Pitcher Saves Best for Team's 1st Final
June 15, 2013
By Andy Sneddon
Special to Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Connor Foley saved his absolute best for last, much to the delight of longtime Bay City Western coach Tim McDonald.
Foley put on a gutsy mound performance Saturday in pitching the Warriors to a 1-0 win over Birmingham Brother Rice in the MHSAA Division 1 Final at C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek.
“Best game I’ve pitched in my life, and I couldn’t have picked a better day to do it,” said Foley, who went the distance in limiting a formidable Rice lineup to six hits while striking out four and walking one. “Every single pitch – if I wanted it on the outside corner, it was going there; if I wanted it on the inside corner, it was there.”
It was the first MHSAA baseball championship for the Warriors and the first for McDonald, who is 564-198-7 in 21 years at the school. He was recently inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
“We wanted to get him his first ring,” Foley said. “He just got inducted into the hall of fame, so we wanted to give him something else to be happy about.”
Western got the game’s only run when senior Grant Bridgewater drew a two-out walk in the top of the sixth inning. Bridgewater, Western’s catcher, gave way to courtesy runner David Fegan, a sophomore, and Fegan was balked by Rice’s Dalton Greyerbiehl to second – the first of two costly Rice miscues in the late innings. On the pitch after the balk, senior Brendan Harrison smacked a solid single to center, and Fegan slid home well ahead of the throw.
The confident Foley did the rest. And, as is the case with any good pitcher, he got some help from his defense.
“Once I got that run, I knew,” he said, “I knew we were getting it.”
Foley allowed a one-out single in the sixth, but the courtesy runner was doubled off of first after a long flyout to center fielder Briton Ott to end the inning.
“Throw to contact,” Foley said of his pitching philosophy. “I’ve got a great ‘D’. I knew to throw to contact and they’d take care of it. Before the game I was telling the guys we’d probably need four or five runs because, you know, I’m pitching. But all we needed was one today. Inexplicable.”
The Warriors also had their ace in the hole, literally, with University of Michigan-bound lefthander Brett Adcock – who pitched the Warriors to a 2-1 Semifinal win over Sterling Heights Stevenson on Friday – warming up in the bullpen.
After Foley surrendered a two-out single to Bobby Cross in the bottom of the seventh, McDonald went to the mound to speak with his pitcher, but he didn’t replace him. The next hitter popped out to end the game.
“(Rice) had a left-handed hitter coming up in a couple batters, but to be honest, I don’t think I could have pulled the plug on Connor,” McDonald said. “He didn’t throw a lot of pitches. He deserved to close out a state championship.
“Adcock gets a lot of attention, (and) he deserves all of it, but Connor Foley’s been equal to the task. He’s a great complement to Brett and anybody who knows Connor will tell you you know exactly what you’re going to get. He is a gutsy kid, he’s confident and he’s got a little swagger to him, maybe, but it’s all about him wanting the ball. He wants the big game.”
And for Western, there were plenty of them this year. Saturday’s win was its 35th consecutive. Rice finished 32-8-1.
“I told the guys last night, if we had to play (Rice) in a seven-game series, we might not win,” McDonald said. “But we just had to play them once and beat them once and I’m beyond proud.
“I’ve been proud of every team I’ve coached and I’ve coached some incredible teams. But this team separated themselves. They set the bar. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to coach, but I’m not sure if we’ll ever do the things we did this year. … Maybe people can put it into perspective for me, but I don’t know what else to say about what we’ve done.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bay City Western sophomore David Fegan slides into home for the Warriors' deciding run in a 1-0 win Saturday at Bailey Park. (Middle) Senior Connor Foley threw a complete game in earning the win on the mound for Bay City Western. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Small Ball Drives St. Patrick, Plymouth Christian Capitalizes on Big Rally
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
June 13, 2025
EAST LANSING – It may be an old-fashioned style of baseball, but Portland St. Patrick isn't complaining.
While many teams may prefer to slug it out en route to a Finals championship, the Shamrocks are literally content to taking it a step at a time. Case in point was Friday's 7-0 win over Norway in a Division 4 Semifinal at Michigan State's McLane Stadium.
St. Patrick bunted seven times, with at least six contributing to runs as the No. 1-ranked Shamrocks danced into Saturday's 5 p.m. championship.
It's not always the case, but moving runners along – any way possible – is part of the team's strategy, sophomore shortstop Jerryd Scheurer said.
"For us it's like hitting a home run. It's part of what we do every day," said Scheurer, who scored three runs. "Our dugout loves it. The team gets hyped up when we do it."
Combine an outstanding three-hit shutout from junior pitcher Brady Leonard, five Norway errors and just enough clutch hits to complement the small-ball approach, and St. Patrick will play in its first final since 2017's 6-2 win over Hudson. It will be the Shamrocks' fifth trip overall to the championship game.
St. Patrick improved its record to 33-1. The team's only loss was 10-5 to Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, which halted a 26-game winning streak in the second to last regular-season game. That loss was avenged by the Shamrocks 5-4 in 12 innings in the Regional Final.
St. Patrick coach Bryan Scheurer said the team isn't necessarily wedded to the idea of a bunt-at-will approach, but they'll pick spots and utilize the weapon as best as possible.
"It's about the situation being part of what we do," he said. "When we get people on, we want to move them along. It's something the players buy into. Maybe it's not glorious, but they not only accept it, they embrace it."
The strategy was never more evident than during a three-run third inning that snapped a scoreless tie. The Shamrocks sent eight batters to the plate, managed only a double and a single – neither of which drove in a run – and still managed to score the three runs.
The rest was left up to Leonard, who surrendered only three singles, two to Owen Baij. Norway (28-5-1) managed to get only two runners on base in the same inning once. Leonard said there was no secret to what was working for him.
"Everything," he said. "I try to trust my stuff and know it'll get us here. I thought I pitched well."
Norway coach Troy Adams said the loss represents a key teaching moment.
"I didn't do a good job of preparing them for a brand of baseball you don't normally see, and that's on me," Adams said. "They get baserunners on and put you in a bind. We've got to get better at certain things we don't do. But hats off to St. Patrick. It took the No. 1 team in the state to eliminate us again."
Norway lost in last year's Final to back-to-back champ Beal City 10-0.
Plymouth Christian Academy 9, Petersburg-Summerfield 1
Plymouth Christian (29-7) bunched six hits with three errors, a sacrifice fly, two wild pitches and a walk to score seven runs in the third inning. The outburst turned a 2-0 lead into a 9-0 margin.
Luke Janigian threw a two-hitter for the win while also contributing an RBI in that third inning. Josh Yeager and Carter Dattilio also drove in runs with singles. Janigian struck out nine and walked two.
The win furthered an outstanding tournament showing by Plymouth Christian's pitching staff, which has allowed only five runs over six games with three shutouts.
"We didn't know much about them, but Coach said just get ahead early and command your pitches," Janigian said. "A shout out to the boys in playing behind me. When you throw strikes, good things happen."
Plymouth Christian coach Eero Perkola said the team relies on a substantial level of experience.
"Our 1 and 2 (starters) throw strikes, and we also have a couple crafty lefties in the bullpen," he said. "They trust the defense wholeheartedly. They just let the defense work, and especially in Division 4, that's nice."
Petersburg-Summerfield coach Reid Olmstead said five errors are far too many to make against good teams.
"We've been playing fundamental baseball; we just didn't do it today," he said. "Maybe it was nerves. Or sometimes when you make one or two errors, it snowballs. That was definitely the case today. You have to play clean baseball in big games."
PHOTOS (Top) Portland St. Patrick's Tyler Thelen rounds third base during his team's Semifinal win over Norway. (Middle) Plymouth Christian Academy's Luke Janigian throws a pitch during his team's victory.