Mourning Those Who Contributed Much

EAST LANSING – Seeing its championship hopes slip away, Ada Forest Hills Eastern turned to a pair of juniors Thursday to give it a boost.

A relief effort from Colton Brinks and a timely hit from Ben Fausey allowed the Hawks to fight past Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in a Division 2 Semifinal, 5-4, at McLane Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University.

The win moved Forest Hills Eastern to Saturday’s Division 2 Final at 11:30 a.m., where it will face Standish-Sterling. The Hawks will be seeking their second title in program history, with the last coming in 2022.

“It’s just playing another game, that’s it,” Forest Hills Eastern coach Ian Hearn said of advancing to the MHSAA Final. “We really haven’t focused on the magnitude of the possibility of winning. The game is the same, people change, so we’re just going to keep approaching it the same way.”

The Hawks (41-1) held a 4-0 lead after one inning, but saw Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (26-13) slowly crawl back.

In the fifth, up 4-3, Hearn went to Brinks on the mound in relief of starter Cam Pallo with one out, and the junior got out of a bases-loaded jam. 

“He has done that multiple times and been very successful,” Hearn said of bringing in Brinks. “I don’t want to say (OLSM) was starting to time (Pallo) up or whatever, but he was starting to get tired. He was hard with his fastball, and his slider and curve ball. So, everything was firm, firm, firm. Colton came in a little bit more over the top and was able to change a lot of speeds and hit his spots. It typically takes a moment to adjust, so we’ve been fortunate that Colton has been able to get us a lot of soft contact.”

The Eaglets would tie the game in the sixth inning on an error, but Eastern responded in the seventh when Fausey hit a leadoff double. Senior James Dempsey then laid down a bunt that forced a St. Mary’s throwing error and allowed Fausey to score to give the Hawks the lead back.

“My first three at-bats, I was getting some nerves out, but I know I am a good hitter,” Fausey said of his double. “I was hunting a fastball on the first pitch, and thankfully I was on time.”

In the bottom of the seventh, the Eaglets put the first batter on base, but Brinks forced a double play, followed by a flyout to end the game.

“I’ve done this in every single playoff game except for one, so I am kind of getting used to it,” Brinks said of locking up the game late.

Forest Hills Eastern didn’t waste much time getting on the scoreboard, as it posted four runs in the first inning. The first two Hawks were walked, followed by a bunt single from Dempsey.

Brendan Thompson, another senior, then came through with a two-run single up the middle to make it 2-0. Junior Kenric Penkevich brought in another run on a fielder’s choice, then Pallo had an RBI single to cap the scoring in the first.

“I think our guys came out very motivated, with a lot of positive energy,” Hearn said. “It was very good to get started with the lead, that’s for sure.”

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s had its first five batters retired before junior Tyler Shubnell laced a double to left field. Shubnell would advance to third on an error from a pickoff attempt, then score on a balk to make it 4-1 through two innings.

Junior Luke Crighton took the mound for Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the second inning and retired the first eight batters he faced. Ultimately, he held the Hawks scoreless for five innings.

“He’s done that all year for us. He’s really a superb two-way guy,” St. Mary’s coach Nick Di Ponio said. “He does it at the plate, does it on the mound, does it defensively, does it running the bases. I can’t say enough good things about what he means to this team.”

The Eaglets manufactured a run with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning as junior Andrew Tribul drew a walk and then was singled over to third by senior Wyatt Borbi. Shubnell then reached base on an error that allowed Tribul to score, making it 4-2.

OLSM got within a run in the fifth as a leadoff single from Anthony Elezaj was followed by two walks and a wild pitch to make it 4-3. 

In the sixth, Forest Hills Eastern stranded the bases loaded, and St. Mary’s tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Shubnell hit a leadoff single and would score on a throwing error with two outs, putting the score at 4-4.

“He swung really, really well today,” Di Ponio said of Shubnell. “He squared up the bat well and helped get some big runs for us.”

Brinks got the win in relief, his ninth of the season. Crighton finished with eight strikeouts and one run allowed over six innings of relief.

Click for the full box score.

Standish-Sterling 5, Mason 4

The third time proved to be the charm for Ryan Raymond and the Standish-Sterling baseball team.

After coming up shy two of the last three seasons in Semifinals, the Panthers punched their ticket to their first MHSAA Final on Thursday with a 5-4 win over Mason.

“It feels really good,” Raymond said. “We didn’t play our best game. Give Mason a lot of credit. They battled. We made a few errors and we are going to have to play clean on Saturday, but it feels really good to be in the Finals.”

The game was scoreless for four innings, but the Panthers (36-5-2) got a momentum-swinging play when Mason (31-7) was threatening in the top of the fifth.

With a runner on and one out, the Bulldogs had a single go into right field. However, Mason’s lead runner got caught in a rundown and eventually was tagged out, and the trailing runner then got caught in a rundown of his own and was tagged out to end the inning.

“It’s one of those things where you try to prep your guys, and every pitch we need to stay as focused as possible,” Mason coach Kohl Tyrell said. “It’s one of those things where we just got a little too aggressive. We tried to hold (the lead runner) up, so it backfired and he got caught. It’s a great teaching moment for us. Sometimes those teaching moments come in wins, sometimes they come in losses.”

That defensive play sparked the Panthers, as they would go on to score all five of their runs in the bottom of the inning.

“I think that defensive play where we turned a very awkward double play, I think that got us all out of a tense funk,” Raymond said. “It loosened us up a little bit.”

Playing looser, Standish-Sterling utilized its bunting to get the offensive surge. Senior Kasen Wendel put a perfect bunt single down the third base line to load the bases. Junior Ben Briggs then followed with a bunt of his own, which forced a Mason error at home plate and brought two runs across for the Panthers.

“We play small ball. I think that is the way the game should be played,” Raymond said. “You see how it works when it is executed correctly. My boys are good at doing that, because we work on it a lot.”

A sacrifice fly from senior Trace Collins was followed by a two-run single from senior Brock Bartlett to cap Standish-Sterling’s scoring.

Mason didn’t go quietly, as it posted two runs in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly from junior Travis Davis and a Panthers error. In the seventh, Mason scored another two runs thanks to another error while Standish-Sterling was attempting what would have been a game-ending double play.

“That’s this team,” Tyrell said of Mason battling to the end. “That’s why this is super emotional. It’s not the outcome, it’s hard to leave a team like this. The boys wanted it, and the fight never stops. They’re Bulldogs.”

With the tying run at second base, Raymond turned to senior Sam Briggs to record the final out, which he did by forcing a ground ball. Briggs got the save in place of starter Preston Kann, who pitched 6 2/3 innings and struck out seven in a winning effort.

“I am fortunate to have a lot of good arms, but two exceptional ones,” Raymond said. “They are both touching 90 (mph), but they are pitchers and they are baseball players. That helps a lot. They put a ton of time into their sport. Sam and Preston are dudes when it comes to pitchers.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS  (Top) Ada Forest Hills Eastern players celebrate their Division 1 Semifinal win over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s on Thursday. (Middle) Standish-Sterling’s Brock Bartlett (15) applies a tag on a Mason runner attempting to get back to second base.