St. Francis Makes Good on Great Expectations by Completing Repeat Run
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 13, 2026
EAST LANSING — Repeating as an MHSAA Finals champion in baseball might be more difficult than any other sport given its fickle nature.
But from the start this spring, Traverse City St. Francis appeared capable.
After claiming the Division 3 title last year, St. Francis returned both its best pitchers and a core of eight seniors from the 2025 squad.
It’s no wonder why a repeat was expected by many – and the Gladiators fulfilled those expectations Saturday.
St. Francis (34-5) finished its mission with a 9-0 victory over Kalamazoo Christian in the Division 3 Final at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
“Yeah, we had confidence the entire season,” said Gladiators senior Lanse Vos. “We knew there was a good group. Having this group again, we’ve grown up together. We only expected this. Our goals were only this.”
Vos was a big reason why St. Francis repeated, allowing just three hits and no runs in six innings of work in what was an unexpected start until Thursday’s Semifinal against Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest – which he also began on the mound.
With St. Francis holding an 11-1 lead over Lutheran Northwest, Gladiators head coach Tom Passinault pulled Vos before he exceeded the 49-pitch limit that would have prevented him from throwing Saturday.
The plan worked out brilliantly for St. Francis, which got to start Vos and bring on senior Tyler Endres in the seventh inning to close the game.
“We watched Kalamazoo Christian on Thursday, and they are a tremendous fastball-hitting team,” Passinault said. “Since we had Lanse available, he is our best combination of fastball and off-speed. He had them on their front foot all day. It was a huge bonus to be able to throw him today.”
Vos also was instrumental to the team’s offense, contributing two hits and four RBI.
A week earlier, it didn’t look like the Gladiators would even make it to East Lansing when it trailed Sanford Meridian 10-7 going into the last inning of their Regional Final.
St. Francis rallied to score four runs in the seventh to win, and never looked back.
“Once we got here to East Lansing, I just thought we were rolling,” Passinault said. “We were playing great baseball.”
Making its first trip to a Final, Kalamazoo Christian finished 26-9.
“There’s a lot to be able to reflect on and enjoy,” Kalamazoo Christian head coach Russ Meyer said. “But it stings now. They believed in it. They believed they had a chance to be in this game. It just didn’t happen to go our way.”
The Gladiators jumped all over Kalamazoo Christian early, scoring two runs in both the first and second innings to take a 4-0 lead.
St. Francis scored the first pair on a walk with the bases loaded and an RBI sacrifice fly by freshman John St. Peter, and added the next two in the second inning on a two-run double by Vos.
The Gladiators added a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Vos, and then put the game away by scoring four in the bottom of the sixth inning – the big blow of that rally a two-run single by senior Evan Belanger.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City St. Francis' Tyler Thompson (2) runs back to his dugout after crossing the plate during the Division 3 Final on Saturday. (Middle) The Gladiators' Lanse Vos delivers a pitch during his winning performance on the mound.
St Patrick Return Ends in 1st-Time Celebration
June 17, 2017
By Andy Sneddon
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – A team that took a year to complete the journey against one that could be starting down the same path.
A year ago, Portland St. Patrick lost in the Division 4 Final. On Saturday, the Shamrocks delivered.
Dan Mackowiak had four hits and Devin Fedewa and Graham Smith combined to hold the fort on the mound as St. Patrick won its first MHSAA baseball championship, completing an undefeated season with a 6-2 victory over Hudson at McLane Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University.
“It’s indescribable,” said Bryan Scheurer, who is in his 13th year as the Shamrocks’ coach. “I’m so proud of them. Lot of hard work, and they let us ride them all year long. We’re very particular in the way we coach, and they’re coachable. That’s all you can ask for.”
A year ago, the Shamrocks fell, 10-3, to Sterling Heights Parkway Christian in the title game. On Saturday, they took advantage of some shaky Hudson defense – the Tigers committed three errors, all during the first two innings – in seizing an early 4-0 lead.
“I think (experience) was calming, but I also think it was motivating that we had done the runner-up thing before,” Scheurer said. “They wanted to go one step farther.”
Neither team was necessarily expected to go as far as it did in the tournament. The Shamrocks returned several players from last year’s runner-up squad but graduated some significant contributors, while Hudson’s 18-player roster featured just two seniors and 14 underclassmen.
“We wanted to win 20 games and just keep moving the program forward,” Scheurer said. “We wanted to win the league title, we wanted to compete for a District. Maybe the smartest thing I did was I didn’t tell (the players) that. They thought we were supposed to be really good.”
The Shamrocks (34-3-1) drew on the experience of having been there just 12 months prior, senior catcher and leadoff hitter Brendan Schrauben said.
“Watching the seniors go out last year like they went out, that’s not how I wanted to go out,” said Schrauben, who singled, tripled and scored three runs. “But they really paved the way for us. I’m glad we got the win. That’s how I wanted to go out.”
Fedewa, a freshman, struck out three, walked five and surrendered seven hits over five innings for the win. Smith struck out three over the final two innings for the save.
“That’s big,” Schrauben said. “It definitely relaxed us when we got out to an early lead. When we’ve got a freshman on the mound, that kind of eases his game. He was able to pitch aggressively.”
Sophomore Isaac Davis had two hits for Hudson (27-17), while Josh Heistan started and took the loss.
The Tigers, who were playing in a Final for the first time in school history, were unranked and finished sixth in the Lenawee County Athletic Association.
“If we show up and put the work in, then it’s a launching pad,” Hudson coach Jeremy Beal said. “If we’re content with it, then it was just a great run. As far as being a program definer, that’ll depend on this group of kids, if they want to put the work in.
“I think it was just a matter of making plays and not making plays. It was really that simple. We didn’t make a couple (early); we’re trailing 4-0 as a result of it. We had a couple opportunities to score runs and we hit balls at people or didn’t execute. If we do those things we’re in the game, and we’re one swing away.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Portland St. Patrick celebrates its first MHSAA title Saturday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) The Shamrocks' Dan Mackowiak slides into second base as the tag is applied.