D4 Semis: Finalists Seize Opportunities
June 13, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Beal City baseball went viral this week, thanks to a trick play that played a small part in its Regional Final win over top-ranked Muskegon Catholic Central last weekend.
But the Aggies showed again Friday morning that they are nothing if not opportunistic – and fun to watch.
Fakery wasn’t necessary like the hidden-ball trick against MCC that has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube and made national headlines with coach Brad Antcliff and two of his players interviewed on Fox News.
But Beal City had a run before it had a hit against Kalamazoo Christian, stole six bases and took advantage of five errors and getting hit by three pitches on the way to an 11-1, six-inning Division 4 Semifinal win at McLane Baseball Stadium.
“We like to stay aggressive on the base paths and in the batter’s box. We’ve been talking about that all year,” said sophomore shortstop Tucker Gross, who scored two runs and stole three bases. “It’s a lot of fun, being aggressive, not holding back. We’re just being ourselves and having fun.
“The stakes are higher, but we stay true to who we are and play our kind of ball.”
Beal City (36-3), ranked No. 2 entering the tournament, will play Saturday against No. 5 New Lothrop for its first MHSAA title since 2010. The Aggies were runners-up a year ago to Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, a semifinalist in Division 3 this weekend.
Aggies pitcher Ty Rollin did use an ounce of trickery to end Kalamazoo Christian’s opening rally, faking a pick-off attempt to third base in the first inning and wheeling toward first base before catching a runner trying to advance to second. He got that out and struck out the next batter, and it was all Beal City until the Comets scored their lone run in the sixth inning.
The Aggies scored one run in each of the first three innings before adding six in the fourth. In addition to eight hits, they executed a squeeze for one run, plus a double steal and some hit-and-run to move around the bases and earn a comfortable advantage that allowed Antcliff the luxury of pulling his ace after the fourth inning so he can use him again in the championship game.
Only three of Beal City’s runs were earned.
“We’re going to make the other team make plays. The kids played great baseball; they did exactly what we wanted them to do today,” Antcliff said. “We were going to score as quickly as possible and as many as possible, because I’ve got Ty for six (innings Saturday).
Rollin, who threw all eight innings in last season’s one-run Final loss to Liggett, allowed only two hits in four innings Thursday and also scored twice. Reliever Kurt Gross finished the game and knocked in two runs in his only at bat. Senior Ryan Tilmann had two hits and scored three runs.
Junior rightfielder Greg Harris drove in the lone run for Kalamazoo Christian (18-18).
It probably won’t make national news if Beal City finishes this run with the Division 4 title Saturday. But that certainly will be the most memorable moment for the team and community, even if the recent national hype was a fun highlight along the way.
“It’s cool, but the main thing is we’ve gotta stay focused,” Gross said. “We can’t let it get into our heads. We can’t let it become a distraction. We can talk about it a little bit, but that’s all.”
New Lothrop 3, Maple City Glen Lake 1
Both teams playing in the second Division 4 Semifinal were in a similar history-making position – New Lothrop was playing for its first championship game berth ever, and Glen Lake was playing for its first in forever (1984).
The Hornets have had a lot of success in athletics in 2013-14, and maybe some of that savvy rubbed off on sophomore pitcher Cameron Pope. He struck out 11 and gave up only six hits before yielding to junior reliever Grant Steinborn with one out in the seventh inning.
New Lothrop has risen from Quarterfinalist in 2012 to Semifinalist last season, and now has its firt opportunity to climb the last rung on the historical ladder.
“It’s the chemistry. It’s a small school. Everybody has classes with each other. We just all get along and we love playing with each other,” Pope said of why this year’s team became the first baseball finalist.
“It’s tradition. New Lothrop’s a winning school. It’s just what we do.”
Sophomore rightfielder Quentin Taylor scored two of New Lothrop’s runs and drove in the third. He was the only hitter with more than one for the Hornets, who had only six hits total to Glen Lake’s 11.
The Lakers had one last opportunity in the seventh inning. With runners on first and second bases, two drives down the leftfield line fell foul, one by mere inches. One runner would've scored, and the second would've had a shot at tying the game as well. But Steinborn was able to pick up the final two outs without incident.
Senior shortstop Tristan Williams had three hits for Glen Lake and scored the lone run. Senior Thomas Waning was steady on the mound, giving up only the three hits and striking out five.
“There’s nothing we did or didn’t do in terms of mistakes or anything like that. At the end they got two big hits when they needed to get two big hits, and we didn’t get those hits when we needed to have them,” Glen Lake coach Kris Herman said.
“We felt like we had a real opportunity to do good things here, and we’re very disappointed. We said we’d celebrate when the season was over, and we will, but now is not going to be the time because we felt an opportunity got away from us.”
PHOTO: (Top) Beal City’s Carson Salisbury scores as part of a six-run rally in the fourth inning Friday. (Middle) Cameron Pope unloads a pitch in earning the win for New Lothrop.
Senior-Powered Spring Lake Answering Anticipation, Pursuing High Expectations
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 29, 2026
SPRING LAKE – The time is now for the Spring Lake baseball team.
With the return of 11 veteran seniors, the Lakers entered this spring with lofty expectations and an eye on an extended postseason run.
Anticipation has come to fruition in the form of a state ranking and a nearly perfect start.
“Our motto is we are going to worry about next year next year, and we are going to do all we can this year,” Lakers fourth-year coach Bill Core said. “We knew we were going to have a big experienced group coming back, and that's just how the roster folded out. We have a lot of experience, a lot of returners and pretty high expectations.”
Spring Lake, which finished as Division 2 runner-up in 2024 and won a conference title last year for the first time since 2014, is off to an impressive 13-1 start (9-0 in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Black) and has climbed to No. 7 in the latest coaches poll.
Core said the vast number of returners, which includes five players who will play in college next year, has paid early dividends.
“I think that’s been a big difference,” he said. “We’ve played some younger teams that were breaking in sophomores or juniors or new kids, and our guys were ready to go right from the start. It’s been an advantage early on.”
Senior starting pitchers Oliver Smies and Maddux Kipling believe the strong bond among the senior class has been a major factor in the torrid start.
“I think something that’s really important about this team is our team chemistry and the amount of seniors we have on the team,” Smies said. “That alone allows us to have a ton of experience, and I think that's a big reason why we are off to such a hot start. We have been playing good team baseball and complementary baseball with good defense and good offense.”
Added Kipling: “We genuinely like being around each other, and every day we show up ready to get a little better. Our team has a real gritty and energetic identity, and I think that shows in how we compete and support each other.”
Kipling and Smies have been dominant on the mound this season. They haven’t allowed an earned run while combining for 80 strikeouts. Kipling earned a second-team all-state accolade as a junior and is headed to Michigan State next year. Smies will play at Calvin University.
“It starts with our pitching,” Core said. “Any time you are going to make a run, it starts with your pitching and we are pretty lucky, especially with our top two.”
Offensively, the Lakers possess a balanced lineup and boast a .330 batting average.
Senior Owen Smies, who will join his twin brother at Calvin, is hitting a team-best .432 with 13 RBIs. Seniors Alex Strauss (Adrian College) and Max Feltner (Muskegon Community College) are both batting .333 and have combined to score 25 runs.
As a team, Spring Lake has produced eight shutouts and nine wins by run differential.
“We got off to a good start, but we are going to play a lot better competition,” Core said. “This is a good week for us because we play Northview and state-ranked East Grand Rapids. We just picked them up, so we were excited to fill in the week with those two schools.”
Spring Lake is 62-6 over its last 68 games and trying to remain focused on each game as it attempts to erase the disappointment of last year’s early exit from the postseason.
Despite winning 30 games, the Lakers suffered a 3-2 loss to Grand Rapids West Catholic in District play.
“I think there is some motivation there from that loss,” Oliver Smies said. “And I think that loss last year taught us that any team can beat any team, so you have to play your best baseball every single game no matter the opponent.”
Core said last year hasn’t been discussed, but believes it still sits in the back of his players’ minds.
“I think they think about that, but we've had quite a few mercies to start the season, and I said to them that when we get to the tournament it's going to be a one-run game and we are going to have to do the little things to make a difference because we are not going to win 14-0 all the time,” he explained. “We try to keep everyone in the moment.”
Kipling isn’t dwelling on the past – or looking too far ahead.
“As a group we’ve done a great job staying focused on the present and not getting caught up in the past or worrying too much about the future,” Kipling said. “My dad has always told me to focus on what you can control because putting energy into things you can’t control is a waste.
"That mindset has stuck with me, especially on the field. I try to live by ‘one pitch at a time,’ and because of that I haven’t really spent time thinking about last year’s loss. That’s behind us, and we’re just focused on what we can do right now.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Spring Lake baseball coach Bill Core tosses Maddux Kipling his home run ball after a win over Fruitport. (Middle) Kipling pitching at Spring Lake's Hickman Field. (Below) Senior Oliver Smies connects with a pitch. (Photos by Trevor McCue/Grand Haven Tribune.)