Woodhaven, GP South Slug to Semifinal Wins
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 14, 2018
EAST LANSING – The best season in Brownstown Woodhaven’s history just got better.
Woodhaven, which had never won a District baseball title before this spring, defeated perennial powerhouse Birmingham Brother Rice 7-3 in a MHSAA Division 1 Semifinal on Thursday at McLane Stadium on Michigan State’s campus.
Colin Czajkowski’s two-run homer broke a 1-1 tie in the third inning, and senior lefthander Drew Szczepaniak allowed five hits in 6 2/3 innings and survived a bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth to earn the victory.
Woodhaven set a state record earlier this season when it recorded 60 consecutive scoreless innings, which included eight consecutive shutouts. The pitching staff has continued to compete at a high level in the tournament, allowing 12 runs over seven games.
But, defensively, Woodhaven had its difficulties Thursday. The Warriors committed four errors, two in the fifth inning and two in the sixth. The two in the sixth led to Brother Rice’s only run. The two in the fifth helped Brother Rice load the bases with two outs. Szczepaniak got the last out on a pop up to third basemen Zach Biggs.
“In a game like this, you have to put (the errors) aside,” Szczepaniak said. “In the end, if you dwell on it, it won’t do you any good. Yes, I had to stay patient.
“Hey, we’re Woodhaven. We hadn’t won a District until this year. Everything is going so fast, and we’re just trying to take it one day at a time.”
Czajkowski agreed. No one expected Woodhaven to be in a Semifinal let alone the Division 1 championship game, so this is all new.
“We just got to keep level-headed,” he said. “That home run, things were definitely different. Definitely, beating a team like Rice is something special.”
Saturday’s Final, for just the second time in Division 1/Class A history, will feature two teams from Wayne County as Woodhaven (34-5) will play Grosse Pointe South (32-12) at 11:30 a.m.
The other time two Wayne County teams played for the title was in 2006, when Grosse Pointe North defeated Detroit U-D Jesuit 7-5.
To Woodhaven coach Corey Farner, it didn’t matter whom his team was playing Thursday. After all, this is Woodhaven. There isn’t anything with which to compare what his team and the community are going through.
“I didn’t care who we played,” Farner said. “They have a storied history. We’re Woodhaven. We’re not supposed to be here.
“That home run was huge. It was a 1-1 game at that time. It’s someone different every game coming through.”
Woodhaven could be without starting catcher Justin Charron in the Final. As he stopped at second base after batting in a run with a double, he slid awkwardly and left the game. Farner confirmed that Charron injured his right ankle, and his status for Saturday is uncertain.
Carson MacDonell replaced Charron, threw out a base runner attempting to steal and had an RBI single.
Like Farner said, it’s a different player each game.
Brother Rice (31-9), attempting to reach its first Final since 2013, used a handful of pitchers. But it seemed that no matter who coach Bob Riker pitched, Woodhaven’s batter were ready.
“They just out-pitched us,” Riker said. “We just didn’t get that big hit. When we tied it at 1-1, I said, ‘Ok, here we go.’ Then the guy hits that two-run bomb.”
Grosse Pointe South 10, Midland 0
South scored eight runs in the sixth inning of the first Division 1 Semifinal. Nathan Budziak went all six innings on the mound and allowed three hits, no walks and he struck out seven. He’s pitched three shutouts in his three tournament starts and has struck out a combined 29 hitters.
He was in a groove again, and Midland had no answer for him.
“He’s been lights out,” South coach Dan Griesbaum said of Budziak. “Winning 10-0, it’s unreal. We’re hitting over .300 as a team, but we weren’t hitting well early in the season. Maybe it was the weather.”
South had 14 hits paced by Cameron Mallegg with three. Joseph Naporani had three RBI and was one of four players with two hits.
Budziak, and Saturday’s expected starting pitcher, Cameron Shook, both suffered injuries during the season that had each out for a month. Budziak suffered a broken thumb on his left (throwing) hand and returned three weeks ago. Shook suffered a dislocated kneecap and made his first start since his return Tuesday, a 9-1 Quarterfinal victory over Macomb Dakota.
“The other players stepped up after (the two injuries),” Griesbaum said. “It wasn’t just the pitchers. It was a total team effort.”
Saturday’s will be South’s third Final appearance. The Blue Devils won their only title in 2001.
Midland (30-12) used three pitchers. Garrett Willis went the first five innings, giving up four earned runs, and took the loss to finish 10-3 this spring.
VIDEO: Grosse Pointe South tallied eight runs in the sixth inning; here's the two-run single by Giovanny Lutfy that ignited the rally.
PHOTOS: (Top) Brownstown Woodhaven’s Drew Szczepaniak turns on a pitch during Thursday’s Semifinal win over Brother Rice. (Middle) Cameron Mallegg eyes an offering during Grosse Pointe South’s victory.
Hot Hitting Again Bolsters Plentiful Pitching as Novi Clinches 1st Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2023
EAST LANSING – When Novi head baseball coach Rick Green presided over his team for the official start of practice in March, there were two immediate observations.
One, in his words, “there is a lot of work to do” – but that’s normal talk that just about every coach probably spoke at that moment.
Second and most importantly, there was something else about his team that stood out as he began his 23rd season at the helm.
“I knew we had the pitching staff as long as we are healthy,” Green said. “We were deep in the pitching staff.”
The entire state saw that firsthand during this MHSAA Tournament.
For the first time, Novi is a state champion in baseball following an 8-3 win over Brownstown Woodhaven in the Division 1 championship game at Michigan State University’s McLane Stadium.
Over seven tournament games, Novi allowed just 14 runs, and Green added that another facet of his team emerged over the last three weeks.
“Our pitching staff carried us most of the way, and then hitting came through in the playoffs,” he said.
It certainly wasn’t an easy road for Novi (32-8), which knocked off the likes of Catholic League finalist Detroit Catholic Central, No. 3-ranked Northville, No. 7 Battle Creek Lakeview, No. 16 Hartland and a 30-win Woodhaven team en route to the title.
Before this dream run, Novi hadn’t made it to the Semifinal round since doing so in 1973, when the Wildcats finished runner-up in Class C.
Senior Alex Czapski was able to speak about the historical significance for the program better than any of his teammates after the game, given he had older brothers who graduated in 2014 and 2017 and the farthest any of them got was the Regional round.
Czapski, whose tying single with two outs in the seventh inning of a Semifinal against Mattawan kept Novi alive before his team went on to win that game in 10 innings, literally has grown up around the program.
“We have just been playing for this team for a long time,” Czapski said. “We had pitching depth, and we had hitting that tended to get hot. The thing we know about this team that makes us stand out is we have a brotherhood. Our team chemistry is something I don’t think I’ve seen out of a Novi team.”
Novi was in control throughout the Final, collecting 15 hits and putting constant traffic on the bases.
The Wildcats opened the scoring in the top of the third inning, taking a 2-0 lead on a 2-run single by junior Thad Lawler with the bases loaded and two outs.
Novi tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning, with juniors Brendon Bennett and Andrew Kummer and senior catcher Brett Reed each providing RBI singles to give their team a 5-0 lead.
Woodhaven (32-12) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, cutting Novi’s lead to 5-1 when senior Nick Phillips singled with pinch-runner Dawson Terry on second base. Terry scored when a throw to home got past the catcher.
After a scoreless fifth inning, Novi all but put the game away by scoring three runs. One scored on a wild pitch, and then Reed hit a 2-run single to left-center to give the Wildcats an 8-1 lead.
Woodhaven did make things a bit interesting in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs and putting runners on first and third with one out. But Reed threw out a runner trying to steal second, and Novi sophomore Uli Fernsler then finished a complete-game performance with a strikeout to start the celebration on the field.
Fernsler allowed three runs and eight hits, walked none and struck out eight. Woodhaven, meanwhile, had to use four pitchers and struggled to contain Novi’s offense.
The Warriors were making their second trip to the championship game after falling 8-1 to Grosse Pointe South in 2018.
“(Fernsler) pitched a really good game, and we were the opposite,” Woodhaven head coach Corey Farner said. “We didn’t hit our spots at all and had a hard time getting outs. You can’t put 19 runners on base and expect to win. That was the difference in the game. They pitched a really good game, and we didn’t.”
Bennett had three hits and an RBI, junior Caleb Walker had three hits and Reed had two hits and three RBI to lead Novi in its historic victory.
“This is so special,” Green said. “I’m so happy for our kids, and I’m so happy for all of our past players.”
PHOTOS (Top) A Novi hitter drives a pitch during Saturday's first championship game at McLane Stadium. (Middle) The Wildcats raise their trophy during the awards presentation. (Below) Novi's Uli Fernsler makes his move toward the plate. (Photos by Olivia Napier/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)