D1 Baseball: Pilots Fly High Again
June 15, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – When Warren DeLaSalle began this season 3-14-1, coach Matt Cook had little choice but to simply look ahead to the next practice, the next game.
But he promised the Pilots if they stayed the course, the tough times wouldn’t last forever.
Kevin Carroll and his classmates made sure of it.
DeLaSalle is 17-8 since, and will play for its fourth MHSAA championship Saturday thanks to a 3-2 win over Howell in Friday’s Semifinal.
“No one’s going to stop this team right now. We’re playing better than we ever have,” said Carroll, who gave up five hits and struck out six in getting the pitching win. “Everyone’s here to play. Everyone’s here to win. There’s not one person who doubts it.
“I don’t know what the turning point was or where it was, but I think that definitely it was because of the seniors. The seniors decided we were done losing. We didn’t like it.”
DeLaSalle (20-22-1) faces No. 6 Hudsonville at 12:30 p.m. Saturday for the title. Data isn’t readily available to confirm the Pilots could become the first team to win an MHSAA championship with a losing record.
But it’s fair to believe this run is bordering on unprecedented.
“These guys did a heck of a job putting it together and doing things the right thing,” said Cook, who as a player caught for the Grand Ledge team that fell in the 2001 Division1 Final to Grosse Pointe South. “I kept telling them to play their game. You play baseball the right way, it’s going to turn around.”
The Pilots scored one run apiece in the tops of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Howell came back with a run in bottoms of the fifth and sixth. But sophomore second baseman Dominic DiPuma’s home run in the top of the sixth ended up being the game-winner when the Highlanders (30-11) failed to scratch one more across.
“We’ve battled through. That’s been our thing all year; our kids have never given up,” Howell co-coach Jason Ladd said. “We were down 7-1 in the Regional, battled back and won. And I think these kids expected we were going to win this one.”
Senior outfielder Reed Carnagie had two hits and an RBI for the Pilots. Senior Josh Vyletel fell to 15-3 on the mound despite tossing a complete game and striking out four for Howell. Click for a full box score.
Hudsonville 4, Saline 3
Hudsonville earned its first championship game berth with a two-run rally in the fourth inning and shutdown pitching by senior Blake Hibbitts and sophomore Logan Magsig. Saline had just one more hit after opening up a 3-0 lead.
Magsig, playing shortstop before he moved to the mound, also drove in the first run of the go-ahead rally before scoring what became the winning run later in the fourth inning.
Senior first baseman Hunter Prince also had two hits for No. 6 Hudsonville (32-5). Junior second baseman Andrew White, sophomore rightfielder Michael Hendrickson and senior catcher Patrick Price all had a double and an RBI for No. 9 Saline, which finished 30-11. Click for a full box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren DeLaSalle players celebrate sophomore Dominic DiPuma's home run that proved to be the game winner against Howell. (Middle) Hudsonville senior Hunter Prince connects during his team's Semifinal against Saline.
Pitchers Set Pace as MP Sacred Heart, Marcellus Advance with Shutouts
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2026
EAST LANSING — To this day, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart junior ace pitcher Nate Siler doesn’t know where his nickname of “gator” came from and why.
“I have no clue to be honest,” Siler said. “It’s just something I’ve had my entire life. I really don’t know where it came from.”
Regardless, Siler certainly did some “chomping” on the mound during a Division 4 Semifinal against Royal Oak Shrine Catholic on Friday.
Siler was in total control from the first pitch, striking out 16 batters and tossing a three-hit shutout to lead the Irish to a 4-0 victory.
Ranked No. 2 in the state entering the tournament, Sacred Heart (37-4) will go for its third Finals championship at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Marcellus.
“Just throwing strikes,” Siler said of what was key to his dominance. “Do your job and not let the moment get too big. Stay even-headed and do the same job I’ve been doing all year.”
Sacred Heart provided Siler with all the run support he would need in the top of the first inning, striking first for two runs on an RBI single by senior Brady Davis and an RBI double by junior Hank MacDonald with two outs.
“We’ve in the tournament been jumping off in the first inning and getting some runs,” veteran Sacred Heart head coach Earl Hartman said. “That’s always going to help (us get) relaxed. The two runs we got in the first inning were all (Siler) needed, and it usually is. He doesn’t often need more than that to win a ballgame.”
In the fifth inning, Siler and MacDonald hit consecutive RBI doubles to give Sacred Heart a 4-0 lead.
Siler did encounter some strife in the bottom of the seventh when Shrine loaded the bases with one out on a bloop single, walk, and hit batter.
But Siler ended the threat and the game with back-to-back strikeouts.
Shrine, which was making its first Semifinal appearance since advancing to the Division 4 championship game in 2003, finished 26-9.
“He controlled the game from beginning to end,” Shrine head coach Dan Noble said of Siler. “He was never really frazzled. We have cut down on our strikeouts significantly this year from last year, but you’ve got to give him all the credit. He’s the difference in the game. He just controls everything that he throws. He’s got a plus fastball, and he throws it with a four-seam and a two-seam action. Nothing looks the same, yet he ends up hitting the same spot.”
Marcellus 4, Painesdale Jeffers 0
In the midst of focusing on his team’s current situation and what’s to come, Marcellus head coach Christian Hutson made sure to take time and offer reflection following his team’s win over Jeffers.
“I wish every coach could experience this today,” Hutson said while fighting back tears. “Just this atmosphere and being on that field. You never know if it’s going to happen. It’s pretty awesome. I’m all smiles. I don’t know what to say because there’s been some years where it’s been tough for us. It’s paid off.”
Marcellus (22-11) will play for a Finals championship for the first time thanks to the performance of junior Cale Hackenburg, who threw a four-hit shutout, striking out 15 and walking one.
“Everything was working,” Hackenburg said. “My fastball, I could locate it well. My slider was making them uncomfortable.”
Marcellus also got his team’s offense going, hitting a one-out triple in the bottom of the first inning and then scoring on a sacrifice fly by junior Abram Coffey to make it 1-0 Wildcats.
In the third inning, Marcellus took a 3-0 lead on an RBI single by Coffey and a Jeffers error on the same play that scored another run.
Marcellus rounded out the scoring in the fifth inning when Coffey tripled and then scored on an RBI groundout by senior Eli Torres.
The Jets (15-9) were also making their first trip to a Semifinal, and got a boost when senior ace Cameron Anderson was able to start after it was thought he would be lost for this week. Anderson was involved in a horrific outfield collision during the Regional round.
Jeffers head coach Joe Romano said Anderson suffered a cracked collarbone in his non-throwing shoulder that healed enough to start, but that it greatly affected his velocity trying to follow through.
Anderson gutted through 2 1/3 innings before being taken out.
“He was in pain,” Romano said. “He went through a lot of therapy this week just to get to this. It was not looking good, but he wanted to play so bad. He’s going to have a memory for the rest of his life. They hit three or four good hits, and that is what cost us the game. Other than that, it wasn’t anything that we did wrong.”
PHOTOS (Top) Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Brody Collin (1) welcomes home teammate Brady Davis after Davis crosses the plate during their team’s Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday. (Middle) Marcellus pitcher Cale Hackenburg makes his move toward the plate during his team’s Semifinal victory.