Veteran St Francis Earns Top Billing
May 19, 2017
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
TRAVERSE CITY – Tom Passinault does not like to put unnecessary pressure on his Traverse City St. Francis baseball team.
So, when his team took over the No. 1 ranking in the Division 3 baseball coaches poll, he made it more of a lighthearted moment.
“We were joking when we got ranked No. 1,” Passinault said. “We said, ‘That honor is usually reserved for the football team.’”
But now, two weeks away from the start of the MHSAA Tournament, the 27-2 Gladiators are in that envious position.
And it’s no accident.
St. Francis returned its entire starting lineup from last season’s 25-11 squad. Plus, the Gladiators added junior pitcher/first baseman Joey Muzljakovich, who tore a knee ligament in football and missed last season; and second baseman Gabe Callery, who ran track last spring.
“We expected to be a good team,” junior catcher Cooper Peterson said. “We’re doing really well, even better than I thought.”
The only setbacks have been to Division 1 No. 15 Brownstown Woodhaven and Muskegon Mona Shores. The 27 wins are a school record.
Passinault is in his fourth season as head coach – and the Gladiators are closing in on a fourth consecutive Lake Michigan Conference title.
The keys to success? Pitching and defense.
“In basketball, you talk about how you can always play good defense because you’re not always going to shoot well,” Passinault said. “We (apply) that to baseball. You can always pitch and play defense because your hitting is going to be sporadic at times, although we’ve been pretty successful one through nine hitting the ball.”
St. Francis pitchers sport a 1.45 earned run average. Seven pitchers have earned wins. Muzljakovich is the ace. He’s 7-0 with a 0.58 ERA and has struck out 67 hitters in 36 innings. Junior lefthander Casey Peterson is 5-0 and has yet to allow an earned run. He separated a shoulder in the Mona Shores game, missed about three weeks, but has returned to action. Peterson has 42 strikeouts in 24 innings. Sophomore Keaton Peck is 4-1 with a 2.05 ERA, while senior Connor Sweet is 3-1 with a 1.48 ERA.
“First of all, there’s great depth,” pitching coach Mike Muzljakovich said. “We have four guys that most years we would gladly call our No. 1.”
Mike Muzljakovich believes Joey Muzljakovich and Casey Peterson will pitch in college. In addition to Joey Muzljakovich’s injury last season, Peterson missed time with elbow issues. Sweet stepped up and won 10 games.
Now, everyone is healthy. And with the MHSAA implementing pitch count limits, that depth is a blessing.
“When the pitching limitations came out, we felt like it would be to our advantage because we have more depth than most teams,” Mike Muzljakovich said. “That won’t always be true, but we’re going to ride it for the next three or four years.”
When St. Francis has needed an extra arm, particularly for weekend tournaments, Passinault has called up Josh Bradfield from the JV. He’s 4-0 with a 1.75 ERA.
“Normally, he would be solidly in our rotation,” Mike Muzljakovich said.
What impresses Passinault the most is the command.
“Our strikeout (207) to walk (56) ratio is very impressive,” he said. “We walk (an opposing batter) about every 3.2 innings.”
That’s not lost on the players in the field.
“We have phenomenal pitching,” sophomore centerfielder Danny Passinault said. “Our pitchers throw strikes, and our defense makes plays.”
The Gladiators are especially strong up the middle with Peterson behind the plate, Peck at shortstop, Callery at second and Passinault in center.
“Watching (Passinault) track a baseball is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Peterson said.
Tom Passinault notes that he has a “really good defensive team,” and he’s quick to praise his other regulars, including Sweet at third, Muzljakovich at first, senior Peter McAndrews in left and sophomore Artie Dutmers in right
“As hard as our pitchers throw, (Dutmers) gets a lot of action,” Passinault said.
Assistant coach Brad Peterson works with the infielders.
The Gladiators are also hitting .338 as a team. The leaders include Muzljakovich (.414), Sweet (.405), Peck (.395), McAndrews (.392) and Cooper Peterson, junior Matt Westman and sophomore Nathan Schmuckal (all at .333). Muzljakovich leads the team with 25 RBI.
“We’re getting clutch hits at the right time and scoring runs when we need to,” Passinault said.
A year ago, the Gladiators were surprised in the District by Lake City.
“Losing to Lake City did not sit well with us,” Cooper Peterson said. “It’s been a major motivator this whole year.”
“We had one of those games you want to avoid,” Passinault added. “In the tournament, it’s one (loss) and done.”
Passinault called the 2016 season a “unique year” because he did not have a senior.
“It made last year tough leadership-wise,” he said. “But the good thing is we brought a bunch of players back that had experience.”
Callery, who had played baseball previously, decided to come back after running track. He’s one of four seniors on this year’s roster.
“I missed it,” he said. “It’s fun being around these guys. Plus, I knew we had a chance to be really good.”
Passinault, who coached Grand Rapids Catholic Central to the Division 4 Football Final in 2005 and then turned around the Traverse City Central football program before stepping down after the 2014 campaign, said the Gladiators have “high goals” as the postseason nears. But he knows there will be difficult challenges ahead.
“One of the things we know we’ll have to do is beat a very good pitcher,” he said. “We challenge the kids – what can you do when we face that good pitcher? Not everybody is going to drive the ball in the gap. Is it stealing bases? Is it making a play? We’re really trying to get the kids to understand what they can do to make us better.”
It’s already been a good year for the Passinaults. Tom and Teresa’s oldest son, Noah, a senior at St. Francis, received a scholarship and will attend Notre Dame, Tom’s alma mater. Noah, who’s involved in band and choir, is thinking of trying out for the marching band, his father said.
“I told my wife, ‘I knew I’d have a son playing in that football stadium,’” Tom Passinault said. “I thought he might be a running back, but he’s a clarinet. It’s awesome. He’s going (to Notre Dame) for the right reasons. He likes math and philosophy and he made it into their honors college, which is quite a feat.”
As a sophomore, Danny Passinault has been a primetime varsity player in football, basketball and baseball. He was the quarterback on the 11-1 football team that lost a heartbreaker to eventual champion Pewamo-Westphalia in the Regional Final.
The Passinaults’ daughter, Gwyneth, a seventh-grader, just set the school record in the 70-meter dash.
“It’s been quite a spring,” Passinault said.
And it looks like it could get even better. The Gladiators will host the baseball District.
“We stress to the kids, that no matter what happens, it’s been a good year,” Passinault said. “We don’t want to put too much pressure on the end result. But we do have high goals. We want to go as far as we can.”
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City St. Francis senior Conner Sweet prepares to deliver a pitch during a game this season. (Middle) Senior Gabe Callery stretches his lead off first base. (Below) Peter McAndrews (3) holds an Elk Rapids runner close to first base. (Photos by Toni Sweet.)
Fish's Powerful Record Pursuit Helped Set Stage for College, Pro Achievements
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
August 27, 2026
Many of the home runs were prodigious, some of the balls landing on the tops of schools, crashing onto car roofs, into clumps of trees, empty parking lots and neighboring practice fields.
Two of Zach Fish's record-setting clouts, in fact, landed on the I-94 expressway and in the middle of a cemetery.
But it wasn't the variety of locations that made his homers remarkable. It was their number.
As a senior at Richland Gull Lake in 2011, Fish set the state single-season home run record with 24. The total not only broke the record of 23 set by Morley-Stanwood's Jim Willison in 1998 and Drew Henson of Brighton in 1997, but no hitter since has even made a serious run at breaking Fish's mark. The closest has been 15 homers by Zach MacDonald of Portage Central in 2021.
"There were some fun ones," Fish said of the homers.
Fifteen years later, Fish, now a corporal for the Granbury, Texas, police force, said he looks at his record-setting season much the same as he did during the final three months of his high school career. He remembers feeling a sense of accomplishment, but also relief as the Blue Devils, which would finish 38-2, could now switch focus from Fish's record to the drive of winning a state title.
Fish said when he thinks back over his career, it's not only the home run chase he remembers but also cherishing a leadership role on a young Blue Devils club. Fish also remembers the 5 a.m. offseason workouts designed to strengthen his 6-foot, 200-pound frame, and always seeking new ways to hone his special talent for recognizing and adjusting to how high school pitchers were trying to get him out.
As for the record, Fish also recalls the torrid late-season stretch it took to surpass Henson and Willison. Just when it looked like he could fall short, Fish slammed 16 homers over his final 17 games, including his last three in the Regional tournament to break the record.
Fish said an overlooked part of the 24 homers – and something which was probably a benefit – was that aside from local media, no one was clamoring for stories each step of the way. There was minimal distraction outside of the Gull Lake community as Fish approached breaking one of the most sought-after state records.
"There wasn't any social media back then. Not much hype or noise around it," he said. "And I got a lot of positive reinforcement from the people around me. No one said anything if I came back to the bench without hitting a homer or getting a hit. The important thing was we were winning as a team. I think my success was a product of how successful the team was.
"I stayed within the mindset of the team. With all the people around me, I never got too high or too low. That helped me focus.”
The 24 homers closed out a remarkable career for Fish, who after his senior season was taken by the Texas Rangers in the 24th round of the 2011 MLB draft. Fish, who hit .561 with 82 RBIs as a senior, was named to the Rawlings, Baseball America and MaxPreps All-America teams. He would be recruited by Michigan, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Washington and Georgia Tech before signing with Oklahoma State, where he would become the Big 12 Player of the Year as a junior.
Fish's story from growing up playing in a Kalamazoo recreation league as a grade schooler to being taken by the Chicago White Sox in the 11th round (318th overall) of the 2014 draft and spending two years in pro ball includes, by his own admission, an extraordinary drive to succeed.
"Bordering on obsession," he said. "Baseball was more than a passion with me. I loved baseball and what it stood for. It's America's pastime for a reason."
Growing up, Fish actually showed minimal signs of becoming a nationally elite-level player. He played rec ball in Kalamazoo and later hooked up with the Midland Braves travel team for three seasons as a 16, 17 and 18-year-old. He played two seasons at Kalamazoo Central where he batted .291 with five homers as a freshman and then .423 with six homers as a sophomore.
Family obligations led him to transfer to Gull Lake as a junior, where he quickly blossomed. He hit .473 with 12 homers, 57 RBIs and 27 stolen bases.
"Coaches would help me," Fish said of his power. "They said just swing hard in case you hit it. I truly believed that. The first two years in high school I was kind of sporadic in terms of hard contact. A lot of that was in my approach."
Fish's junior season set the stage for his sensational final year. He barely had double digits in homers by midseason before catching fire in the second half. But with 21 homers heading into the Regional, he was still two short of tying the record. He climbed to within one when he homered during a 12-2 Regional opener win against Sturgis, then slammed two more in a 13-2 Regional Final victory over Hamilton to set the record.
With the achievement accomplished, Fish said he remembers returning to the bench after the second homer against Hamilton with mixed emotions.
"At first I came back like it was just another homer," he said. "I was in the dugout, put my (catching) gear back on and I had this moment of what I did. But at the same time, I was glad it was out of the way and now we could focus on the team and winning a state title.
"The last three weeks was a good stretch, but I was able to swing the bat because the guys in front of me were getting on base and pitchers had nowhere to put me."
In a 6-5 Quarterfinal win over Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Cougars pitchers virtually refused to pitch to Fish. Amid a flurry of intentional walks, Fish saw only one strike, which he smashed for a bases-loaded triple. The team concluded its season with a 6-1 Semifinal loss to eventual Division 2 champ St. Clair as Fish flew out twice and was safe on an error in his final high school at-bats.
According to MaxPreps, the 24 homers ties Fish for 27th place nationally, just six behind the all-time record of 30. His 82 RBIs as a senior ties him for 26th place. Fish finished his prep career with 47 home runs, 23 behind the state record of 70 hit by Henson from 1995-98. Fish's 203 career RBIs are second behind Henson's 290. The 24 homers in 116 at-bats means Fish hit a homer an incredible once every 4.8 at-bats.
Former Gull Lake coach Bill Blakely said Fish was always striving for perfection as a hitter. He recalls Fish would often come back to the bench following a home run lamenting his swing could have been better. As for the record, Blakely said he would occasionally move Fish around on defense, including making use of his 90-mph fastball on the mound, to keep his mind off hitting. Blakely reasoned Fish could get a break from the pressure of the home run chase if he had to focus on defense.
"Externally, he didn't show that it bothered him," Blakely said of the chase. "We had lots of kids who could keep him loose. It was a light atmosphere. We would count the homers as they came along, but he didn't go into any slumps as he got close.
"As for the record, it wasn't if he was going to set it, but when, barring an injury."
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Gull Lake's Zach Fish follows a drive during his senior season in 2011, and at right Fish is now an officer in Granbury, Texas. (Middle) Fish takes the field as part of the Rookie-level Great Falls Voyagers. (Below) Fish mans the catcher position for Gull Lake during a Division 2 Semifinal against St. Clair in 2011. (Granbury and Great Falls photos courtesy of the Fish family. Hitting photo by Gary Shook. Catching photo from MHSAA archives.)