Jenison Rolling Through Hot Streak, Rising in Rankings as Playoffs Approach
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
May 21, 2025
JENISON – During the earliest beginnings of this season, Jenison baseball coach Chris Ter Vree noticed certain aspects of his team were lacking.
Although overflowing with talent and buoyed by the return of five key seniors from last year’s 32-win team, improvements would be needed in order for the Wildcats to achieve their desired success.
“We've made some huge strides as a group,” Ter Vree said. “We knew this was going to be a very talented group, but once we got into the early part of the season we saw some areas that we had to get better at and we got a lot better at them.
“That has allowed us to be successful. It’s watching them interact like they do and it's watching them fight back down four runs to a very good Byron Center team (Monday night) and not give up.”
The Wildcats (24-5-1) have emerged as one of the hottest teams in the state, as evident by their winning 14 of their last 15 games and jumping up to No. 6 in the Division 1 rankings.
They clinched at least a share of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green title Monday by defeating No. 16 Byron Center 4-0 in the first game of the doubleheader. The conference crown is Jenison’s first since winning the O-K Black seven years ago.
“It's just an exceptional group of guys who enjoy playing the game of baseball with each other,” Ter Vree said. “And just being a coach of a group of guys like this is so much fun and so enjoyable. Just to watch them enjoy the game.”
A superb pitching staff, led by senior Case Bosch, has helped the Wildcats keep opposing teams in check. The 6-foot-5 lefthander has committed to Coastal Carolina.
“He’s fun to watch on the mound, and I’ve coached him for four years so it’s sad to think this journey with him is almost done,” Ter Vree said. “His composure is fantastic, and you can’t rattle him. He throws so many pitches for strikes, and he is a smart guy. He calls his own pitches and we don’t allow a lot of people to do that. We are very fortunate to have, I think, the best pitcher in the state on our staff.”
Junior hurler Ethan Lenzo has exceeded expectations and has been one of the “biggest surprises” on the team, according to Ter Vree. The pitching staff also includes seniors AJ Park, Ben Slagter and Braydon Hilaski, and juniors Parker Felgner and Kelson Swainston.
Junior Pierce Ginzer also has pitched and batted well since coming back from a hamstring injury.
“We have a lot of guys who have done a really good job of coming in and pounding the strike zone,” Ter Vree said. “We are very fortunate to have a very strong pitching group, and we’re thankful for that.
“We’ve also been really good at the plate. Up and down the lineup, we just have a really solid group of guys.”
Park, a Davenport commit who has delivered timely hitting, believed this year’s team could be special.
“We had our five seniors returning, and we had the expectation of being a winning program,” Park said. “We had a lot of juniors coming up who we knew had talent, and we hoped that they could carry it on and play the roles they had, and it’s been going well.
“Pitching has been strong for us, and I think over the last three weeks we’ve really picked it up and been playing some pretty good ball. We've been hitting the ball a lot more consistently up and down our lineup, and that has helped out a lot.”
The Wildcats have been especially dominant on the road, winning six in a row.
“We love playing at home, but it doesn’t faze our guys at all when we go on the road,” Ter Vree said. “We like to have the other crowd be a little loud, and we also like to show people what we are capable of. We like being challenged by that.”
Ter Vree said he had shied away from setting goals for this season, but would like nothing better than to win the conference outright.
A victory in either a resumed game against Byron Center on Thursday (currently tied 4-4 in the seventh inning after a late Jenison rally) or the following meeting will give the Wildcats the title outright.
“One thing we’ve gone away from is setting up goals, just because sometimes it's good to do and sometimes not good to do,” Ter Vree said. “But Monday night winning that first game did give us the opportunity to check off one of those boxes that we talked about at the beginning of the year. We knew this was going to be a good conference to be a part of, and we knew Byron Center was probably going to be the team that was returning a lot of starters and coached extremely well.
“We knew it would come down to that last series and it was good to get that first one out of the way knowing that no matter what happens these next two games, we have a share of the O-K Green. We’re happy about that, but we don’t like sharing things so we're definitely looking to win one of the next two games so this can be ours because this group of guys definitely deserves it.”
Jenison begins the postseason next week against Holland West Ottawa. And while the team hopes to make a deep run, Ter Vree said the outcome won’t define the season.
“We want to win a District title and make a run, but it’s not going to make or break the season,” Ter Vree said. “We’re just trying to continue to have a great season, but it’s not going to write the story of this team. They’ve already written their story, and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”
The Wildcats suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss to Hudsonville in last year’s District Final, and a potential rematch against the Eagles is expected.
“I think we’re ready (for the playoffs),” Park said. “We know who we’re playing, and we’re looking to play them (Hudsonville) in the Finals. Last year we lost 1-0, but we’re coming back to see what we can do.”
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) Jenison, including pitcher Brayden Hilaski, catcher Vince Fantin, coach Chris Ter Vree and Case Bosch (20), huddles on the pitching mound during a game this season. (Middle) AJ Park watches one of his drives as his teammates also follow the action from the dugout. (Below) Pierce Ginzer waits for the next pitch. (Photos courtesy of the Jenison baseball program.)
Forest Hills Eastern, GR Christian Set Up all-Grand Rapids-area D2 Final
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 16, 2022
EAST LANSING – As much as he tried to keep it out of his mind, it became nearly impossible for Ada Forest Hills Eastern senior pitcher Jacob Pallo to do so late in his team’s Division 2 Semifinal against Goodrich.
Pallo was four outs away from a no-hitter Thursday, but then a bloop single with two outs in the sixth ended that hope of him making history.
“A little bit,” Pallo said when asked if he had to compose himself after the no-hitter was broken up. “But I just tried to keep it out of my mind as much as I could.”
Pallo might not have done something historic, but he did something extraordinary for his team and set up another historic opportunity. His 6 2/3 shutout innings helped lead No. 1 Forest Hills Eastern to a 6-0 win over No. 4 Goodrich and its first trip to an MHSAA Finals championship game.
It was the type of game where scoring first seemed more important than usual, given Pallo (9-0, 0.95 ERA, 79 K, 12 BB going into the game) was going up against Goodrich ace Noah Keller (12-0, 141 K, 14 BB), who had given up just one earned run all year.
But the Hawks (38-4) put pressure on Goodrich’s defense with its bunt game and got some timely hits to give Pallo a lead.
“Keller is a helluva pitcher, and we just had to figure out how to manufacture stuff,” Forest Hills Eastern coach Ian Hearn said. “He’s a winner. We had a couple of situations where we thought the bunt could work, and we moved some runners over. Of course, after you move runners over, you still have to get a key hit. We were able to get a couple of those.”
Forest Hills Eastern struck first on an RBI single by senior Brian Messing, who hit a grounder just past a drawn-in infield to score pinch-runner Walter Brockie from third base and make it 1-0.
Following a leadoff single by senior Leo Hearn, Brockie had ended up reaching third base after a successful sacrifice bunt by junior Mac DenBraber. Brockie rounded second base and beat the throw to third as the Goodrich third baseman was racing back to the bag after trying to field the bunt.
Forest Hills Eastern took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by senior Evan Parks, who brought home senior Caleb Kuiper after he reached second on two Goodrich errors. The Hawks then plated another run in the fourth inning on a two-out single by senior Collin Fridsma, who scored to make it 3-0.
After Liford broke up Pallo’s no-hit bid in the sixth, Keller singled to put runners on first and second for the Martians. But Pallo got out of the jam with a strikeout to preserve a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Forest Hills Eastern added three insurance runs. Following a leadoff double by Messing and a sacrifice bunt, freshman Brendan Thompson singled home Messing to make it 4-0 Hawks. A bunt single by Fridsma advanced Thompson to third, and Forest Hills Eastern then went up 5-0 on a successful squeeze bunt by Kuiper. Parks then followed it up with an RBI single to give Forest Hills Eastern a 6-0 lead.
Pallo finished with nine strikeouts and three walks in improving to 10-0 on the year.
Keller allowed five earned runs and struck out nine for Goodrich (37-3), which committed three errors.
“It’s hard to win a game when you don’t score any runs,” Goodrich head coach Bob Foreback said. “Their kid threw a good game. We had hard-hit shots early in the game right at guys, and that made the difference. Whoever had the lead early on was probably going to win this game.”
Grand Rapids Christian 9, Grosse Ile 1
Hot bats carried Grand Rapids Christian to East Lansing and the Division 2 Semifinals, so it was fitting they carried the Eagles again once there.
Entering the contest with 49 runs over five previous tournament games, Grand Rapids Christian added nine more on 17 hits.
Junior Ty Uchman went 3-for-4 with three RBI, junior Kyle Remington had three hits and senior Nathan Hedlund added two hits and two RBI to lead Grand Rapids Christian (27-8).
“We’ve been on a hot streak lately,” Uchman said. “There’s energy and when we have that, we can do a lot of good things. That’s really helped us.”
Grand Rapids Christian broke through in the top of the third inning, scoring a pair of runs to grab a 2-0 lead. Remington led off the inning with a double, and then went to third when sophomore Jackson Isaacs reached second on a throwing error. Remington then scored on an RBI single to center by Uchman, and Isaacs scored on a fielder’s choice groundout from Hedlund.
Grosse Ile broke through in the fourth inning, cutting its deficit to 2-1 on an RBI single to center by senior William Lowery, who plated junior Cannon Kawadri after Kawadri hit a one-out double to the gap in left-center.
But the Eagles essentially put the game away with a big rally in the sixth inning, scoring seven runs on nine hits. The first came on an RBI triple over the centerfielder’s head by junior Josh Winkle, and then sophomore Cannon Paul scored Winkle with an RBI single to make it 4-1 Grand Rapids Christian.
Senior Alec Koval and Uchman followed with two-run doubles, and Hedlund hit an RBI single, to make it 9-1 Eagles.
“I think we were having good at-bats, and then we all of a sudden started to find some holes and got a little momentum going throughout that inning,” Grand Rapids Christian coach Brent Gates said. “It was nice getting those runs later in the game, for sure.”
The offense was more than enough support for Remington, who allowed five hits, struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter in a complete-game win.
Kawadri and senior Tyler Garza each had two hits for Grosse Ile, which finished 23-7.
PHOTOS (Top) Ada Forest Hills Eastern players celebrate during Thursday’s Division 2 Semifinal win over Goodrich. (Middle) Grand Rapids Christian’s Christian Burgess connects on a bunt. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)