By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
Birmingham Brother Rice is sitting on top of the Division 1 baseball world in Michigan.
Behind Matt Conway's complete game four-hitter, the Warriors defeated Saline 8-0 in the Division 1 championship game Saturday at Battle Creek's C.O. Brown Park.
Third baseman Pat MacKenzie and catcher Jimmy Pickens had three hits apiece while MacKenzie had three RBI to lead Brother Rice, 34-6, to its first state title since 2006.
Brother Rice scored two runs in the first inning, two in the fourth and three in the sixth. MacKenzie had a big two-run single in the sixth.
“We came right out of the gates and scored some runs early,” Brother Rice Coach Bob Riker said. “It's always nice to work with the lead. We pecked away from the first inning and put in a few more runs on.”
Mark Weist had two hits for Saline, whose season ended at 32-10. Saline committed three errors.
“To me, it's always been about the kids,” Riker said. “I'm extremely happy for them. They've done things the right way. Every year we talk about goals for Brother Rice. We want to go to Comerica Park for the Catholic league finals and then compete for a state championship. Those are our two main goals and they came to fruition this year.”
Riker, who played for Brother Rice in 1985, had Ron Kalczynski and his son, Brian, on his staff this season.
“For me to have Ron, my high school coach, and his son by my side was tremendous,” Riker said. “We all show the kids how to play this game the right way and they buy into it.”
Division 2
Mount Pleasant was the defending Division 2 champions in Michigan baseball. But Dearborn Divine Child reigned supreme in a big way Saturday at Battle Creek's Brown Stadium.
Divine Child exploded for three runs in the first inning, six in the second and four in the third en route to a 14-3 five-inning championship victory over Mount Pleasant, capturing its third state title in five years.
Divine Child, 32-10, out-hit Mount Pleasant 14-4. Both teams had four errors. Mount Pleasant's season ended at 35-4. The game ended on the mercy rule after five innings.
“Mount Pleasant is an outstanding team,” Divine Child coach Tony DeMare said. “We talked about the fact that they might be the most talented team in the state.”
Shortstop Stephen Claypool led the Divine Child hitting attack with three hits and four RBIs while catcher Jonathan Ponte had three hits and three RBIs. Center fielder Patrick Biondi had four runs scored and three hits for Divine Child. Claypool had a key two-run single in Divine Child's second inning.
Jeremy Gooding went the five innings for Divine Child on the mound to take the win for his team. Jonathon McCann had two hits for Mount Pleasant.
It was an impressive postseason for Divine Child which started out the season at 5-7 and ended its Detroit Catholic League campaign at 12-8.
“We've been swinging the bats well,” DeMare said. “I can't remember the last time we lost. We didn't play particularly sharp on defense today. We're sure swinging the bats well. You can't ask for any better than that.”
The Falcons decided to play their best baseball at the right time of the season.
“Since the 5-7 start, the kids have been dynamite,” DeMare said. “They've responded well. We've been blessed with some good kids. Not only are they talented but they work awfully hard.
Division 3
It just wasn't Allendale's day.
The Grand Rapids-area school committed eight errors, including three in the second and three in the fourth inning, which contributed heavily to a 14-4 loss to Grass Lake in the Division 3 championship game Saturday at Battle Creek's C.O. Brown Stadium. The game ended on the mercy rule after six innings.
Grass Lake took advantage of Allendale's miscues by scoring five runs in the second inning, four in the fourth and five in the sixth. Casey Hall, Travis Rubingh and Jordan Bliss had two hits and two RBIs apiece for Grass Lake, which ended its season at 34-6.
“You have to take advantage of every opportunity you get. I have a group of nine seniors. They all play together. That makes it easy. They pick each other up,” first-year Grass Lake coach Ben Hamilton said. “We had never won our conference before. That's the first thing we wanted to do and we did that. Then we reassessed our goals at the end of the season and took one round at a time. It worked out pretty well for us.”
Allendale's season ended at 28-7. Phil Tolman had two hits and two RBIs for the Falcons.
Grass Lake's Charlie Fisher was the winning pitcher. It's Grass Lake's first state title.
“Our community rallies behind our sports teams. They're great fans,” Hamilton said. “We knew we had a special group. But we didn't get ahead of ourselves.”
Division 4
Adam Pijaszek allowed one run on seven hits in hurling the Bay City All Saints to a 2-1 victory over Lutheran Westland in the Division 4 title game on Saturday.
Center fielder Aaron Janer had two hits and one run scored. Kevin Gwizdala and Matt Mikolajczak drove home the two runs for the All Saints, who won their first state title since 2000. The All Saints season ended at 28-12-1 and Lutheran Westland finished runners-up at 25-8.
Tony Cipolla, Ryan Baglow and Adam Zehel had two hits apiece for Lutheran Westland. All Saints scored single runs in the third and fourth inning. Westland's only run came in the fourth inning.
It was the first state final for Lutheran Westland and the fourth appearance in the finals for All Saints.
