Sophomore Hurls Hartland into D1 Final
June 11, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – It would not be an overstatement to say that Kyle Kletzka was the surprise star of the game Friday morning at McLane Baseball Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University.
Kletzka, a 5-foot-9 sophomore pitcher who was on the Hartland junior varsity eight weeks ago, hurled a four-hit shutout against Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills as the Eagles scored a 5-0 victory in the first of two MHSAA Division 1 Baseball Semifinals.
Unranked Hartland (27-16-1) will play unranked Portage Northern (30-7-1) at 9 a.m. Saturday in the championship game at McLane Stadium.
Kletzka, a right-hander, did not learn about the Semifinal starting assignment until Wednesday night.
“Coach just straight up told me, ‘You’re on the mound tomorrow,’ ” said Kletzka, who struck out four and walked two. “At first I was a little nervous, but I slept on it, and I was ready to go.”
He certainly was ready to go. Kletzka struck out the first two batters of the game, and that helped ease whatever nerves he might have been feeling.
“It was big time,” he said. “As soon as I got those two strikeouts, it was all over. I wanted the win so bad. Coming in, I had a little bit of doubt, but after those strikeouts, I didn’t have any doubts.”
Hartland coach Brian Morrison agreed that those initial strikeouts were “big time.”
“It settled everybody down,” Morrison said. “There were a bunch of nerves, and he calmed the entire team down. The plan was not for him to go seven, but once he got going he looked comfortable, so we let him go.
“We had confidence that he would go out there and throw strikes, and he did that, and they hit them at us and we made the plays.”
Kletzka never got into serious trouble. Twice he allowed a runner to get to second base, but he got out of it both times with nobody scoring.
“My slider was working the most for me,” Kletzka said. “It’s my go-to pitch normally. I can’t even explain the feeling. It’s amazing.”
Hartland took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. After walks to Alex Vydick and Max Cadman, designated hitter Gary Turnbull punched a single over first base, scoring Vydick, and Cadman scored on a throwing error on the play.
The Eagles added two more in the third inning when Turnbull was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and a sacrifice fly by freshman Max Hendricks brought in another. Hartland’s final run came in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Hendricks, who had two RBI, as did Turnbull.
Sophomore second baseman Hunter Delanoy was the only Hartland player with more than one hit as he had two singles, while John Baker, who had a single and a walk, was the only player to score twice.
“It’s pretty surreal right now,” said Cadman, the catcher who was one of just two seniors to start the game. “It still hasn’t hit me that this team is going to the state final. I love this team and I love to play with them.”
Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills (33-5), ranked eighth in the final Division I coaches poll, had four hits and two errors behind pitcher Bennett Norry, who struck out five and walked four in six innings. Jarod Nickel and Noah Gloe each doubled for the Knights.
“We didn’t take great at-bats, and we made too many mistakes in the field,” Kenowa Hills coach Joe Acker said. “We were hoping to jump on them early, and it just didn’t happen. But take nothing away from their kid. He threw well. He threw strikes. The kid was good.”
Morrison said it was not a slam-dunk decision to go with Kletzka as the starter.
“I just had a gut feeling,” he said. “There were a few guys who I have confidence could have handled this game, but we thought if we had to go to multiple guys, we liked the order with him first.”
Morrison is not facing a tough decision about the starter for the championship game Saturday. He will go with his ace, junior right-hander Baker.
“If somebody is going to beat us with him on the hill, they’re going to have to beat us,” he said.
Portage Northern 8, Grosse Pointe South 0
Portage Northern senior pitcher Blake Therrian knew what to do with an early six-run lead Friday in the second Division 1 Semifinal.
“It’s huge for us. Getting runs puts me in a position to just make my pitches and do what I do,” Therrian said. “I don’t have to force pitches.”
Portage Northern had a 5-0 lead before it picked up its first hit, as Grosse Pointe South made five errors in the first two innings.
“Them not making the routine plays kind of gave us the momentum,” Portage Northern coach Chris Andrews said. “When we get ahead, the pitchers are just great at pounding the strike zone and pitching backwards, and our defense came through again.
“Blake can pitch backwards. He can throw his off-speed in fastball counts, and he was able to do that. That is tough on good hitters.”
Portage Northern scored six runs in the first two innings on just one hit. The Huskies scored two in the first without a hit as they had a walk, a batter hit by a pitch and took advantage of two errors by Grosse Pointe South. Both errors came on the first two balls in play in the bottom of the first.
In the second inning, Portage Northern scored four as Grosse Pointe South committed three more errors, issued two walks and hit another batter.
The lone hit in the first two innings by Portage Northern was a run-scoring single by senior first baseman Collin Hall.
“You can’t make five errors in two innings and expect to have a good outcome,” Grosse Pointe South coach Dan Griesbaum said. “But it doesn’t take away from the year we had. We had a tremendous year, and one game doesn’t spoil it.”
Brady Young had two hits and scored two runs for Portage Northern, while Max Schuemann and Tommy Henry each scored three runs.
Henry, the team’s No. 1 pitcher, will start the championship game Saturday against Hartland.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Andrews said. “Tommy has been lights-out for us, and I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Grosse Pointe South (32-12), which out-hit Portage Northern 8-6, did not have a player with more than one.
PHOTOS: (Top) Hartland sophomore Kyle Kletzka unloads a pitch during his team’s Division 1 Semifinal win Thursday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) A Portage Northern runner slides into home past the tag by Grosse Pointe South catcher Logan Mico.
Marine City Makes More History, St. Francis Outlasts Historic Opponent
By
Drew Ellis
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2025
EAST LANSING – Winning its first Regional championship in program history was a big accomplishment for the 2025 Marine City baseball team.
Now, the Mariners find themselves one win away from their first Finals championship.
Utilizing aggressive base running and timely hits, Marine City defeated Olivet, 8-5, in a Division 3 Semifinal on Thursday at McLane Stadium.
“It means everything to us,” Marine City coach Ryan Felax said of his team’s first Finals appearance. “Marine City hasn’t won a Regional up until this year, so we’re three games beyond the first time ever. For us to be able to come out here and do what we have done, feeling like we were the underdog since the District Finals, is a special feeling. I can’t even express what it means to the program, what it means for our city, and what it means for the seniors, especially.”
Marine City (26-10) will face Traverse City St. Francis in Saturday’s championship game at 9 a.m. The Mariners believe they are going into the title-deciding contest with nothing to lose.
“We don’t have any pressure on us,” said Marine City senior Daniel VandeVyver, who got the win on the mound Thursday. “We’ve been looked down this whole tournament. There’s no pressure, so we’ve all just been coming out here, playing the game, and having a blast while doing it. We’re coming out with the (wins), so it’s great.”
VandeVyver threw 6.1 innings to earn his eighth win of the season for Marine City. After giving up a pair of runs in the first, the senior would go on to pitch five straight scoreless innings, allowing only three hits during the stretch.
“I came into that second inning with a lot more confidence,” VandeVyver said. “I was working more off-speed pitches and not using as many fastballs. It was working for me.”
The senior was also a key piece to the offense, finishing with three hits and three RBI.
“Danny VandeVyver is a special player,” Felax said of his senior. “He’s been doing this for me for four years. He’s a special pitcher. He’s a special kid. When he stays out of his own head, he can do pretty much anything.”
Olivet (22-7) got out to the 2-0 start in the first inning thanks to five singles in six batters, but the Eagles would strand the bases loaded as they looked to establish a larger advantage.
“We had bases loaded in the first inning and should have gotten more out of that,” Olivet coach Mike Whitley said. “We didn’t get as many as we should.”
Marine City answered in the top of the second, utilizing stolen bases and bunts to set up a sacrifice fly from freshman Tucker Volkman. VandeVyver than had an RBI single to even up the score at 2-2.
In the fifth inning, the Mariners broke the game open with four runs. The go-ahead run came when junior Dakota Droptiny was unable to get a bunt down, so he had to take a swing with two strikes. Droptiny proceeded to hit an RBI double to put Marine City up 3-2.
“Hey, I’ll take it,” Felax said. “He’s just a kid that doesn’t rattle.”
Lukus DeSmyther followed with an RBI single, then VandeVyver had a two-run double to make it 6-2 for Marine City.
The Mariners tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth inning thanks to an error by Olivet and a double steal. All together, Marine City had 10 stolen bases in the win.
“You have to give (Marine City) credit. They are a heck of a team,” Whitley said. “They played a little small ball on us, which you don’t see in this area a whole lot. We just didn’t take care of business when we had the opportunity.”
Olivet made a late push in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring three runs thanks to an RBI double from freshman Andrew Rigelman and a two-run single from senior Lucas LaPaugh.
The tying run reached the plate before the Mariners recorded the final out.
“They just battled every day for me, and I think that showed in the seventh inning,” Whitley said. “Who knows, one more hit, it might have been a different ball game.”
Lalo Aguirre finished with four hits and two runs for Olivet, while Trip Burkett had two hits and an RBI.
Droptiny finished with two hits, two runs and an RBI, while Paul Muscat stole three bases for the Mariners.
Traverse City St. Francis 4, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett 3
In order to play for its first Finals championship since 1990, Traverse City St. Francis had to overcome the one baseball program with more championship game appearances than anyone else.
The Gladiators took advantage of some early Liggett errors to establish a 4-1 lead. From there, they held on behind the pitching of junior Sam Wildfong for a 4-3 victory in the first Division 3 Semifinal on Thursday.
“It was a great, great high school baseball game. Ligget is a great, great program. We felt like we had to knock the giant off to get to the Finals,” Traverse City St. Francis coach Tom Passinault said. “It feels great, because we have a lot of respect for their program. Our guys really battled today.”
Liggett, which has appeared in 10 Finals, defeated St. Francis 12-0 in the 2021 Division 3 championship game, the last Finals appearance for the Gladiators.
St. Francis (30-8-1) struck first, taking advantage of a few Knights miscues. An error put runners on the corners for the Gladiators, and then Wildfong scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0.
A two-run single from junior Tyler Thompson in the second inning extended the St. Francis lead to 3-1.
Junior Matthew Kane opened the bottom of the fourth inning with a double to left field. He then scored two batters later when freshman Colton Peterson laid down a squeeze bunt to put the Gladiators up 4-1.
“We had our best bunter at the plate. Colton Peterson is so calm and cool, and Matt is a great base runner, so it was just a perfect combination for us,” Passinault said of the play.
With the three-run lead, Passinault believed that Wildfong would be able to pitch his team to victory.
“In games where we got up a few runs and we had Sam pitching, we felt pretty good about our chances,” Passinault said. “Sam is a gym rat in the baseball sense. He’s 365 baseball. He is always ready. He’s the guy you want in that moment.”
Liggett was able to get the Gladiators’ lead down to one as it manufactured one run each in the fourth and fifth innings. However, the Knights stranded a pair in the sixth inning who could have changed the game.
“We put the ball in play all game; that wasn’t the issue. We just couldn’t get them around,” Liggett coach Jay Ricci said. “We started to make that happen later in the game, but we just couldn’t get that last run across the plate.”
Wildfong found another gear in the seventh inning, striking out the first two batters before getting a ground out to end the game. The junior finished with three strikeouts for the contest, allowing one earned run over seven innings.
“I treated it like any other inning. I was just having fun with my friends out there,” Wildfong said of the seventh. “The fastball was really working that last inning, and it was really fun to dial in and locate it well.”
Thompson finished with a pair of hits to go with his two RBI. Liggett was led by Ravi Hines, who had a single and an RBI. Reliever Joey Harris pitched three scoreless innings to keep the Knights in the game when down 4-1.
“He did great, and we were real confident he would come in and shut the door,” Ricci said of Harris. “That was expected. Joey Harris has done a great job all year for us.”
PHOTOS (Top) Marine City's Michael Blunden signals "safe" during his team's Semifinal win over Olivet. (Middle) St. Francis pitcher Sam Wildfong makes his move toward the plate.