Semifinal Comebacks Set Up Decider Between 1st-Time Title Hopefuls
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2023
EAST LANSING – Clutch pitching, squandered chances and plenty of extra baseball was the theme of Thursday’s second Division 1 Semifinal between Novi and Mattawan.
In a battle of two teams both seeking a first championship, it was Novi that ultimately prevailed in 10 innings, 4-1, at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
Novi was down to its last strike in the seventh inning, but finally broke through against Mattawan junior starter Brendan Garza to advance to the season’s final day for the first time since 1973.
With runners on first and second and two outs following a walk and hit batter, Novi senior Alex Czapski lined a single up the middle with two strikes to tie the game at 1-1, just as Garza was on the verge of tossing a one-hit shutout.
“Earlier in the game I was thinking off-speed,” Czapski said. “He was giving it to me, and I wasn’t hitting it. Overall, I wasn’t hitting it great, but I got a lucky poke on that. He was a great pitcher.”
Each team had a chance in the ninth inning, starting when Novi put runners at first and second base with nobody out. But the rally fizzled after an unsuccessful sacrifice bunt attempt and two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the ninth, Mattawan put a runner on third with one out following a leadoff double by sophomore Tyson Stratton and a sacrifice bunt, but couldn’t get the winning run across after a short flyout and strikeout. The flyout was a soft line drive to right, but the baserunner was partially up the line when the ball was caught and didn’t have enough time to go back to the base, tag up and try to run home.
In the top of the 10th inning, Novi took a 2-1 lead on a Mattawan throwing error. Novi put runners on first and second with nobody out after a hit and a walk, and on a sacrifice bunt attempt a throw went into left field allowing a run to score. With two outs, junior Andrew Kummer hit a ball that got past the shortstop and into left field, scoring two runs to give Novi a 4-1 lead.
Novi sophomore reliever Uli Fernsler capped off three scoreless innings by pitching a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the game.
Now, Novi will go for its first Finals title in head coach Rick Green’s 23rd year at the helm.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” Green said. “I’m so thrilled and happy for these guys. It’s all about these guys and the guys in the past as well.”
Novi on the mound started senior Andrew Abler, who allowed five hits and a run over seven innings.
Up until Czapki’s tying single in the seventh, the story of the game was Garza, who was dominant throughout until the walk and hit batter in the seventh opened the door.
Garza also accounted for Mattawan’s lone run, singling it home in the first inning.
Mattawan, which stranded runners on second and third base in both the fifth and sixth innings, finished 25-12-1.
“We had two or three chances to win the game and didn’t capitalize,” Mattawan head coach Brett Vaughn said. “It was exactly what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a pitcher’s duel, and that’s exactly what it was right until the end.”
Brownstown Woodhaven 6, Macomb Dakota 4
Woodhaven has been following a pattern of clutch two-out hitting and improbable comebacks of late.
In a Division 1 Quarterfinal win over Grosse Pointe South, the Warriors rallied from a 7-3 deficit in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring six runs with two outs en route to a 9-7 victory.
It was more of the same for Woodhaven in its Semifinal win over Dakota.
The Warriors trailed 4-0 in the fourth inning, but rallied for six runs — all with two outs — to earn a 6-4 victory and their second appearance in a Division 1 championship game since 2018.
Woodhaven (32-11) has won 21 of its last 23 games.
“We’ve been through a lot this season,” Woodhaven head coach Corey Farner said. “Almost every single situation you can think of, we’ve been through it. We were down big in the Quarterfinal. We just don’t quit. They don’t have that in them.”
A bulk of the rally for Woodhaven came in the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Warriors mounted a five-run rally with two outs.
With runners on second and third base, senior Tyler Harris doubled to left-center to cut the deficit to 4-2 Dakota.
Senior Michael Budai, junior Jacob Wright and senior Nick Phillips each added RBI singles with two outs to give the Warriors a 5-4 lead.
Woodhaven then added another run in the fifth inning when an RBI single with two outs by Budai gave the Warriors a 6-4 advantage.
Once given a lead, Woodhaven ace Evan Langlois settled in and didn’t give Dakota any great opportunities to get back into the game, allowing just one runner to get into scoring position over the last three innings after Dakota scored four runs in the top of the third to go up 4-0.
“I felt I was dialed in pretty much the whole entire time,” said Langlois, a senior who struck out five, walked one and allowed five hits in a complete-game win. “That rally will affect anybody. I just tried to stay focused the whole entire time and do my thing.”
Three of the four Dakota runs scored in the third inning were unearned. After loading the bases with one out, the Cougars took a 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout by senior Brendan Borowicz before forming a two-out rally. Dakota took a 2-0 lead following a throwing error, and then the Cougars grabbed a 4-0 lead when a single to right by senior Will DeMasse plated two runs.
But that would be all the offense for Dakota (26-13-2), which also ended its 2019 season at the Semifinals.
DeMasse had three hits to lead the way for the Cougars.
“One bad inning,” Dakota head coach Angelo Plouffe said. “It sucks, but that’s baseball. You’ve got to make three outs in an inning. That’s what it takes. I’m proud of my kids.”
PHOTOS (Top) Novi players, from left, Uli Fernsler, Brett Reed and Jonathan Aurilia celebrate their team’s Semifinal win Thursday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Novi’s Alex Czapski drives a pitch against Mattawan. (Below) Woodhaven’s Evan Langlois (3) applies a tag during his team’s Semifinal win over Macomb Dakota.
Brother Rice Finals Hero Aiming to Ace Family Life, Financial World
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
July 6, 2023
Matt Conway said the 2008 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice baseball team he played on wasn’t necessarily the most talented group to ever come through the state.
But that squad was still plenty good, and there was one thing that became evident during the playoff run the Warriors went on 15 years ago.
“Nobody really stood a chance,” Conway said.
It was certainly hard to argue.
During the MHSAA Division 1 Tournament, Brother Rice outscored its opponents by a combined score of 74-8 and never trailed during its seven playoff games.
The run culminated with an 8-0 win over Saline in the Division 1 championship game at Battle Creek’s C.O. Brown Stadium, led by a four-hit shutout from Conway on the mound. The title was Brother Rice’s third in school history and remains its most recent.
“The team camaraderie we had and the willingness we had to play for each other really showed in the way we dominated the playoffs,” said Conway, who now works for Center Rock Capital Partners, a private equity industrial firm based in Bloomfield Hills.
While the Warriors that year had camaraderie and chemistry, one thing they also had that other teams didn’t was Conway, who at the time was arguably the best prep player in the state.
Not only was the 6-foot-7 Conway an ace pitcher, he was also a fearsome power hitter at or near the top of the lineup.
The shutout in the championship game as a junior was only one of his achievements in high school, given he was also named first-team all-state in 2008 and 2009.
During his junior year, Conway batted .429 at the plate and was 11-1 on the mound.
Conway was an all-around force again for Brother Rice in 2009, but the Warriors fell short in their bid to repeat, losing in a Quarterfinal to Saline.
After graduating from Brother Rice in 2009, Conway went on to play baseball at Wake Forest, and his college career got off to a terrific start. He was named a freshman All-American at Wake Forest after leading the Demon Deacons with a .382 batting average during his first college season.
He went off during the summer after his sophomore year to play in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League in Massachusetts, arguably the nation’s premier summer league for college prospects and followed intensely by pro scouts.
Unfortunately, a knee injury made his time there short-lived.
“Unfortunately in the first game, I got hurt pretty bad,” Conway said. “I had to leave the Cape, and things weren’t really the same ever since.”
Conway eventually finished a nice college career at Wake Forest, but had to battle through more knee injuries.
He ultimately decided a professional baseball career wasn’t meant to be.
“At that point, I realized this is maybe not the path I was supposed to take,” Conway said. “I played through my senior year, and then took the uniform off and put on a suit. It was a little different, but I do believe things happen for a reason.”
Indeed, Conway has no complaints. He’s happily married to his wife Stephanie and has two children, an 18-month-old daughter and an infant son about a month old.
As an alum of Wake Forest, Conway was obviously thrilled to see the Demon Deacons advance to the College World Series semifinals and earn the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament this season.
“I had a ticket booked to Omaha to go to the championship series if they made it,” he said.
Conway has worked for Center Rock Capital Partners since 2018 and has always had plenty of knowledge in the financial and business sectors, given his father, Van, is a renowned financial consultant who owns a firm in Birmingham.
While his baseball playing days have been over for a while, Matt Conway said the lessons he learned playing in high school for Brother Rice head coach Bob Riker, and at Wake Forest for head coach Tom Walter, prepared him well for his current career and will always be with him.
“Time management, prioritizing and making sure you are on top of what you need to get done,” Conway said. “It taught me more than I could ever think of.”
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PHOTOS (Top) Brother Rice’s Matt Conway walks to the plate to accept his medal after the Warriors' Division 1 title-clinching win in 2008, and these days is building a family with wife Stephanie. (Middle) Conway makes his move toward the plate during that 2008 championship game. (Baseball photos from MHSAA archives; family photo courtesy of the Conway family.)