It was a season of repeat champions in high school baseball.
Grand Rapids Christian won its second straight in Division 2, while Bishop Foley made it three in a row in Division 3.
Christian proved how important it was to peak during the postseason. Its 3-0 victory over Richmond in the title game at Battle Creek on June 15 ended its season at 19-15.
The team was 7-0 in the postseason after a 12-15 regular season record. Yet Brent Gates’ squad emerged as state kings for the second straight season.
“We had a rough start, as everyone knows,” Gates said. “But you have to be playing good baseball at the right time, and we certainly were doing that.”
Austin Batka went all seven innings for Christian, striking out eight batters and allowing two hits and two walks.
“My confidence definitely grew, especially having no hits going into the seventh inning,” Batka said. He added that at midseason, when the team was struggling, “I knew we were getting better every day. I knew we were going to make a run but didn’t know how far.”
“For him to go out, and he’s only a junior, I was really proud of him,” Gates said.
In the title game, Christian only had four hits but made them count. Tyler Sigler opened the second on a triple and scored on a throwing error. In the fifth, Adam Warners was hit by a pitch and later scored. “We wanted to try to get that run early and then try to push a couple more across and put the pressure on the other side,” Gates said.
Adam Batka added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Richmond’s season ended at 34-5.
Christian had gotten a banner pitching performance in the 1-0 win over Chippewa Hills in the semifinal. Alex VanDeVusse threw a two-hitter. In the bottom of the fourth, Tyler Davidson reached base on a throwing error, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on VanDeVusse’s squeeze bunt.
“When you have two arms like we have, it makes it a lot easier,” Gates said.
DIVISION 3
It wasn’t even close, with Bishop Foley securing the three-peat with a 12-5 win over Calvin Christian in the title game. The champs ended the season at 35-2-1, while Calvin Christian closed out at 23-2.
In the title game, Bishop Foley scored four runs the first three innings and followed up with five in the fourth. William Malak had two hits, two walks, and three RBI for the Ventures. David Chung had two hits and an RBI, and Michael Murley added two hits and scored three runs while also collecting an RBI. Nathaniel Grys had two hits and scored three runs. Chad Gravelin was the winning pitcher.