Humbled Hornets: One bad inning costs Hillsdale in heartbreaker

[caption id="attachment_729" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Senior Tyler Vandeberghe and head coach Chris Adams share a moment following Hillsdale's season-ending loss.It is doubtful Chris Adams knew just how fortuitous his words from earlier this week would be in the regional semifinals at Clinton Saturday."][/caption]

It is doubtful Chris Adams knew just how fortuitous his words from earlier this week would be in the regional semifinals at Clinton Saturday.

“I think the team that’s going to come out of our region is the team with the best pitching and the team that makes the fewest mistakes — maybe not the fewest errors, but the fewest mistakes,” the Hillsdale baseball coach said in an interview on Thursday.

For six innings Saturday, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard made a few more mistakes and Hillsdale had a decided advantage in the pitching department.

The Hornets (23-10) built a 4-2 lead and needed just three more outs to advance to the regional finals to help alleviate some of the pain from a 2008 regional semifinals loss.

But two errors, a hit batter and three straight run-scoring hits for the Fighting Irish brought Gabriel Richard fans to their feet and sent the Hornets into an emotional tail-spin at the most inopportune time, ultimately sending them home on the wrong side of a 7-4 final score.

[caption id="attachment_730" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Senior Mitchell Gabriele and head coach Chris Adams mull Saturday's loss in the dugout following the game."][/caption]

“It’s quite possible that we were the better team, and we told the kids that today just wasn’t our day. Unfortunately our mistakes came late and were tougher to overcome,” Adams said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow. The (seniors) are never going to play high school baseball again. I get to come back and coach next year — they don’t, they don’t get a second chance.”

After Hillsdale scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-all tie, on bases-loaded walks to Brad Jenkins and Scott Lantis, Dillon Dirth returned to the mound one final time after allowing just four hits and two runs in the first six innings.

But right away, the Fighting Irish’s nine-hitter Justin Goike got on base thanks to an infield error, Dirth hit Dennis Ostrowski and a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third.

Nonetheless, Adams stuck by his senior ace, who was 9-0 coming into the game.

“He got out of three (similar situations) in this game. Sometimes something bad has to happen for him to really knuckle down and start pitching,” Adams said. “He did a great  job and I really can’t say enough about all of those seniors.”

This time Dirth was not so fortunate.

Nolan Breymaier knocked an RBI single and Conor Dishman drove a pitch to deep right field, where the Hornet fielder lost the ball in the sun and Dishman made it all the way to third base while two runners came home.

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Hornets go all in: Hillsdale will be tested in loaded regional Saturday

[caption id="attachment_709" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Hillsdale junior Darren Wiseley walks to the plate for an at-bat in a league contest earlier this season. Saturday, Wiseley and his teammates will take on Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard in the regional semifinals."][/caption]

If they’re going to end up in the state quarterfinals a week from this afternoon, the Hillsdale High School baseball team will have to plow through some first-rate competition this weekend.

The three teams in their regional have a combined total of 21 losses.

One of the schools, Lumen Christi, has knocked the Hornets football team out of the state playoffs two of the past four years and rallied from four runs down to beat Hillsdale on the diamond earlier this season.

And the host school Clinton, is 32-5, ranked No. 7 in Division 3 and has lost just once in the last four weeks.

Difficult?

Yes.

But impossible?

Certainly not if you ask head coach Chris Adams.

“Rankings don’t mean anything this time of season. You know, you get to regionals, and once in a while a team will get lucky and win a district, but for the most part you’re dealing with, and I’m not just talking record wise...all good teams,” Adams said. “I think the team that’s going to come out of our region is the team with the best pitching and the team that makes the fewest mistakes — maybe not the fewest errors, but the fewest mistakes.”

At least Hillsdale can wait until the finals to face either the Redskins or Titans, but Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard (30-7) will be no breeze in the semis, fresh off their winningest regular season ever and a thrilling district championship win last weekend.

They toppled Manchester 6-5 with a seventh-inning RBI double at Grass Lake to earn a spot in the regional field, after beating Grass Lake 9-0 behind a 10 strikeout no-hitter from Chris Ostrowski in the semis.

Ostrowski is an all-league sophomore who has thrown several no-hitters this year and struck out 10 or more a handful of times.

“He’s a bigger kid and he throws the ball OK velocity wise,” Adams said. “Grass Lake is down this year, so we didn’t get a real good read on what he did. I think he just pretty much stuck with the fastball and was able to dominate.”

On top of that, coach Greg Lenhoff isn’t afraid to use as many pitchers as he needs to win a contest, evident by him using five in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Notre Dame Prep.

The Fighting Irish have been pretty good at limiting the opposition this season, holding opponents to one or no runs 11 times in 2009.

And at the plate they’re similar to some teams Hillsdale has faced, according to Adams.

“They match-up with us pretty well and they’re kind of like Jonesville in that they’re free swingers who like to swing the bats. We just want to take the same approach we did last weekend pretty much,” Adams said.

Hillsdale will start Dillon Dirth opposite Ostrowski, not surprising considering he is 9-0 with a 1.37 ERA and was the No. 1 pitcher at districts.

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Division 4 baseball and softball regional previews and picks

Here is a look at the Division 4 baseball and softball regional action that will take place at Homer this Saturday. A rundown of all of the matchups is followed by my picks:

Softball
Ottawa Lake Whiteford (22-8) vs. Camden-Frontier (16-6), 10 a.m.; Homer (20-10) vs. Petersburg-Summerfield (23-4), noon.; Championship 2 p.m.
Other media outlets continue to talk about Homer as the team to beat following a run all the way to last year's Division 4 state title game, where they came up short, but people need to remember they surprised plenty of "favorites" in 2008 and they could be upset themselves this year.
Ace Paige Winchell is nearly un-hittable on the mound at times and she mowed right through the opposing lineups in districts, but their hitting attack has been a bit hot-and-cold this season.
Winchell is hitting nearly .460 while Vickie VanWert checks in at .412, but the bottom of the lineup is not always a tough out.
Petersburg-Summerfield (23-4) is certainly a worthy opponent  in the semifinals, one from the extremely competitive Tri-County Conference, so they're battle tested to say the least.
Summerfield actually beat Homer 10-0 in the regional final two years ago, but many of the Trojan's top players were only sophomores.
Summerfield had it easy last weekend though, with a bye in the semifinals, and a 16-0 championship game win over Britton-Deerfield.
Ottawa Lake Whiteford is also at TCC team, one who has a 22-8 record and is led by top pitcher Kesley Hutchison. She pitched a one-hitter (against Waldron) and five-hitter last weekend to guide her team to the regional round.
Hutchinson, along with Kelsie Barron, Kim Lambert and Caitlin Granata of Whiteford were all named to the All-Tri-County Conference Softball Team recently.
Whoever starts on the mound for Camden-Frontier, Megan Schwartzengraber or Morgan Warfield, should create the opportunity for a fantastic pitchers dual with Hutchison.
This is the Redskins third regional since 2000, and second in a row, after they lost to Homer last season.
Editor's pick: One thing that makes this an extremely difficult regional to pick is the fact that all four of these teams have outstanding pitchers that can carry them through the entire afternoon. That said, I think Homer does get the job done against Summerfield because of how they've been playing and because Winchell has proven to be a big-game player, especially on her home-turf. I don't think things will go quite as well for C-F fans unfortunately. I'm concerned that their defense could hurt them if the game stays tight and they showed a bit of vulnerability against Reading in the district semifinals last Friday. I know they'll play their hearts out, but I think depth becomes a factor at this point. Ultimately it's almost a toss-up in the finals, but I'm going to go with Summerfield just because I'm tired of hearing Homer fans say how great their team is, when they couldn't even win a Big Eight crown.

Baseball
Homer (21-13) vs. Petersburg-Summerfield (13-10), 10 a.m.; Reading (19-9) vs. Ottawa Lake Whiteford, 12:30.; Championship 3 p.m.

The Rangers are playing the poised, championship style of baseball that people have come to expect of Rick Bailey's teams in June, but the competition will be stiff at the Homer regional Saturday.
They will face a veteran Ottawa Lake Whiteford team who starts seven seniors in the regional semifinals, after the Bobcats crushed Waldron 20-0 and beat Lenawee Christian 8-0 in district play last weekend.
Whiteford can put up some runs, like the 28 it put on Madison earlier this season, but most of their wins come via strong pitching and mistake-free defense.
On Wednesday the Bobcats played one of Division 3's best teams in Blissfield and lost just 7-6 at Adrian College.
Starting pitcher John Morrison pitched a three-hit shutout in Whiteford's district championship victory.
On the other side of the bracket, Homer faces Petersburg-Summerfield.
Homer is 20-10, but finished just fourth in the Big Eight and had a pair of easy 10-0 wins over Tekonsha and North Adams-Jerome in district play.
Summerfield is an interesting case because they are only 13-10, but they come from a strong TCC conference and are coming off an impressive showing in districts.
Jake Gilstorff pitched a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts in s semifinals bout with Saline Washtenaw Christian, before Tyler Glass hurled a no-hitter with five strikeouts in the championship game against Ypsilanti Calvary Christian.
Gilstorff also hit two homers and drove in six runs in the semifinals.
The competition was far from the best, but they dominated the field nonetheless, making them a tough read.
Editor's pick: I mulled over this one from sunrise to sunset Thursday, just because I try and give you my honest, well-thought out opinion, instead of what my heart's telling me. I came up with this: Reading's intangibles give them the slight edge over a fairly even field, but Homer has the home-field advantage. Thus, those two make the semifinals, setting up an all Big Eight final. I say if Reading can beat Camden-Frontier's Kurtis Tyler, like they did last week, they can hang with any pitcher as long as their own pitching and defense holds up. Part of me hopes Bailey thinks he can make it to the finals without putting Ryan Dillon out to the mound, so the Rangers can save him for the championship game. If this indeed happens it's just the edge Reading needs. Hopefully this savvy group of youngsters can make me look smart come Saturday.

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Thanks Reading and Hillsdale

A column that was published in the June 3 edition of the Hillsdale Daily News.

There have been times throughout my career as a fan and even sportswriter, that the enchanting sport of curling was by far the preferred choice over watching a baseball game.

With expensive “golden brooms”, the strategy equivalents of chess on ice and heart-pounding collisions of polished granite stones with victory on the line, there is something simple, yet exhilarating about the Olympic sport.

Contrastingly, I have felt bogged down and worn out from so much baseball the past few years.

Part of it is the number of high school games I’ve gone to that have been 18-3 and another factor are the contests that have a combined total of 26 walks — where it seems like getting on base is just like passing go in Monopoly.

So many of the current generations’ kids seem to play with a “homer or strikeout” mentality and what made baseball such a compelling sport of gamesmanship, thinking and skill when it was our country’s irrefutable pastime, seems to have become diluted by fans complaining about strike zones, whispers of performance-enhancing drugs and a lack of respect for some of the core essentials of what has made the game so great.

Thankfully, the Reading Rangers and Hillsdale Hornets renewed my passion for the ole’ ball game this past week with inspiring efforts of determination and though-provoking tactic.

I remembered what it was like to feel like a kid again, and although I still much prefer curling on a Nintendo Wii to trying to strike out Alex Rodriguez, I am genuinely excited about this weekend’s regional baseball action.

To the Rangers' credit, Rick Bailey’s troops reminded me of how part of baseball’s mystique is how there is always a belief that a game isn’t over until the final out, in essence making each inning like a mini-game within a greater competition.

Every pitcher and hitter bring individual tendencies and talents to the plate and mound, and some guys can’t hit good curves from lefties, but can crush solid fastballs from righties; and even a dominant ace has a pitch-count ceiling where they go from invincible to hittable.

The Rangers’ role in restoring my confidence came from winning a pair of one-run games to win the district championship at Camden-Frontier.

In the semifinals, C-F charged back from a 2-0 deficit in the top of the seventh inning and the Rangers were forced to outlast the Redskins in a memorable 3-2 win in 11 innings.

The difference between the two teams in the hour-long session of extra innings seemed to simply be the confidence they embodied.

Camden-Frontier is a team still learning how to win, fresh off its first SCAA East title in a long time, and they seemed to be playing not to lose, instead of to win. They were hesitant with their swings at the plate and personified a freshman guy going to the junior-senior prom with one of the school’s most popular girls.

And that’s OK, I was the guy sweating on the bench in JV basketball, it’s just an observation I made.

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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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Hillsdale County district diamond preview

District 81-3
Location: Hanover-Horton
Saturday (starting at 10 a.m.)
Teams: Albion, Concord, Jonesville, Hillsdale

BASEBALL
Synopsis: The first-round showdown between Jonesville and Hillsdale is the game local baseball fans have been waiting all year to see. The Hornets are 21-9 overall and co-SMAA champs, while Jonesville is 22-6 and are the outright Big Eight champions. Both teams have strong pitching and the ability to put up a lot of runs, so it should be a contest fans remember for years to come. The winner will play the winner of the Albion-Concord contest. The Hornets beat Albion 17-2 and 13-3 less than a month ago and for being a pretty good sports school, this Wildcat team just doesn't have enough talented baseball players. Concord is an interesting case, as they are 12-14-2 overall, but are 8-2-1 over their last 11 games and scored 60 runs in their final 60 contests. Jonesville beat Concord twice this season, 6-1 and 12-1.
Editor's pick: This is one of two really hard districts to pick because I love what both Hillsdale County teams have brought to the table this season and I would be shocked if either the Comets or Hornets didn't bring home the district trophy. But, when push comes to shove I have to pick one of the two schools and all I keep thinking about is pitching ace Scott Lantis. The Hornet senior is no stranger to big games and more often than not he comes through as expected. He's had a few hiccups this season, but if he has a good first inning and finds his rhythm I don't think Ben Stemen or John Sigler can silence the Hornet bats enough for the Comets to end Hillsdale's season. Ultimately I see Hillsdale beating Concord in a close championship game to finish out a momentous afternoon.

SOFTBALL
Synopsis: The Comets and Hornets also meet on the softball diamond in round one, but the buildup for this contest is not quite as big. Jonesville did win the Addison Tournament recently and finished out the season 12-18, but Hillsdale has struggled to put together an entire consistent week of play all season. Concord and Albion haven't had years to remember either though. Albion has been at the bottom of the SMAA all year and Concord is 4-28 on the season, but surprisingly chalked up one of its wins at the expense of Jonesville.
Editor's pick: The best team on paper in this district was actually Hanover-Horton, but Jonesville upset the 20-13 Komets 3-2 Tuesday and now have a straight path to a trophy if all plays out as I expect. The Hornets have made strides under new coach Lottie LoPresto and Jenna Crawford is a solid top pitcher, but Jonesville has too many bats and senior pitcher Kelsey Aemisegger has thrown well the past few weeks. Unless the Comets shoot themselves in the foot with too many errors, which has happened a few times this season, I see them taking care of business. The Comets should win the championship game over either opposing squad, unless a major upset takes place.

District 118-4
Location: Camden-Frontier
Friday (starting at 1:30 p.m.)
Teams: Camden-Frontier, Reading, Pittsford

BASEBALL
Synopsis: With Will Carleton Academy dropping out Pittsford is a shoe-in for the championship game, but the lone semifinal contest should be a doozie. Under head coach Nate Gust the host Redskins have experienced a resurgence of sorts with an SCAA East title and 16-10 record. Kurtis Tyler is arguably one of the top pitchers in the county and Jake Jividens has some pop, and Brady Nusbaum can be counted on to get on base. The Rangers are one of the area's hottest teams, finishing in a tie for second place in the Big Eight after struggling out of the gate. Senior Ryan "Bulldog" Dillon has the leadership, a solid bat and great glove at the catcher's position and several Ranger pitchers have shown the ability to leave opposing hitters confused whenever they're accuracy is on. Pittsford is a 10-12 team that has beaten the teams they expected to, but seems to lack a dominant pitcher. On the flip side, they've had at least a half-dozen hitters come through in big spots throughout the season.
Editor's pick: This is the other toughy. Rick Bailey is a championship coach who has a red-hot team right now, but Tyler can be a dominant pitcher at times, and he has the home-field advantage. I'm going to say the only thing that holds the Redskins back Friday is the "big-game experience" that almost every Ranger player has. Reading also beat Quincy and Jonesville in the regular season, proof they can beat anyone. The "feel-good" story here would be for Gust's team to win the title, but I think Bailey is going to add another banner to his high school full of them by beating C-F first and then toppling Pittsford, in what could be a closer contest than some people think.

SOFTBALL
Synopsis: As in the baseball bracket, the Wildcats have a free-pass to the title game. That leaves another Reading, Camden-Frontier bout. The Rangers have been a middle-of-the-road Big Eight team that pulled some upsets along the way, and Kasie Owens can be tough to hit when she's on. The Redskins are the SCAA East champs, mainly behind the pitching of Megan Schwartzengraber and Morgan Warfield and leadership of catcher Kara Bryner. They stumbled a bit in the middle of the season, but recovered nicely, albeit against some of the weaker teams in the SCAA. Pittsford is an 8-20 team that struggles with errors at times, but seems to do well in low-scoring pitching duals when their defense is solid.
Editor's pick: I have no doubt in my mind that the Redskins pitching is just too good for the competition it will see. Even though the C-F bats went cold for a few weeks in early May I don't think it will matter. On their home field, with arguably one of the states best 1-2 pitching punches in Division 4 I think it's a no-brainer. Pittsford did actually beat C-F once earlier this year, but I think the Redskins learned from that surprising defeat.

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Hornets on high: Hillsdale crushes Webberville to gain share of SMAA crown

[caption id="attachment_607" align="alignleft" width="450" caption="Hillsdale senior Scott Lantis is greeted by teammates after his first of three home runs Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Nick Sarles / HDN."][/caption]

By Jim Pruitt / Hillsdale Daily News

The Hillsdale Hornets destroyed an out-matched Webberville team Tuesday night to claim a share of the SMAA baseball conference title.

The Hornets celebrated their win by smashing a piece of cake into the face of coach Chris Adams who celebrated his birthday Tuesday as well. This was the school's fourth conference title in five years.

The Hornets swept the Spartans in two mercy-rule shortened affairs, 12-0 and 18-3, to move 13-1 in the conference and 17-7 overall. Hillsdale's lone league loss was to co-champion Western.

“It's good to be co-champs if you are going to share it with a good team like Western,” Adams said. “We had two decent games against them and managed to run the table.”
The title sets the Hornets up for a deep run in the postseason, which Adams said is the program's goal.

“It's a sign of our success,” he said.

As for the Webberville sweep, Adams was happy to be able play everyone. The team responded with a 30-run, 32-hit attack that featured four home runs, and several extra-base hits.

Scott Lantis led the attack with a 6-for-8 day with three home runs and 10 RBIs to pace Hillsdale.  Dillon Dirth had a two-run homer in the first game.

“What a day at the plate,” Adams said of Lantis' effort. “We need him to start hitting the ball.”

Webberville played with only eight men in the first game due academic ineligibility of two players.

Hillsdale opened the first game by sending 10 men to the plate and scoring six times.

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Comets earn outright Big Eight title

[caption id="attachment_604" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="The Jonesville Comets are outright Big Eight baseball champs in 2009."][/caption]

The Jonesville baseball team officially made the Big Eight regular season crown its own with an 11-1 mercy-rule win over Union City Tuesday.

The Comets scored runs in each of the first four innings, including six in the fourth to earn sole possession of the title.

Jonesville is now 12-1 in Big Eight play, with its lone loss coming to Reading.

Ben Stemen was the winning pitcher, striking out six and walking six in five innings. He also added three RBI.

Teammate Casey Clow did likewise, hitting a double and triple, while driving in three runs.

Joe Kroa added two RBI and John Sigler had two hits.

The Comets are 18-5 overall.

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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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Friday night's Hillsdale County high school diamond roundup

[caption id="attachment_541" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Hillsdale senior Scott Lantis shrugged off a rough first inning pitching with a two-run bomb just minutes later. "][/caption]

Player of the Day: Brandon Stempien, Quincy

The feat: The same week he threw a perfect game, Stempien homered in three straight at-bats Friday and also picked up a complete game victory on the mound.

Friday's Other Diamond Stars
Jennifer Doriot, Wald.
• Stempien wasn’t the only one with three HRs Friday. Doriot hit two in her first game and one in the nightcap. She totaled 5 RBI in a sweep.

Jenna Crawford, Hills.
• The Hornet pitcher put together two complete game victories, totaling 14 strikeouts and allowing just five hits.

MacKenzie Price, Waldron
• The Spartans ace pitched two complete-game shutouts and struck out nine.

[caption id="attachment_542" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Jonesville softball team settled for a split with Athens Friday. Photo courtesy of Larry Jose."][/caption]

Drew Byers, Hillsdale
• The Hornets No. 8 hitter drove in seven runs on four hits in a pair of wins over Albion. In the nightcap he had three hits, including a triple and double to go with his six RBI.

Scott Lantis, Hillsdale
• The Hornet senior picked up another win on the mound (4 H, 4 K), but he also hit for the cycle over the course of the doubleheader sweep.

Tyler Vandeberghe, Hills.
• Vandeberghe scored five runs, added two hits and two RBI in the Hornets doubleheader.

[caption id="attachment_543" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Hillsdale's Tiki Malone drilled a solo shot over the wall in the third inning of the first game with Albion Friday."][/caption]

Ryan Dillon, Reading
• He earned a complete-game victory on the mound (3 ER, 5 K) in the first game and totaled three RBI on the evening.

Ben Stemen, Jonesville
• Stemen struck out seven in a game-one win on the mound and added two homers and four RBI in the same contest.

Notable:

• Jonesville maintained the Big Eight baseball conference lead by improving to 9-0, while Quincy sits 1.5 games back at 7-1. In the SMAA, the Hillsdale baseball team is currently tied with Western for the top spot at 9-1. The teams split earlier this season.

For all of the area scores from Friday, click below:

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Cardinals take two from Hornets in cross-county clash

[caption id="attachment_532" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Hillsdale senior Scott Lantis tags out Coldwater junior Seth Szafranski Thursday, but Szafranski would have the final laugh, in a Cardinals sweep. Photo courtesy of Gary Baker / Coldwater Daily Reporter."][/caption]

Coldwater junior Seth Szafranski was too much and the Hillsdale Hornets late-inning rallies weren't quite enough Thursday.


The Cardinals toppled the Hornets 10-8 and 4-1 in a doubleheader in Coldwater. Hillsdale took a 3-2 lead to the fourth inning of the opener, but a five-run in­ning by Coldwater proved to be enough.


The Hornets scored two runs in the seventh to make a 10-6 game just a two-run affair and they even loaded the bases, but they left them that way.

Bobby White was victori­ous for the Cardinals, while Hillsdale's Mitchell Gabriele (1-1) took the loss on the hill, striking out three and walking three.


Szafranski was a home run shy of the cycle for Coldwater, knocking a sin­gle, double and triple to go with an RBI.


Derek Miller added a three-run home run in the fourth for the Cardinals.


Darren Wisely had three hits and two RBI for Hills­dale and Dillon Dirth added a home run and drove in two runs.


Charlie Vear and Mitchell Gabriele also picked up two hits apiece.


Both teams committed five errors in what Hornet head coach Chris Adams called a 'far from perfect contest'. Nonetheless, Adams was pleased with how his troops battled.


"We were down 10-6 and we kept fighting. My guys show they don't quit and they have some mental toughness," he said.


In the nightcap it was more of the same for his squad though.


Szafranski added three more hits, including the homer that eluded him in the opener, and from Adams' recollection the dinger was no puny home run.


"His bomb in the second game is probably still going — it landed somewhere over by the soccer field," he said. "Szafranski is a stud, let me tell ya. He was defi­nitely a Hornet killer today."

The Hornets scored their lone run in the seventh in­ning, when they once again saw the game come to an end with the bases juiced.


Josh Plant earned the pitching victory for Coldwa­ter, allowing just five hits, while Wisely (1-3) suffered the loss, striking out three and walking three.


Wisely and Gabriele both had doubles in the loss.


The 10-6 Hornets turn around and take on league foe Albion in a home dou­bleheader this afternoon, beginning at 4 p.m. The Hornets lead the SMAA.

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Orioles ace tosses perfect game

[caption id="attachment_498" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="It took Quincy's Brandon Stempien only 67 pitches Tuesday to orchestrate a perfect game against Springport. Photo courtesy of Gary Baker / Gatehouse News Services."][/caption]

It took Brandon Stempien only 67 pitches to achieve perfection Tuesday.

Sometimes perfection is used in very imperfect contexts, but not in this case, as the Quincy Orioles pitching ace struck out 11, allowed no hits and walked zero in a 4-0 win over Big Eight foe Springport.

"There's only one time I can remember anything like this, and it was when I was a coach at Eastside in Indiana, and a guy struck out 20, but he had a few walks," Quincy head coach Brett Allman said. "It's the first perfect game I've been a part of as a coach and I think the guys were pretty excited about it, it's pretty cool."

Maybe the most impressive stat of all is the fact Stempien (5-1) threw just nine balls the entire evening, and averaged just over nine pitches per inning.

"He just got stronger the last three innings," Allman said. "After every inning he would tell me he was good. He didn't say anything (about the chance for a perfect game), but he knew he was pitching well today."

Allman said it was a neat experience for the entire team, and it also required strong efforts from everyone involved to make it happen.

"You get no-hitters in high school ball once in a while, but a perfect game takes your defense playing a perfect game and everybody getting the job done," Allman said.

Stempien also helped himself out at the plate, with two doubles and an RBI.

Bryan Craig added two hits and an RBI, while Joe Neely had two hits as well.

With the win the Orioles improve to 5-1 in league play.

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Hornets out-slug the Tigers, score 24 runs in sweep

[caption id="attachment_417" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Hillsdale junior Kirk Putnam put this Hudson pitch over the wall in the first inning Thursday, for his first career homerun as a varsity player. Photo by Nick Sarles / HDN."][/caption]

By RJ Walters / Daily News Sports Editor

As published in the Hillsdale Daily News on April 17, 2009

A first-year varsity player hitting his first varsity homer in his very first home at-bat is one way to set the tone.

The Hillsdale Hornets can thank Kirk Putnam for doing just that Thursday.

The junior slugger drilled a pitch over the left field wall as part of a six-run first inning in the first of two Hornet wins over the Hudson Tigers, in a non-conference double-header.

The Hornet bats were alive all evening, as Hillsdale compiled 19 hits and 24 runs in 14-5 and 10-6 victories, evening its record at 2-2.

If conference's gave out Comeback Player of the Year awards, Putnam would be the early front-runner in the SMAA. He didn't play a single game last season, sitting out due to a back injury and he only took a few at-bats over the weekend, yet Hornet head coach Chris Adams said he likes his power in the eight-spot and thinks Putnam is capable of hitting around .280 or .290.

"He's got some pop and he's strong, kind of in the mold of a Drew Berube or Matt Ryan," Adams said.

While he provided some fireworks early on, Dillon Dirth was a hitting machine in the opener, getting three hits, including two doubles and driving in three RBI. He also scored three runs.

While senior stars Scott Lantis and Mitchell Gabriele struggled, going a combined 1-7, plenty of other players picked up the slack.

Kurtis Condon went 3-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Tyler Vanderberghe and Drew Byers both picked up hits off the bench.

"This might be one of the deepest teams I've had," Adams said. "Today Lantis caught, played in the field and at second, and Mitchell pitched and played first, and he's our everyday catcher; there is a lot of competition still taking place at the positions and I told guys not to be surprised when they move around."

One thing that wasn't moving around as much as Adams would've liked in game one was Darren Wisely's fastball.

He earned the victory despite walking nine and allowing five hits and four earned runs. He struggled to get the ball up into the strike zone and he threw 113 pitches in just four innings of work.

Nonetheless, Adams said it is just some minor adjustments that needed to be made.

"He's one of the guys who plays ball year round, and his dad is an assistant, so I'm not worried, we just have to work with him on some mechanics," Adams said. "Four of his walks he had full-counts on, so he was close."

For Hudson (4-4), Alex Middleton showed signs of brilliance, striking out Gabriele and Lantis back-to-back in the fifth, but giving up six runs in the first inning and three more in the third was insurmountable.

He struck out five, but took the loss after allowing 10 earned runs and 11 hits in five-and-a-third innings.

He was also one of Hudson's bright spots at the plate, going 3-3 with two RBI.
Leadoff hitter Taylor Milligan was the definition of an "on-base" guy in the first game, walking five times and scoring three runs.

The nightcap also included a six-run outburst from the Hornets, but this time it was in the bottom of the sixth.

Condon's two-run double put the Hornets ahead, and they added several insurance runs for good measure.

Dirth had another good outing in the second win, picking up a double and single and scoring two more runs.

Jenkins also added an RBI and two runs, while Wisely had two hits.

Gabriele started for Hillsdale and went four innings, allowing four runs (one earned) and striking out two, but it was Condon who picked up the win. He went the final three innings and gave up two runs on two hits.

Mitchell Webb suffered the loss for Hudson and the defense behind him didn't help his cause. He allowed 10 runs, but only three of them were earned, as the Tigers committed four errors.

Luke Milligan led Hudson with three RBI.

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COMING TOMORROW: FINALLY — A SIT DOWN WITH HILLSDALE COLLEGE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR DON BRUBACHER DISCUSSING THE INCIDENT INVOLVING THE COLLEGE NEWSPAPER, CHARGER BASEBALL TEAM AND ANIMAL CARCASSES.

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