![](/sites/default/files/imported/Photos/190615_D4base_2H.jpg)
Summerfield Brings Historic End to Spring
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2019
EAST LANSING – For a program that had never been to a Semifinal prior to this year, Petersburg Summerfield looked awfully comfortable at McLane Stadium.
The Bulldogs were unfazed by the pressure of playing for their first championship at Michigan State University and capped off a brilliant weekend Saturday with a 9-0 win against Saginaw Nouvel in the MHSAA Division 4 Baseball Final.
“I preached to them from the first day of practice that we’re going to win the state championship,” Summerfield coach Travis Pant said. “No stage, no matter who we play and on any stage – we went to Decatur and played under the lights. We scheduled some big games, and I just wanted to get them used to the big stage so this was, ‘We’re supposed to be here.’ We just wanted to show that we do belong and that none of this was a fluke up to this point. I really appreciate them just coming out here and playing loose and playing our game.”
Nobody could possibly look at what the Bulldogs did this postseason as a fluke, as they outscored opponents by a combined 89-2 in the postseason, with shutouts in each of their last three games.
“Just hit the ball and field the ball; that’s basically all we did,” Summerfield junior pitcher Derek Clark said. “The pitchers threw strikes, the defense – I let them work behind me, and we got hot at the right time.”
The catalyst for that was a pitching staff led by Clark, who threw a gem Saturday night to shut the Nouvel offense down. Clark went the full seven innings, striking out 11 and allowing four hits and one walk.
He had plenty of help – some of it he provided himself – and got it early. Just like it had the day before, the Summerfield offense came out hot in the top of the first inning, scoring a pair of runs to put Nouvel in an early hole.
Sophomore Brock Olmstead opened the scoring with an RBI single, and Clark made it 2-0 when he scored on a squeeze bunt laid down by Brandon Tyler.
At that point, with Clark about to take the mound, the Summerfield coaches and players felt they were on their way to a title.
“We don’t give up a lot of runs, so I knew that if we could hop on a team, we could be all right with Derek on the mound,” Pant said. “(Clark) has pitched a lot of big games – he pitched a league championship, a District championship, a Super Regional Final and a state championship and didn’t give up a run in any of those games. You look at it, and it is outrageous.”
Nouvel (15-17-1) threatened in the bottom of the fourth inning, getting three straight singles to load the bases with two outs. But Clark was able to get a strikeout to end the threat.
In the next half inning, the Bulldogs (28-4) were able to get a run out of seemingly nowhere and go up 3-0. With two outs, Olmstead attempted to steal third, and as he neared the bag, the throw from the catcher went into left field, as the third baseman had charged toward the plate to defend a possible bunt.
Clark blew the game open in the top of the sixth with a three-run triple after a rally started by the bottom of the Bulldogs order. No. 8 hitter Bryce Smith started it with a single, which was followed by a single from pinch hitter Kirk Knerr, and a perfectly placed bunt by leadoff hitter Brendan Dafoe to load the bases for Clark. One batter later, Clark was driven in by a sacrifice fly to left from Olmstead to make the score 7-0.
“If their whole lineup is hitting, that makes things pretty difficult, right?” Nouvel coach Shawn Larson said. “We knew coming in they’re a good hitting team. We just assumed we would be able to put the bat on the ball as well, because we’re the same type of team. They do a lot of things that we do with their energy and their momentum and their enthusiasm. We just weren’t able to capitalize.”
The Bulldogs added a run in the top of the seventh inning, as Mark Keller hit a leadoff triple and was driven in by a Devin Albain single. Albain scored on a Smith single to make it 9-0.
Nouvel’s Brady Alverson took the loss, striking out seven and allowing three runs in four innings. Dafoe and Smith each had two hits for Summerfield.
Long after the game ended, the Bulldogs players and coaches lingered down the left field line, soaking up the moment.
“It means a ton,” Clark said. “We have 18 league titles, and to finally get the first state championship means a lot to this program and this school.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Summerfield raises its first Finals baseball championship trophy Saturday night at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Derek Clark dives toward the plate while Nouvel catcher Joe Bartles waits for a throw.
![Beal City standout Cayden Smith drives a pitch during last season’s Division 4 Final against Riverview Gabriel Richard.](/sites/default/files/2023-04/230413_Beal_2H.png)
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.