D4 Baseball: Decatur Strikes Late
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 15, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Decatur baseball coach Ben Botti knew from experience his team likely would need to “dodge a bullet” to have a chance to win this season’s MHSAA Division 4 championship.
That moment came in Friday’s Semifinal against Muskegon Catholic Central. And senior shortstop Theo Rufo responded by firing a shot of his own.
The No. 2-ranked Raiders trailed by a run going into the top of the seventh inning when Rufo hit a drive nearly to the wall in left-centerfield. He arrived at third base for a triple, but the throw behind him sailed into MCC’s dugout, allowing Rufo to score the go-ahead run.
And that’s all Decatur ace J.T. Kawaski needed to finish a 3-2 win and get Decatur to its first MHSAA championship game since winning back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003.
“Our coach said the two times he did win state, they had to dodge a bullet. We knew if we wanted to make it that far, we haven’t dodged a bullet yet,” Rufo said. “We knew coming in we had it (in us) because we’ve come back a couple times this season. So we weren’t down on ourselves. We knew we could come back.”
Decatur (35-6) will face top-ranked Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Raiders had cruised through the playoffs until Friday, winning the last three games by a combined score of 23-5. But MCC put a run up in both the second and third innings, and led 2-1 heading into Decatur’s final at bats.
Freshman Joby Kawaski opened the seventh with a walk, then scored when Rufo turned on a fastball on the inner half of the plate. J.T. Kawaski got MCC 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
“We thought we had it in the bag after that,” Rufo said of his run. “We knew we could shut it down with J.T. our ace on the mound.”
Junior outfielder T.J. Stambeck also had two hits and an RBI for Decatur, and Kawaski gave up only two hits and struck out four.
MCC freshman Nick Holt also threw a complete game, striking out six and giving up just one earned run. He had one of two hits for the Crusaders (26-9). Click for a full box score.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett 15, Rudyard 3
The reigning champion University Liggett (25-3) scored 10 runs in the third inning to break open a game that lasted only five innings.
Junior Connor Fanton was one of four Knights to drive in at least two runs, and he also scored twice and had two hits while throwing all five innings on the mound and striking out nine. Junior outfielder Kevin Allen hit a three-run homer during the big rally.
Rudyard (20-17) got one hit each from five batters and RBI from junior first baseman Justin Kruger and senior third baseman Kyle Roe. Click for a full box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) Decatur senior J.T. Kawaski drives a ball during Friday's Semifinal win over Muskegon Catholic Central. (Middle) University Liggett junior Connor Fannon pitched all five innings and got the win over Rudyard in his team's Semifinal.
Hackett Catholic Prep Closes Spring with Dream Finish
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 19, 2021
EAST LANSING – Stephen Kwapis is headed off to Notre Dame next season to play baseball at his dream school.
The Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep senior captain couldn’t leave high school without helping make another dream come true.
The Irish built an early lead and never looked back en route to defeating Marine City Cardinal Mooney 9-2 in Saturday’s Division 4 Final at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
“It’s unreal,” said a wide-eyed and giddy Kwapis, who went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for my whole life, and for it to actually happen ... it hasn’t hit me yet, honestly. I can’t believe that just happened.”
It was the first Finals win in school history for Hackett baseball, which reached the championship game for the first time.
Hackett (31-9) scored at least one run in each of the first four innings and received stellar pitching from senior Sam Shea and junior reliever Brenden Collins.
“It’s surreal to watch these boys accomplish this,” Irish first-year coach Smiley Verduzco said. “They worked so hard, and it’s all about the boys. We’ve had some really tough games, and this was a really good baseball team that we beat. To be able to do this is very special for these young men.”
Shea and Collins combined to limit Mooney to only four hits while striking out seven.
“They’ve been good all year, and to step on this stage and to come through like that is very special,” Verduzco said.
Shea wasn’t slated to pitch in the Final after starting the Semifinal. However, the lineup’s big first inning Friday against Glen Lake allowed him to return after throwing only 23 pitches.
“I’m thankful that I was able to pitch in the last game because I didn’t think that would happen,” Shea said. “It was unbelievable to pitch in the championship game, and it was super important to get those early runs so we could calm down and play our usual baseball.”
Kwapis had a strong belief in his team’s ability to make a postseason run. He said it was apparent early due to the tight-knit bond.
“I knew the brotherhood that this team had, and that’s what made this team so special,” he said. “We all came together at the beginning of the year, and I just knew by the way we played that we could make it happen.”
Hackett’s bats were pivotal throughout the tournament, scoring 71 runs over its seven postseason games.
Isaac Backman also had two hits for Hackett, while Eli Backman and Steven Widger each had a hit and two RBI.
The Irish went ahead 2-0 in the first inning after a Kwapis RBI single and sacrifice fly from Shea.
They extended their lead to 8-1 after four innings.
“They came out hacking,” Mooney coach Mike Rice said. “They were hitting the ball, and we haven’t been squared up like that in a while. We tried our best and gave it our all, but at the end of the day they out-hit us and we made some defensive mistakes.”
Mooney, also making its first Final appearance, committed four errors on the day and left 10 runners on base.
The Cardinals ended the season with a 28-7 overall record.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep players raise their championship trophy Saturday night at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Sam Shea charges hard to make a catch in right field.