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.
Senior-Powered Spring Lake Answering Anticipation, Pursuing High Expectations
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 29, 2026
SPRING LAKE – The time is now for the Spring Lake baseball team.
With the return of 11 veteran seniors, the Lakers entered this spring with lofty expectations and an eye on an extended postseason run.
Anticipation has come to fruition in the form of a state ranking and a nearly perfect start.
“Our motto is we are going to worry about next year next year, and we are going to do all we can this year,” Lakers fourth-year coach Bill Core said. “We knew we were going to have a big experienced group coming back, and that's just how the roster folded out. We have a lot of experience, a lot of returners and pretty high expectations.”
Spring Lake, which finished as Division 2 runner-up in 2024 and won a conference title last year for the first time since 2014, is off to an impressive 13-1 start (9-0 in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Black) and has climbed to No. 7 in the latest coaches poll.
Core said the vast number of returners, which includes five players who will play in college next year, has paid early dividends.
“I think that’s been a big difference,” he said. “We’ve played some younger teams that were breaking in sophomores or juniors or new kids, and our guys were ready to go right from the start. It’s been an advantage early on.”
Senior starting pitchers Oliver Smies and Maddux Kipling believe the strong bond among the senior class has been a major factor in the torrid start.
“I think something that’s really important about this team is our team chemistry and the amount of seniors we have on the team,” Smies said. “That alone allows us to have a ton of experience, and I think that's a big reason why we are off to such a hot start. We have been playing good team baseball and complementary baseball with good defense and good offense.”
Added Kipling: “We genuinely like being around each other, and every day we show up ready to get a little better. Our team has a real gritty and energetic identity, and I think that shows in how we compete and support each other.”
Kipling and Smies have been dominant on the mound this season. They haven’t allowed an earned run while combining for 80 strikeouts. Kipling earned a second-team all-state accolade as a junior and is headed to Michigan State next year. Smies will play at Calvin University.
“It starts with our pitching,” Core said. “Any time you are going to make a run, it starts with your pitching and we are pretty lucky, especially with our top two.”
Offensively, the Lakers possess a balanced lineup and boast a .330 batting average.
Senior Owen Smies, who will join his twin brother at Calvin, is hitting a team-best .432 with 13 RBIs. Seniors Alex Strauss (Adrian College) and Max Feltner (Muskegon Community College) are both batting .333 and have combined to score 25 runs.
As a team, Spring Lake has produced eight shutouts and nine wins by run differential.
“We got off to a good start, but we are going to play a lot better competition,” Core said. “This is a good week for us because we play Northview and state-ranked East Grand Rapids. We just picked them up, so we were excited to fill in the week with those two schools.”
Spring Lake is 62-6 over its last 68 games and trying to remain focused on each game as it attempts to erase the disappointment of last year’s early exit from the postseason.
Despite winning 30 games, the Lakers suffered a 3-2 loss to Grand Rapids West Catholic in District play.
“I think there is some motivation there from that loss,” Oliver Smies said. “And I think that loss last year taught us that any team can beat any team, so you have to play your best baseball every single game no matter the opponent.”
Core said last year hasn’t been discussed, but believes it still sits in the back of his players’ minds.
“I think they think about that, but we've had quite a few mercies to start the season, and I said to them that when we get to the tournament it's going to be a one-run game and we are going to have to do the little things to make a difference because we are not going to win 14-0 all the time,” he explained. “We try to keep everyone in the moment.”
Kipling isn’t dwelling on the past – or looking too far ahead.
“As a group we’ve done a great job staying focused on the present and not getting caught up in the past or worrying too much about the future,” Kipling said. “My dad has always told me to focus on what you can control because putting energy into things you can’t control is a waste.
"That mindset has stuck with me, especially on the field. I try to live by ‘one pitch at a time,’ and because of that I haven’t really spent time thinking about last year’s loss. That’s behind us, and we’re just focused on what we can do right now.”
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) Spring Lake baseball coach Bill Core tosses Maddux Kipling his home run ball after a win over Fruitport. (Middle) Kipling pitching at Spring Lake's Hickman Field. (Below) Senior Oliver Smies connects with a pitch. (Photos by Trevor McCue/Grand Haven Tribune.)