Past Close Calls Pay Off Big as Hartland Goes Extras to Clinch Comeback Win
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2025
EAST LANSING – The Hartland baseball had been accustomed to playing in close games throughout the MHSAA Tournament.
So when Saturday’s Division 1 Final against Macomb Dakota went to extra innings, the Eagles weren’t fazed by the moment.
Hartland pulled out a dramatic 5-3 victory in nine innings in a game that lasted nearly three hours.
The Eagles clinched their first Final since 2015 by scoring two runs in the top of the ninth.
Hartland won four straight games by one run during this playoff run and also won by two runs in the Semifinal against Grosse Pointe South.
“The close games definitely helped us with our mindset,” said junior Logan Randall, who pitched the final four innings and allowed only one earned run and two hits.
“Whenever times came tough during this game, we all knew what to do because we’ve been used to it. It’s happened five games in a row. We adapted and knew that anything could happen. Every playoff game had been back and forth, and we knew we could come out on top if we gave it our all.”
Hartland coach Brad Guenther said his team wasn’t always good at eking out the tight ones during the season.
“I’m super proud of them, but it’s something that wasn't our strength through the middle of the year,” he said. “We lost a lot of close games with a lot of new guys playing, but being in tough spots where we had to get out of jams kind of put us on this run and catapulted us.
“We gave up eight runs in seven games, and there were a lot of jams that they were in so we had to be good in those moments. We failed a lot in those moments too, but we were able to respond and execute when we needed to.”
Hartland (28-15-1) trailed 2-0 after the first inning, but rallied to tie it in the third.
In the top of the ninth, senior Michael Zielinksi laced a single to right field that was misplayed and allowed the go-ahead run to score.
“I was just trying to do my job,” Zielinksi said. “I was expecting to go up there and lay a bunt down, but he let me swing away and I was seeing the ball well all day. I got the barrel to it and hit it to right field, and the guy made a little mistake and we capitalized on it.”
Senior Roman Forcia followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Eagles a two-run lead.
“We knew they were a good team, and we knew they were going to come out strong and they did,” Zielinski said. “We had faith in each other, and everyone in that dugout knew we were going to find a way and we did.”
Both teams had opportunities to score in the sixth inning, but the score remained tied after both teams came up empty.
Hartland took a brief lead in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Randall, but the Cougars responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Jadon Ford to even it at 3-3.
“It’s pretty surreal right now,” Guenther said. “A lot of guys in our dugout were probably the only ones who really thought we had a chance to make a run and we could win these games like this. We were not the favorites along the way, but coming together and doing something special like that – these guys will never forget that.”
Top-ranked Dakota (36-7-1), which was searching for its first Finals championship, was plagued by missed opportunities and four errors.
“Both teams kept fighting, and both teams played hard,” Cougars coach Angelo Plouffe said. “They got a few more hits and we made a few more mistakes than they did, and it's the name of the game right there.
“I think they deserved it. They did it when they needed to and we didn’t, but I’m very proud of my guys and all my seniors because they got us here.”
PHOTOS (Top) Hartland’s Michael Zielinski, sliding, is called safe at home during his team’s ninth-inning rally Saturday. (Middle) Eagles players celebrate after Max Rector (2) scores.
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.