2009 All Area Baseball Team: County will have a tough time replacing some its most lovable seniors

In a matter of innings and with just a few poorly located pitches and errant swings the curtain closed.

Two weekends ago marked the final high school contests for many extraordinary county stars — and they will not be forgotten, and possibly not even replaced.

This year of baseball in Hillsdale County was full of surprises, good and bad, and while no team survived past the first game of regionals there was plenty of excitement.

The Jonesville Comets revived their program under Dale Steward; Reading’s Rick Bailey took his lumps early and taught his team how to win down the stretch en route to another district championship; Camden-Frontier rose from the ashes to win an SCAA East Division crown and nearly knocked the Rangers out of the postseason; Pittsford showed life and exceptional character under the leadership of Chris Hodos, Quincy continued to be one of the most consistent programs in all the area, and Hillsdale was Hillsdale — breathtaking at times and hard to figure out at others.
What I will remember most though is not the games or the scores or the stats — hands down it’s all about the seniors who we will never have a chance to appreciate again.

For starters, Scott Lantis and Mitchell Gabriele are Hillsdale Hornets no longer. It sounds weird, it is weird and losing them is kind of like taking the explosions and guns out of action movies.

Some area residents might be tired of hearing their names and seeing their faces plastered all over the sports section, but they have earned every bit of attention they have received.

There is good reason Gabriele will be playing football and basketball at Adrian and Lantis will be suiting up as a Hillsdale College Charger.

Lantis was his usual self pitching this year, going 9-1, but if was his defense as a shortstop and leadership that trump everything else.

Gabriele’s desire to ruthlessly dominate made him the best defensive catcher in the area once again and during the postseason he was locked and loaded at the plate, as if to say the only fitting end to his career would be another state championship.

Teammate Dillon Dirth benefited from Gabriele’s great game-calling abilities, tying a school record with nine pitching victories.

He only played for Chris Adams for two years after transferring, but his progress was a treat to watch and he was easily one of the most pin-point accurate pitchers in the county.

While he could blow through opposing lineups, teammate Tyler Vandeberghe could sprint around the basepaths and his feistiness and athleticism reminded me of a young Ricky Henderson. Not bad for a middle of the order guy.

Keeping the senior theme going, the Big Eight had a darn good local trio of its own.
Jonesville’s Ben Stemen kept his temper in tact in ’09 and drove in a school-record 52 RBIs on his way to being named league MVP.

Quincy senior Brandon Stempien went 8-2 on the hill, with a no-hitter tossed in and hit .438 with 36 RBIs to boot.

Probably my favorite of all the Big Eight stars who are now graduates is a Reading Ranger though.

Ryan “Bulldog” Dillon was in essence the perfect point guard in every sport he played. He connected with Rick Bailey to the point that he was basically another coach and motivator for his teammates.

He may not have been blessed with the same raw skills as some kids around here, but he was blessed with a true understanding of how to come through in the clutch, how to treat people and how to make high school athletic fans proud.

I truly hope someone fills the cleats of these seniors because they were phenomenal to cover, and there a few juniors well on their way.

Kurtis Tyler and Jake Jividen of C-F are example 1A. Tyler throws fireballs from the mound like he’s Super Mario and Jividen has a nice mix of power and patience at the plate.

In Jonesville, John Sigler hit an astonishing .481 this season and also proved he’s more than just a knuckleballer in going 9-1.

Eric Stetler of Quincy hit .340 and won seven games as the No. 2 pitcher and Pittsford junior Seth Weber is a bit unassuming at times, but he’s a grinder on the hill and has better pop at the plate than you would expect from a guy his size.

As long as I live I’ll be interested in the paths some of these youngsters take, but based on the determination and results I saw from them on the diamond I’m sure there are plenty more proud moments on the way.

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Hornet Power: Hillsdale baseball wins third straight district title

[caption id="attachment_667" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="The Hillsdale Hornets baseball team celebrates its sixth district championship trophy since 2000."][/caption]

Multimedia: Post-game audio interview with Hornets head coach Chris Adams

Hillsdale Hornets head coach Chris Adams has a lot of expectations for his players, but when they meet his crite­ria some of their own expec­tations are then met — like being crowned district champs.


Using some 'small-ball' tactics to rev the engine up and then putting the pedal to the metal in later innings, Hillsdale beat Jonesville 14-1, then took down Concord 11­-1 Saturday, to win the pro­gram's third straight district title and sixth since the turn of the century.


“The game plan is simply to come out and play solid de­fense, hit the ball, get good pitching, go gap-to-gap, we’re going to move runners and run the bases aggressively… we’re going to do things the right way and we were able to do that today and that’s excit­ing," Adams said. “We have a lot of fun with this group of kids, they come to play and we’ve got a lot of baseball kids and some phenomenal ath­letes too. This is always a goal that goes unspoken, and it’s not even a goal, it’s an expec­tation, an expectation to com­pete for a district champi­onship.”


While the usual suspects, senior stars Mitchell Gabriele and Scott Lantis were their usual productive selves Satur­day, guys like Tyler Vande­berghe and Brad Jenkins came through in the clutch on more than one occasion.


Vandeberghe totaled four hits, four RBIs and four runs and drew three walks while getting on base seven out of a possible eight times.


Jenkins got on base seven of nine trips to the plate and scored five runs, drew two walks, was hit by pitches twice and had three hits in­cluding a double.


“Brad has really stepped it up the last week-and-a-half, and that’s something we re­ally needed from him. He’s kind of been languishing there down in the nine spot and we put him up to two be­cause he’s a good bunter, he had a good weekend at the Adrian Invitational last week, and things just worked out for us today," Adams said.


"And Vandeberghe has been stroking it all year, he was actually leading our team in hitting until this weekend when Lantis kind of ex­ploded. Tyler hit .225 last year and he’s at almost .400 this year, and his defense is much improved. What can you say? Good things happen to good kids and they work hard, they bust their tails in practice.”


As Adams put it though, every guy on the roster was responsible for the success, because they came into dis­tricts prepared thanks to the type of competition that takes place in practice.


In the heavily hyped cross­town showdown with Jonesville, the Comets fought valiantly, but ultimately Hor­nets pitcher Dillon Dirth (9-­0) shut them down in a key fifth-inning spot to stomp out a possible rally and invoke his own team even more.


Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth Jonesville put run­ners on second and third with no outs, but Dirth struck out Jared Jordan, and was able to get John Sigler and Jay Bear­den to pop out and ground out to end the threat.


“A couple of bunts there hurt us, but that’s just how baseball goes. The momen­tum went their way and we couldn’t stop them," Jonesville head coach Dale Steward said. “That was a big play and turning point. If we could’ve got a couple of runs and at least made it tight…it’s a lot easier to bat when you’re ahead."

With the pressure on, the Comets went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts the following in­ning and the Hornets took control with a 10-run seventh inning shortly thereafter.


That inning included three walks and five hits, including an exclamation-point grand­slam from Hornet senior Scott Lantis to cap things off. Lantis was 3-for-3 with six RBIs, including two sacrifice flies in the semifinals rout.


To the surprise of many fans, he was not the starting pitcher though, as Adams went with Dirth, who didn't disappoint.


He got himself in several jams and the Comets made solid contact on him through­out the contest, but he ended up going the distance, giving up just one earned run and eight hits, while striking out six and walking three.


Ben Stemen took the loss for Jonesville, giving up 10 runs and 11 hits, while strik­ing out four, but Steward said he would start his senior again if he could do it all over.

It was a tough way to go out for a Jonesville team that went 21-6 in the regular sea­son and won an outright Big 8 championship, but Steward said he told his boys to keep their heads up and remember that next year only four starters will have graduated and "the cupboard will be far from empty."

“We’re still Big 8 champs, you can’t take that away from us…that’s pretty much what I told them," he said. "It was a good season, we went 22-7, good turnaround for Jonesville baseball and it’s a good way for the seniors to leave.”


Casey Clow had the Comets lone RBI, via a double in the first inning and Chase Jacks added two singles and walk in the loss.


The championship game was only 3-0 in favor of the Hornets, before a 6-run fifth inning did all but start the Yellow Jacket's bus for them.

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Comets wrap up Big Eight baseball crown

[caption id="attachment_590" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Jonesville senior Ben Stemen was the game one winner on the mound for the Comets. Photo courtesy of Gary Baker / Gatehouse News Services."][/caption]

A year after going 11-17 the Jonesville Comets baseball team has guaranteed itself at least a share of the Big Eight regular season crown.

The Comets were able to get to one of the league's best pitchers, Brandon Stempien, and senior Joe Kroa crushed the first two homers of his entire career as Jonesville downed Quincy 4-3 and 9-5 in the most crucial contests of the Big Eight season.

The Comets came into the doubleheader with a 9-1 league mark, while the Orioles sported an 8-1 Big Eight record.

Now Jonesville needs to win just one of its final two games, against Union City and Springport, to clinch an outright championship.

"We're more stable this year and my coaching position was set, unlike last year. We never lacked any confidence and the guys definitely put in the time," Jonesville head coach Dale Steward said. "Our goal has been to win the conference and win districts, because Jonesville hasn't won a district title in who knows how long. We've got one goal out of the way."

The first contest was back and forth with the Orioles taking a 3-2 lead in the fourth, but the Comets would have the final say.

Kroa's homer broke a 3-all tie in the top of the seventh inning and Ben Stemen held Quincy off the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning to complete the victory.

"He got a fastball and it was just up in the zone a little bit," Quincy head coach Brett Allman said about Kroa's long-ball off his ace Stempien, who pitched a perfect game earlier this season.

Stemen added a home run and John Sigler and Casey Clow had two hits apiece as the Comets took the first step toward securing the title.

Stemen struck out seven and scattered eight hits while giving up three runs, two earned.

Stempien's final line was seven innings pitched, seven strikeouts, eight hits and four runs, two of which were earned.

Both Stempien and Eric Stetler had two hits, while Shane Rider, Joe Neely and Kiefer Lah all drove in runs.

In the nightcap the Comets jumped on the Orioles for six runs in the third inning, and while Allman's squad fought back, they never fully recovered.

Kroa's 3-run homer in the third inning was the finisher and Jay Bearden added three singles.

Despite the results Thursday, Allman was still proud of his boys.

"It was 0-0 through the top of three in the second game, so I don't think we (put to much pressure on ourselves after the first loss). The difference really is just that they hit the ball well throughout the lineup and we didn't," he said. "Anytime you don't reach one goal you have to keep your head up and realize there are other goals still out there to go after. I was proud we fought in the second game after going down 8-0 and I told the kids that."

Lance Hammill had three hits including a double and Phil Fast and Stetler drove in runs for the Orioles, who were Big Eight co-champs in 2008.

Sigler earned the pitching victory, giving up eight hits and five runs in five-and-two-third innings, while Stetler took the loss, with nine runs on nine hits and five strikeouts.

"They have basically every starter back from last year and Dale has done a good job with those guys. A few years ago their JV team did finish second, just a game behind us in the league, so it's not as big a surprise as you might think," Allman said.

The Comets are now 17-5 overall, while the Orioles fall to 15-9.

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