Through the Years: Baseball 1971-2015
June 30, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
It's often a surprise to fans that the first MHSAA Baseball Finals were played in 1971, despite a long history of the sport among the state's high schools.
But that history, while shorter than for some of our other sports, has had its share of highlights as one of our final good-byes to the school year every spring.
Check out below our recent feature on the tournament's history from our spring issue of benchmarks, built and written by Rob Kaminski, and scroll to the bottom of the page for a link to our first installment on softball. We'll look at more MHSAA postseason events every Tuesday and Friday throughout this summer.
Previous installments
June 28: Softball - Read
D1 Baseball Final: Eagles Take Flight
June 16, 2012
BATTLE CREEK – Hudsonville scored the first run of Saturday’s Division 1 Final, and rallied for four more in the top of the sixth to win its first MHSAA title, 9-6 over Warren DeLaSalle.
The Eagles entered the tournament ranked No. 6 in the state coaches poll, but had never appeared in a championship game.
The game featured 15 hits but also eight errors, and they played a part for both teams in a back-and-forth battle. The score was tied 1-1 after the first inning, then 4-4 after the third before the Eagles extended their lead to 9-4 in the sixth.
DeLaSalle scored only two runs in the bottom of that inning and went out 1-2-3 against sophomore Logan Magsig in the seventh.
Magsig also drove in two runs for Hudsonville (33-5), and senior Tyler Baar hit a home run and drove in three.
Senior Kevin Carroll drove in two runs and senior Mike Abiragi had two hits and scored a run for the Pilots, who finished 20-23-1 after a 3-14-1 start. Click for a full box score.
PHOTO: Hudsonville’s Logan Magisg drives a pitch during Saturday’s Division 1 Final at Bailey Park.