Plymouth Christian Academy, Beal City Match Shutouts To Advance in D4
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
June 16, 2023
EAST LANSING — For Beal City and Plymouth Christian Academy, a fast start proved key to victory in Friday’s Division 4 Semifinals at McLane Stadium.
Plymouth Christian (34-7) earned its first Finals berth with an 8-0 win over Rudyard, while Beal City (30-8) reached the championship game for the second year in a row with an 8-0 win over Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, 8-0.
The Eagles and Aggies will play for the Division 4 title at 5 p.m. Saturday.
In both games, the winning team scored the only run it would need in the first inning.
For Plymouth Christian, it came on a triple by starting pitcher Jordan Scott.
“It was a weight lifted off my shoulders,” Scott said. ”You never know going into a game if you’re going to get a hit or not, and to get that first hit lifted that weight.”
Scott let his arm do the rest, scattering seven hits while striking out five with no walks.
The Eagles also took advantage of four Rudyard errors and a passed ball that led to a run.
“Errors kind of feed on each other sometimes,” Plymouth Christian coach Joe Bottorff said. “All of our batters are good base runners, even though it didn’t look like it at times. We have aggressive baserunners, and we can get around the bases. We’ve got good speed.”
The Eagles had a balanced attack, too, scattering 10 hits among seven players, led by Micah Lavigne, who had a double while going 3-for-4.
After Scott gave PCA a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Eagles scored twice in the second and put the game out of reach with four runs in the fourth.
Asked for a key to the Eagles’ success, Bottorff said “eight seniors,” before stopping to gather his emotions.
Aiden Bickel, who was the starting pitcher for Rudyard, had two hits for the Bulldogs.
Rudyard (19-20) went into the game on a five-game winning streak, all of those victories coming during the postseason, and fell short in its bid to become the first team from the Upper Peninsula to play for a state title since Escanaba reached the 2006 Division 2 Final.
Beal City 8, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep 0
For Beal City, the expectations – and results – have been very different.
“Our goal every year is to play the last game of the season, in East Lansing, and we did that,” Aggies coach Brad Antcliff said.
In fact, the Aggies are back in the Final for the second year in a row after falling to Riverview Gabriel Richard 4-3 in last season’s championship game.
Antcliff, who is in the first year of his second stint as Aggies coach, led the team to titles in 2009 and 2010 and got them back to the Final in 2013 and 2014.
Playing the first Division 4 Semifinal, Beal City (30-8) got off to an early start. With one out, Owen McKenny singled then scored on a double by Jack Fussman to give starting pitcher Josh Wilson the only run he would need.
The Aggies added two runs in the fourth inning on a single by Cayden Smith and a two-base error and put it out of reach when Smith doubled to drive in three runs in the sixth. Beal City added two more runs in the seventh.
Meanwhile, Hackett was handcuffed at the plate.
“All I needed to do was throw strikes,” said Wilson, who threw just 87 pitches in holding the Irish (24-15-1) to three hits while walking one and striking out five. “My teammates made great plays behind me. I just trusted my stuff, and my coaches trusted me.”
PHOTOS (Top) Plymouth Christian Academy’s Micah Lavigne lays out in pursuit of a drive to center field Thursday. (Middle) A Beal City hitter steps back to avoid an inside pitch. (Below) The Aggies’ Josh Wilson delivers a pitch during his shutout. (Photos by John Castine/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
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.)