Northville Slugger Makes Memorable Marks on Way to Pro Baseball Stardom
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 16, 2026
Dante’ Nori capped his high school baseball career in 2024 by leading Northville to the Division 1 championship – and cementing himself in the record book for a handful of individual accomplishments.
He finished his four seasons fourth all-time with 120 walks, fifth with 21 triples and 10th with 193 runs scored, plus is listed twice for single-season triples with a high of eight as a junior.
Nori was drafted in the first round of the 2024 Major League Baseball draft by the Philadelphia Phillies and reached Class AA last season.
See below for several recently-added listings to the baseball record book, and click the heading to see the record book in full. Several more applications have been received and are in the process of being confirmed.
Baseball
A pair of Montague standouts made the records during the 2023 season . Then-senior Nick Moss was added for hitting safely in 13 straight at bats from May 6-16, and classmate Kade Johnson made the single-season triples list with seven. Moss is slated to play next at Milligan in Tennessee.
Niles Brandywine basketball standout Jamier Palmer made the record book as a junior in 2023 with 55 stolen bases, stole 52 a year later, and finished his four-year career with 177 (tied for third-most) among four record book career listings – he also had 154 runs, 26 times hit by pitches and a .464 average over 109 games. He was joined by senior Owen Hulett, who is listed for a 1.13 career ERA over three seasons. Hulett played at Lake Michigan College, and Palmer played baseball and basketball at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
White Cloud’s Alex Cruzan made getting hit by pitches a key way to get on base during his three-season varsity career that ended in 2023. He was twice added for the HBPs in a game as a senior and for 16 total that spring – plus 42 for his career, which ranks 12th all-time.
Alex Fenkell finished his Birmingham Groves career in 2022 on the career batting average list at .459 and also on the single-season triples list with eight as a junior. Those eight contributed to Groves making the team triples list with 20 that season, and they also stole 12 bases in a game that spring. Fenkell is continuing at Kalamazoo College.
Portage Northern was menacing on the basepaths during the 2023 season, stealing 182 bases over 32 games. That total tied for 11th-most for one season.
Thomas Fox had seven hits last season as a junior in 2023, but led Johannesburg-Lewiston with a .644 on-base percentage in part thanks to being hit by 35 pitches over 33 games. That set a single-season MHSAA record in the category, and he also was listed four times for three HBPs in one game – including in both halves of a doubleheader.
Farmington earned six total entries for stolen bases in 2024, led by then-senior Owen Matteson’s two for stealing six in one game and 56 total. Farmington also made the team record book with 16 stolen bases in a game twice and 170 for the season over 34 games. Matteson is continuing his career at Jackson College.
Algonac standout Josh Kasner finished his four-year varsity career in 2024 on the career wins list with a 33-5 record, on the career ERA list at 1.06 and on the career strikeouts list with 449 over 257 1/3 innings pitched. He appears on the single-season ERA list three times including with a career-best 0.59 as a senior, and was joined that season by teammate Bryce Simpson at 0.93. Teammate Cole Thaler also was added for being hit by three pitches in one game that spring. Kasner plays at Michigan, Simpson graduated in 2025 at plays at Wayne State and Thaler is a senior this school year. Algonac as a team also was added for a 37-4 record, 352 strikeouts and 1.47 ERA during the 2023 season.
Rudyard earned its first team record book entry on May 25, 2021, when the team stole 15 bases in a 7-4 win over Pickford. Seven players contributed to the total, which is tied for 15th all-time for a single game.
More than a half-century later, one of the most magnificent pitchers’ duels has taken its place in the record book. On June 6, 1969, Hamtramck St. Ladislaus defeated Detroit St. Hedwig 1-0 in 14 innings to decide a Catholic High School League championship at Tiger Stadium. Doug Konieczny struck out 28 for St. Ladislaus – that total ranking fourth all-time – and St. Hedwig’s Carey Wyler struck out 22. Wyler, a senior that season, also made the single-season ERA list with a 0.15 across 62 innings. Konieczny went on to play at St. Clair County Community College and was drafted by both the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros, the latter with the third overall pick in the 1971. He played four seasons with Houston.
Conor Rentfrow earned Brooklyn Columbia Central’s second baseball record book listing with 19 doubles in 2024. He’s a senior and committed to Taylor (Indiana).
Holt’s Mitchell Dubois became his program’s latest to reach the record book, pitching to a 0.69 ERA in 2024 over 61 1/3 innings. He graduated last spring and is playing at Spring Arbor.
Kingsley’s Garrett Martz found an additional way to pump up his on-base percentage as a junior in 2024. In addition to hitting .326, Martz was hit by pitches 19 times, which is tied for 15th-most for a single-season.
East Jordan’s Korbyn Russell finished his three-season varsity career this spring with six record book listings including some of the highest strikeout-per-game averages of all time. He had a 0.34 ERA as a senior and 1.14 ERA for his career, striking out 15.6 batters per game both as a junior and senior. He totaled 392 strikeouts over his three seasons and finished with an average of 13.9 strikeouts per game for his career, which ranks third all-time. He’ll continue his career at Aquinas.
Paw Paw earned its second and third listings in 2024 for being hit by pitch, on the team list with 49 over 35 games and with senior Jacob Major on the individual list with 30 over four seasons. Teammate Jake Hindenach made the single-season triples list with eight. Major is continuing at Lake Michigan College, and Hindenach at Kellogg Community College.
Frankfort’s Rylan Lewis was added for eight triples over 32 games in 2024 as a sophomore.
Millington made the team record book lists two straight seasons for stolen bases, swiping 169 over 31 games in 2024 and 170 over 40 games in 2023. Then-junior Truk Terbush made the individual list with 50 steals in 2023 and is continuing at Delta College.
Onsted’s Alex Schmidt tied for the 10th-most times being hit by a pitch last season, with 21 over 34 games as a senior in 2024.
Powers North Central’s Adrian Mercier completed a four-year varsity career in 2024 among the leaders in career batting average at .522, which ranks ninth. His .619 hit during his junior season, which continues to rank 10th all-time. He’s playing at Lakeland in Wisconsin.
Daniel Robinson had 76 hits for Grosse Pointe North in 2015, at the time ranking fifth and still tied for ninth-most all-time. A senior that season, he went on to play at Central Michigan and two seasons with Los Angeles Dodgers minor-league affiliates.
Schoolcraft’s Jacob Taylor finished sophomore year in 2024 tying for the fifth-most times hit by pitch during a season – 24 over 39 games. Now a senior, he will continue at Aquinas.
Flint Powers Catholic won the Division 2 championship in 2024 in part on the arm of Grant Garman, who capped a four-year varsity career with nine record book listings. He was 14-0 as a senior to make the single-season wins list and finished tied for fourth on the career wins list with 45. His 0.71 career ERA ranks fifth, and his 446 strikeouts over 284 innings rank 16th. He played at Oakland and will continue at Hawaii.
Fran Love earned Ann Arbor Greenhills’ first record book listing in this sport with a 0.81 ERA during the 2024 season, when he finished 7-1. He graduated last spring and plays at Alma College.
Ryan Zweng capped his four-year varsity career at Union City in 2024 on four career lists, with 175 hits, 159 runs, 131 RBI and 27 times hit by pitch over 134 games. He made the Division 3 all-state first team in 2024, his school’s first first-team all-state selection since 2000.
Bridgman’s Alec MacMartin added 26 more hit-by-pitches as a senior in 2024 for this third single-season listing in that category – and finished with a record 83 over three varsity seasons.
Ottawa Lake Whiteford ranked 13th for strikeouts as a team during the 2024 season. The Bobcats fanned 314 over 36 games.
Watervliet recent run of success has included a lot of success running the base paths, as the team was added for 222 stolen bases during its Division 3 championship season in 2024 and 208 stolen bases in 2023, with Wyatt Epple (121) and Chase Tremblay (112) both added to the individual stolen base career list for their four-year runs ending that title-winning spring. Epple also was added for 183 career hits, 182 career runs, 48 career doubles and 12 career triples. Travis Bolin was added for 13 career triples and 106 career stolen bases from 2010-13, which also included Watervliet as a team making the stolen bases list again with 214 in 2012. Epple is playing at Davenport, and Bolin played there as well.
Three Rivers’ Gabe Young made the single-game stolen bases list with five against Coldwater last April 17. He’s currently a junior. Plainwell’s Andrew Hampton also made the single-game stolen bases list, with seven against Sturgis on April 29 to tie for third-most in one game. He’s a senior. Jadn’ McGowen made the single-game stolen bases list for Wyandotte Roosevelt with six against Plymouth Christian Academy on April 4. He was a senior and is continuing at Madonna. Haslett’s Ayden Smith also was added for five stolen bases in his team’s win over Jackson Northwest on May 15. Smith has committed to continue at Henry Ford College after this upcoming season.
Stockbridge’s Jayden Pilch tied for third on the single game hit-by-pitch list, getting hit by three against Reading on May 1. The then-senior also made the single-season list with 21 HBPs over 31 games.
Richland Gull Lake ranked fourth all-time last spring in being hit by pitches 82 times. The Blue Devils finished 31-7.
Bangor’s Jaret McCoy stole 62 bases in 63 attempts in 2025 to tie for 10th-most steals. He’s a junior this school year. Wyoming’s Donnie Petree also made the single-season steals list last spring with 49 to cap his career.
Kingston’s Isaiah Helton’s dominance on the mound resulted in some of the most impressive strikeout numbers in MHSAA history. He posted 456 strikeouts in 222 1/3 innings from 2021-24, making the career total strikeouts list but also the career strikeouts per game list at 14.4. He made the single-season strikeouts per game list as both a junior (15.95) and senior (16.15).
Napoleon’s Collin Bradley completed his four-year varsity career in 2019 all over the record book on the way to finishing with a 36-6 career pitching record. He had eight shutouts over his career, including three no-hitters as a senior, and made ERA lists at 0.23 as a senior and 1.59 for his career. He also totaled 20 strikeouts in a seven-inning game, 15.8 per game as a senior, and 364 for his career. He went on to play at Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State. Younger brother Grant Bradley earned seven record book listings during his career from 2021-24, including for eight shutouts, five no-hitters, a career 1.61 ERA and 845 strikeouts over 226 2/3 innings pitched. Grant Bradley is continuing at Michigan.
Hudsonville batters were hit by pitches 99 times over 41 games last spring, the second-highest total in MHSAA baseball history. Braylon Miller made the individual list with 16; he’s a senior this school year.
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Grady Pieratt earned nine record book listings over his four seasons and 149 games ending last spring, including a few of the highest in their respective categories. He finished third in career runs with 238, sixth in career hits at 210, second in career stolen bases with 178, and tied for 11th with 17 career triples, including 11 (tying for sixth-most for a season) as a senior. His 60 stolen bases as a junior tied for 12th on that list. Teammate Connor Stempky was added for 158 career runs, 140 career RBI and 98 career walks from 2021-24, and Aidan Halliday was added for 141 career RBI also from 2021-24. Pieratt is playing at Alma College, and Halliday plays football at Northwood.
Benji Allen finished his Maple City Glen Lake career last spring with 11 record book listings including for a .500 career average, 150 career runs scored, 48 times hit by pitch (ranking seventh) and a career ERA of 1.63. He was joined by teammate Cooper Bufalini, who was added for 44 times hit by pitch and a 1.10 career ERA; both played from 2022-25. Peter Gelsinger was added for being hit by pitches 33 times during the same career tenure, while Isaac Hlavka was added for a 0.99 ERA this past season. Glen Lake also was added several times for team record categories, and coach Kris Herman was added to the all-time wins list with a record of 504-242-8 since 2005. Allen is playing football at Grand Valley State.
PHOTO Northville’s Dante Nori (6) turns on a pitch during his team’s 2024 Division 1 championship game win over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice.
Despite Annual Early-Season Challenges, Northern Teams Carve Space Among Contenders
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
June 4, 2025
It may be 35 years later, but whenever Brian Endres touches base with old Traverse City St. Francis baseball teammates, the conversations invariably turn to one unpleasant topic.
They still wonder how they survived Michigan's brutal early spring ballgames played in temperatures which barely crept over the freezing mark, while wearing a sweatshirt beneath their uniforms offered little help or when a hitter prayed he wouldn't take a fastball off the handle of his bat.
They remember games played in a cold rain, dodging swirling snowflakes and trying to survive blustery, bone-chilling winds.
It's a wonder, the players reminisce now, how they ever shivered through baseball in northern Michigan in April.
"You just never knew about the weather," said Endres, a senior outfielder on the 1990 Traverse City St. Francis team that defeated Climax-Scotts 7-6 to win the Class D title. "You never knew what you'd have to deal with. You just took note of it and played; it was part of the game. You would get to a game and it'd be pouring rain, but you played because it was tough to find a day to squeeze in a game. It was always tough to get in a flow."
Getting in a flow of a northern Michigan baseball season is a slow process which begins with the official start of practice in gyms – this season kicking off March 10.
While teams in southern Michigan will enjoy a handful of days when they can escape outside to practice, teams in the northern part of the state are confined to limited drills in often undersized gymnasiums. It's not uncommon, coaches say, that the first time getting outside coincides with the team's opening game.
Until teams finally step on a baseball field, coaches prioritize fundamentals, utilize drop-down indoor batting cages, round pitching arms into shape, roll ground balls in carpeted school hallways, conduct Wiffle ball home run derbies and even teach seminars on how to score a baseball game just to break up the monotony. Some coaches even bring umpires into the gym during practices to help players sharpen their batting eyes.
Coaches say finding a variety of work to keep ballplayers interested after they've chased Wiffle around a gymnasium for a month is an annual challenge.
"We maximize every space," current St. Francis coach Tom Passinault said. "You're in small gyms so you have to be creative. But it's tough."
Maple City Glen Lake coach Kris Herman, who recently won his 500th game, has witnessed high school baseball from both a downstate perspective and from coaching in the north. A former assistant for legendary Blissfield coach Larry Tuttle, Herman said he's had teams which can't get outside for the first eight weeks of the season. Herman recalls one season when the team didn't open until May 1 and a game where the team played in rain, sun and snow – at the same time. His team has been snowed out as late as May 10.
Herman said being stuck in a gym when southern teams have already been outside gaining valuable work in for several weeks can get old.
"I tell people we are the best bunt-scrimmage team in America," Herman said. "Everyone is used to it, but we still grumble. Nobody wants to play an outdoor sport indoors. What you want is for things to be in place for when there is good weather."
Former St. Francis coach Craig Bauer, who brought baseball to that school in 1979 then won that Class D title 11 years later, said northern coaches have the same goals and priorities as southern Michigan coaches, but those ideas must be implemented along a different timeline. He said northern teams often have a couple of credible pitchers, but can use inside time to find up 4-6 more arms. Batting cages and hitting machines are helpful, but because of a hitter's timing, can only mimic live pitching to a certain level.
The only true solution is getting outside, which doesn't happen until mid-April – and that's with a seasonable spring.
"The weather is continually a factor. It's usually well into April when you're getting out for the first time," Bauer said. "Sometimes your opening game is the first time you've got outside. But you get into a season and make do."
It's even worse for the smattering of Upper Peninsula teams. Rudyard coach Billy Mitchell, the 2023 Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year, said it's a major challenge trying to field a program north of the Mackinac Bridge. In fact, it may sound crazy, but when it comes to besting horrible weather, ignorance is bliss, Mitchell said.
"Weather plays a big factor," he said. "But the players don't know any different. They know Rudyard wants to play the best competition, and we have to travel to do it. A lot of northern schools, whether it's just the school (philosophy) or the administration, they don't play a lot of games. We try to load up on games."
With this year's 44th MHSAA Tournament underway – and set to conclude June 14 at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium – the question arises how northern Michigan teams have fared since the first in 1971. If you define "northern" schools as ones located north of the east/west M-55 corridor from Manistee in the west through Cadillac to Tawas City in the east, only four schools – Cheboygan Catholic Central (1973-74), Mesick (1982), Traverse City St. Francis (1990) and Hillman (1992, 1994, 1997)) – have won MHSAA Finals championships.
Granted, there have been myriad near-misses by northern teams such as the 1981 Mesick team which lost 1-0 to Reading in the Class D Final, or the 2017 and 2021 Traverse City St. Francis clubs that lost in Division 3 championship games. Frankfort finished second in Class D in 1978 and 1979, losing those two Finals 4-1 and 4-3, respectively. Gaylord St. Mary was the Class D runner-up in 1988 and 1989.
Considering that tournament history, a natural question arises as to whether northern teams are at a disadvantage, even though the tournament doesn't start until late May. Coaches don't necessarily have a definitive answer, but most believe their programs have caught up to the rest of the state in terms of games by District time.
Numbers bear that out. For instance, according to the May 14 MHSBCA poll, the top eight ranked teams in Division 1 have played an average of 28 games while the same number of ranked Division 2 teams have averaged 24. The seven Division 3 and 4 schools considered "northern" schools ranked in the polls have averaged 23 games this season.
While competition and a challenging schedule are factors in postseason success, coaches believe they're on par with downstate schools by June 1.
"By May we're playing good baseball, we can compete with teams downstate," Herman said. "(The MHSAA Semifinals) is absolutely a goal, and you should be shooting for the ultimate goal. But if you don't make it, you're still satisfied by how far you got. We're got environmental things to work around, but we're starting to build programs up here and people are enthusiastic about it."
Passinault said scheduling plays a major factor. To compensate for the weather, St. Francis travels south to Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Lansing and even Detroit for games. When the weather improves, the schedule changes to playing teams closer to Traverse City.
"We're caught up by then," said Passinault, whose team once won 53 consecutive Lake Michigan Conference games. "I've never heard anyone up here say we can't win."
Bauer and former Mesick coach James Linna say winning a championship can come down to a single, Cinderella-type season where all the chips fall into place. Considering that many northern schools are among the smallest in the state, most of the programs get only a single, once-in-a-generation shot at a championship.
For instance, Bauer recalls the 1990 team getting a couple of key transfers, a freshman and a junior who had played in southern Michigan and who became the starting shortstop and second baseman. The team relied on a deep bench, benefitted from playing only two games against Class C and D teams, and had a powerful lineup that combined to hit nearly .350 for the season while scoring a combined 14 runs across the Semifinal and Final games.
"All the cards fell together," Bauer said.
Linna, now 90 years old, actually had two once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. The 1981 Mesick club lost in the Finals before going 30-0-1 with a tie against Frankfort en route to the Class D championship the next season.
"We had pretty decent weather that year and once it was warm, it was so much easier to play by late April," said Linna, who coached from 1967-98. "But you've still got to have the players to win. We had kids who wanted to play and win, and I wasn't going to hold them back.
"But we just don't have the same weather that the teams in the south have, and that makes for a difficult time. Put it this way: Upper Michigan teams have to deal with disadvantages more than southern teams. They definitely have an advantage, but we hang in there."
Like Traverse City St. Francis, Mitchell said Rudyard will travel south early to play games, a choice that ultimately helps a program at tournament time. Rudyard plays at places such as Mount Pleasant, Alpena, Gaylord and Cheboygan – basically utilizing the I-75 corridor – to strengthen its schedule. That's much of what Mitchell credits for four District and two Regional titles and two Semifinals trips since 2020.
"It's like being a college team," he said. "You go south early and play, come back home to practice, then go south again. People look at us and see an Upper Peninsula team, but our goal is to make it to Michigan State.
"Just because we're a U.P. team, that doesn't hold us back."
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City St. Francis players hold up a banner after clinching the 1990 Class D baseball title at Battle Creek’s Bailey Park. (2) Maple City Glen Lake players gather around coach Kris Herman to celebrate his 400th victory during the 2022 season. (3) Rudyard’s Eli Sprague, left, fist-bumps his first-base coach during a 2023 Division 4 Semifinal. (4) The Mesick baseball team won the 1982 Class D title. (St. Francis and Glen Lake photos are courtesy of those respective programs’ past/current coaches.)