Top-Ranked St. Francis Earns Repeat Try, Unranked K-Christian Walks Off To Advance
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2026
EAST LANSING - You can say much about a defending state champion, but opportunistic likely describes Traverse City St. Francis best.
The Gladiators remained in the hunt to become the first team to win back-to-back MHSAA Division 3 titles in 13 years after topping Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest 13-3 in Thursday's five-inning Semifinal at Michigan State.
St. Francis didn't necessarily pound the ball offensively and two pitchers scattered six hits, just four fewer than the Gladiators (33-5) tallied. But St. Francis took advantage of eight Crusaders errors, either bunted the ball for hits or used a sacrifice to involve scoring seven runs, and stole 10 bases en route to the win.
That, said coach Tom Passinault, is typically how the team rolls.
"Absolutely," he said. "There were the errors and that compounds things. But Rochester is a good team. You can't yell at the kids because it's just baseball. But there are things that we can do."
The win sent St. Francis into Saturday's 11:30 a.m. Final against Kalamazoo Christian.
Gladiators freshman infielder John St. Peter said taking advantage of opponents' mistakes is a trademark for the team, which won Division 3 a year ago and will be playing in its fourth Final since 2017.
"That's always how we roll," said St. Peter, who contributed a two-run triple and RBI single. "We pick up on what they can't do and the things we can do. I'm just a freshman and this is my first year, and I know I have some big shoes to fill. There's a lot of responsibility for sure."
There was no more of an opportunistic inning for St. Francis than the third. Already ahead 3-0, the Gladiators bunched three singles, a fielder's choice, a walk, three stolen bases, three errors and a wild pitch to score four more runs.
St. Francis senior captain Sam Wilfong said the ability to capitalize on mistakes added to the experience from playing in last year's Final likely makes the current team better than last season’s champion.
"I would say better because we're battle-tested," he said. "We know what we have to do and how to keep our emotions in check. We know what it takes to win much better this year. Guys have been there before."
St. Francis pitcher Lanse Vos, who gave up four hits in 3 1/3 innings, won't necessarily compare the two teams. But there's little doubt last year's run has affected this season.
"I think we've built off last year," he said. "Our four seniors we lost from last year said go run it back this year. That's what we're trying to do. We put the ball in play, and good things happen. We make those plays this year."
Kalamazoo Christian 6, Detroit Edison 5
Who says Kalamazoo Christian is too young to cause ripples in the MHSAA baseball tournament?
The Comets rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to outlast Detroit Edison and to sail into Saturday's 11:30 a.m. Final.
Despite having just two seniors on the roster, the unranked Comets – who start six juniors and a sophomore – overcame a 5-4 deficit during their final at bats to win the game on a based-loaded single by junior outfielder Max Johnson. Kalamazoo Christian (26-8) let a 4-2 lead slip away in the fifth inning and was tied as late as 4-4 in the sixth before trailing 5-4 going into the last half inning.
Comets coach Russ Meyer said the young team "hasn't flinched" in handling big moments, even with just two seniors.
"I knew and they knew we had incredible talent last year, that people expected a lot and things didn't happen for us," he said. "We played with a chip on our shoulder this year. It's like what about us?"
Johnson, who entered the game hitting .304 but with just nine RBIs in 79 at-bats, said his clutch hit was the first walk-off he's ever had, going back to Little League.
"I was down in the count and I knew I had to battle," he said. "Everyone on base trusted me, and that trust helped. It was like see ball, hit ball. We've done this all year; we just had to stick it out."
Comets junior outfielder Noah Zichterman had a pair of huge hits, including a third inning RBI double that gave the team a 3-2 lead, and a game-tying triple in the seventh two batters before Johnson's heroics.
Zichterman said it doesn't bother his teammates that the team isn't ranked or that few expected the club to be in an MHSAA Final.
"No one expected us to be this good," he said. "We've had some adversity that we overcame. I believe in us, we believe in ourselves and we just play the game."
Another key hit for the Comets was a two-run third-inning double by Jace Rarick. Crosby Croel had an RBI single in the fourth that put Kalamazoo Christian up 4-2.
Among Edison's highlights were a run-scoring single by Javarious Jackson that tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth inning and an RBI single by Jerrell Crosson II that gave Edison (23-9) a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh.
PHOTOS (Top) Kalamazoo Christian catcher Jace Rarick prepares to put a tag on Detroit Edison's DaiJon Brooks (8) during the Comets' Division 3 Semifinal win Thursday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) A Traverse City St. Francis runner attempts to get back to first base during his team's win over Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest.
First-Time Title Winner Guaranteed in D4
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 16, 2017
EAST LANSING – Coach Bryan Scheurer figured his Portland St. Patrick team couldn’t play much worse.
The Shamrocks committed four errors over the first four innings of their Division 4 Semifinal and trailed Unionville-Sebewaing 8-4.
“Our motto is to throw strikes early,” he said. “We want to throw strikes and take the outs they give us.”
That wasn’t working. In addition to the errors, St. Patrick issued three walks.
“We weren’t playing well,” Scheurer said. “Another one of our mottos is, losing is not acceptable. We’re going to chip away, grind away.
“We didn’t make it easy.”
The Shamrocks scored four runs in the fifth inning to tie the game and pushed across four more in the seventh to defeat USA, 12-8, on Friday at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
St. Patrick (28-0-1), a 10-3 loser to Sterling Heights Parkway Christian in the Final last season, will attempt to win the program’s first title when it plays Hudson (27-16) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Hudson, which had never won a Regional title until this season, trailed Gaylord St. Mary, 2-1, after four innings and then scored two in the fifth and added three in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead on the way to achieving another program first.
St. Patrick had two triples in the fifth inning of its win. Freshman Devin Fedewa’s two-run triple was the key hit.
Graham Smith then started the seventh with a walk, and the bases were loaded with one out after an error and a hit batsman. Dan Mackowiak batted in what proved to be the winning run with a sacrifice fly to center. Nathan Lehnert and Scheurer’s nephew, Brandon Scheurer, had RBI singles, and another run scored on a well-executed double steal.
St. Patrick trailed Bay City All Saints 3-0 and 6-4 in a Regional Final before coming back to win, 7-6. Brandon Scheuer said his team has come back a number of times this season, so the fact the Shamrocks were trailing again didn’t faze them.
“We’ve seen games like that before,” he said. “We try not to hit doubles and home runs. We want to hit singles. We play small ball. We’re good at it. Apparently, they are, too.”
USA (30-8-1) batted around in the third inning and scored four runs to take a 7-3 lead. Scheurer came on in relief in that inning, and though he gave up three of the four runs, he settled down and allowed just two hits and no runs over the final three innings to receive credit for the victory.
Scheurer had four hits, and four of his teammates had two including Brendan Schrauben, Lehnert and Fedewa, all of whom had two RBI.
St. Patrick had 15 hits to nine for USA. Cooper Kauffold had three hits and three RBI for the Patriots.
“That was a heck of a game when you think about all of the back-and-forth play,” USA coach Tyler Bader said. “I told our players you’ve got to use this as a springboard. Not having experience here can add up.”
USA was playing to reach an MHSAA Final for the first time.
Hudson 6, Gaylord St. Mary 4
Jesse Hesistan went the first six innings for Hudson before filling the bases with no outs in the seventh. Coach Jeremy Beal brought in Garrett Gamble from third base and switched Hesistan to third.
The move worked. Drew Koenig hit a grounder to Hesistan, who stepped on the bag and threw to first to complete the double play. Though a run scored, Hudson got what it wanted.
“I was nervous,” Gamble said. “Pitching in relief is never easy. You just have to get it done. You prep for this.”
Brady Hunter singled in St. Mary’s fourth run, but Gamble got the last out on a fly out to center.
“(Hesistan) had enough pitches left to finish,” Beal said. “He was staring at getting us to the Final. That double play was just like we drew it up.”
Hudson’s three runs in the sixth inning proved valuable. Black Borck singled home the fourth run and Gamble, who went 4-4 with four RBI, followed with a two-out, two-run triple.
“We needed to score some runs,” St. Mary coach Matt Nowicki said. “When you get in a hole like that, it’s tough. It would have been nice to take that next step.”
Nick Torsky went the distance for St. Mary (29-8), and Joseph Moeggenberg went 3-3 at the plate.
“We don’t have experience in games like these,” Beal said. “But our athletic department has had success. Wrestling for one. We coach kids in the fall, and it carries over to the winter. We coach kids in the winter and it carries over to the spring.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Portland St. Patrick second baseman Dan Mackowiak throws to first during Friday’s Division 4 Semifinal. (Middle) Hudson puts a tag on Gaylord St. Mary’s Nick Torsky.