St. Mary’s still excelling and simply reloading certainly came over the weekend in Ohio.
With a win over Grove City in suburban Columbus on Saturday, the Eaglets won their 76th straight game, breaking the state’s all-time record consecutive victories set by Homer during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
St. Mary’s (11-0) then added a win over Milford (Ohio) to make it 77 wins a row, and is now 12 shy of tying the national record of 89 set by Portsmouth (N.H.) High School in 2012.
Congratulations to the Orchard Lake St. Mary's baseball on setting a new @MHSAA record with 76 consecutive wins! The Eaglets defeated Grove City (Ohio) 11 to 3 during their 4-game Ohio road trip.@OLSMBaseball pic.twitter.com/zY1h3sShTs
— STATE CHAMPS! Michigan (@statechampsmich) April 15, 2023
Given it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore the streak and attention that’s coming with it, breaking the state record made for a festive bus ride home from Ohio on Saturday.
“The thing about it is their commitment to it and to get up for every single game over the course of three seasons,” St. Mary’s head coach Matt Petry said. “That says a lot about our players, how well prepared they are and how serious they take the game. That’s not easy to get up for every single game. Especially knowing you are going to get everyone’s best efforts because they want to be the ones who break the streak.”
There were some close calls en route to this weekend’s accomplishment.
St. Mary’s earned a 5-4 win over Howell on March 26, a 1-0 win over Detroit Catholic Central on March 30, and then a 1-0 win in nine innings last Wednesday against Walsh Jesuit in Ohio.
“There have been close games, but if you want to go far in sports, you have to love those big games,” McKay said. “The nerves are coming, but at the same time, you love it.”
Last year’s seniors were well-known across the state before the season even began. But even after their graduation, there remains loads of talent on the St. Mary’s roster and plenty of time for this group to create similar buzz.
In addition to McKay and top pitcher Aidan Donovan heading to Michigan State, senior shortstop Blake Grimmer is committed to Tennessee, senior SS/P Jasen Oliver is committed to Indiana, and junior Parker Brzustewicz has committed to Notre Dame to headline another roster full of future college players.
Now, the hard part will be continuing to stay focused amidst attention that will undoubtedly increase as the Eaglets pursue the national record.
Fortunately, it won’t be hard for St. Mary’s to get up for its next action Wednesday because it is hosting archrival Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice for a doubleheader.
Odds are St. Mary’s will lose a game at some point. But until then, it will bask in the glow of a ride never seen before in state history.
“It’s definitely in the back of our minds,” McKay said. “But every game we just go out with the same idea, plan and basically play baseball at the end of the day.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTO Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Ciaran Caughey (12) welcomes Jake Dresselhouse after the latter scored during last season’s Semifinal win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.