D3 Contenders Hold On for 1-run Wins
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 16, 2017
EAST LANSING – It looked like a mismatch. Madison Heights Bishop Foley, an annual powerhouse with plenty of pitching that had breezed through the tournament, against a sub-.500 team with little past tournament success.
It was anything but. Caro put a scare into the Ventures, but Bishop Foley held on for a 3-2 victory in a Division 3 Semifinal at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium on Friday.
Bishop Foley (24-12) will play top-ranked Traverse City St. Francis for the title at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
St. Francis (38-3) advanced to its first Final thanks to some fine pitching and Cooper Peterson’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning that pushed across the winning run in a 3-2 victory over Schoolcraft.
Bishop Foley, ranked No. 7 heading into this postseason and Division 3 champ from 2011-13, is a member of the highly competitive Detroit Catholic League, and the Ventures weren’t expected to be tested by a team that started 0-7 and had to adjust to a coaching change after the slow start.
Ethan Hoffman went the distance for the victory as he struck out 11 and surrendered two hits, one walk and one earned run.
The Ventures scored runs in the first, third and fifth innings off Deven Hodder. Although they didn’t have many hard-hit balls, the Ventures appeared to be in good shape going into the top of the sixth inning.
But Caro’s Dylan Brown led off with a triple and scored on Conner Langenburg’s sacrifice bunt. Langenburg reached base on an error and later scored on a failed pickoff attempt. The Tigers had the tying run on first when Steven Strachan III was hit by a pitch, but the inning ended on a failed stolen base attempt.
Hoffman then set the side down in order in the seventh inning, sending the Ventures to their fifth MHSAA Final.
“I came in and did my routine,” Hoffman said. “Everything was working. I established my fastball early. That sixth was pretty nerve-racking. That seventh showed I could come back from that.”
Bishop Foley made a couple of base-running miscues as well. Evan Finegan knocked in the Ventures’ first run with a single but Justin Campbell, who had drawn a walk one batter earlier, was picked off of second to end the inning.
A Campbell single scored Finegan for Bishop Foley’s third run in the fifth inning, but a pickoff ended that rally as well.
Second-year Bishop Foley coach Greg Fettes is happy to be in the Final, but he wasn’t pleased with the overall play of his team.
“I told my guys that the only team that’s going to beat us in this tournament is ourselves,” Fettes said. “You almost saw that in the sixth. We haven’t done that all year. We looked like a Little League team.”
Fettes wasn’t pleased with his players’ approach at the plate either. Bishop Foley had scored 36 runs over its last three games entering Friday.
“That’s what we do, swing, swing, swing,” he said. “Look at our playoff wins. I’ll have them ready to go (on Saturday).”
Caro (15-22) outplayed Bishop Foley defensively. Shortstop Mason Campbell made a leaping catch to rob Finegan of a hit to start the sixth and Strachan, the first baseman, made an over-the-shoulder catch going down the foul line to retire the next batter.
Caro coach Victor Gomez said it was a smooth transition for him when he took over the program. He was an assistant for two seasons and was familiar with the players.
“We just had to let the kids know we believed in them,” he said. “I watched them grow up. I saw they had the skill set.”
Traverse City St. Francis 3, Schoolcraft 2
Joe Muzljakovich pitched the first 6 2/3 innings for St. Francis and kept his team in the game by getting out of bases loaded situation in the fifth. He was removed with the bases loaded in the seventh, and Conner Sweet came on in relief and threw one pitch to get out of that jam.
Gabe Callery, the leadoff hitter, led off the eighth for St. Francis with a walk and ended up at third base after a failed pick-off and sacrifice. Junior Cooper Peterson came up to bad and did what coach Tom Passinault told him to do.
“He told me just to get a piece of the ball,” Peterson said. “He said get it to the outfield. I just kind of poked it. (Darren Kehoe) threw me a curve and I was a little out front.”
Ricky Clark batted in Schoolcraft’s first run in the first inning with a ground out that scored Nolan Anspaugh, who had tripled. Anspaugh also scored in the third on a sacrifice fly after reaching base on a double.
Blake Bales pitched well for No. 5 Schoolcraft (25-11), as he went 6 2/3 innings, allowed three hits and struck out eight.
Sweet picked up the victory for the Gladiators, allowing a walk and one base hit.
PHOTOS: (Top) Bishop Foley's Ethan Hoffman delivers a pitch during the first Division 3 Semifinal on Friday. (Middle) St. Francis' Artie Dutmers slides into home for one of his team's three runs.
Healthy Tomlinson Gives Portage Northern Major Reason to Dream Big
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
May 14, 2024
PORTAGE – Ty Tomlinson ended last season as a member of the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association all-state Dream Team.
This season began as more of a nightmare for the Portage Northern senior.
The lanky shortstop stepped up to the plate for his second at-bat of the Huskies’ opening game and started legging out a double.
“On my way to first base, my first step out of the box, I heard a nice little pop,” Tomlinson said. “Coach (Ben) Neal was screaming at me because he thought I wasn’t hustling. Turns out I was just barely making it to the base.”
That’s because the “pop” was a hamstring injury that sidelined him for nearly half the team's games so far.
“It was rough,” the senior said. “Definitely not how I wanted to start my year. I played three years without getting hurt, and to start the year off like that, especially after all the work we put in this off-season, I was really excited to see it pan out.”
His dad, Ryan Tomlinson, said he knew right away what happened.
“I saw it,” he said. “I knew what happened without talking to him. He’s a very competitive kid.”
Ryan Tomlinson is no stranger to seeing injuries. After 20 years, he recently retired as Western Michigan University’s women’s tennis coach. The first thing he did after Ty’s injury was set his son up with a trainer.
“Ty would get up at 6 a.m. to work with my trainer, then go to school, then come home to work in the training room,” Ryan said.
The injury kept the shortstop out of the game, but not out of the action.
“It was hard on a personal level because I’ve grown up as a competitor, but we have so much depth,” Tomlinson said. “I did a lot of the pitch charting, so I was in the game every pitch. As much as I hated being away, we still played great.”
While Tomlinson was sidelined, senior second baseman Ryan Juodawlkis lost his infield partner.
“Me and Ty, we’ve been a duo for years,” Juodawlkis said. “We have great chemistry.
“We’ve played together a long time. We grew up together playing ball since 11-U. We’ve always been on the field together, talking to each other and communicating.”
With Tomlinson out, Brice Welke, one of two sophomores on the team, stepped in at shortstop.
“It’s always harder to adjust to someone else, especially a younger guy,” Juodawlkis said. “It’s the communicating, who’s got the bag for a steal, who’s gonna hold a runner on.”
Prepping to contend
When the schedule comes out at the beginning of the season, the first two dates the Huskies circle are against Mattawan and Portage Central, Tomlinson said.
Central is the crosstown rival with players who are friends outside of school, and Mattawan is the team that ended Northern’s last two seasons in Division I District Finals.
Northern, ranked No. 15 in Division 1 this spring, was to take a 16-5 record against eighth-ranked Mattawan into a contest scheduled for last Thursday. But the devastation from the EF2 category tornado two days earlier resulted in school being canceled for three days, postponing the game.
“They know they still get to play, so they’re not too heartbroken about (postponing the game),” second-year head coach Adam Cardona said. “A few have been without power a few days, no one lost their homes, but some of their families have been affected, which I know is weighing on them a bit. Praise the Lord, everybody is safe.
“With everything that’s going on, I think they understand it puts baseball in perspective; there’s bigger things than baseball. I think they’re ready to get back into it and get some of that normalcy back.”
Games against Mattawan and Portage Central, especially, are a good indication of the Huskies' playoff potential.
“Our pitchers need to throw strikes and provide weak contact,” Juodawlkis noted as keys to making it past Districts. “Don’t try to do too much and put the ball in play.”
Senior catcher Braden Welke added, “It’s going to take better situational hitting and a lot better moving runners over (to advance).”
Baseball is in the Welkes’ DNA.
Their father Ben played college ball, and their grandfather Tim Welke, as well as a great uncle, Bill, are former MLB umpires.
While their grandfather is at most games, he doesn’t try to “umpire” them.
“He more just talks and chats with the umpires. Both give me plenty of stories and pointers,” Braden Welke laughed.
Cardona said Welke is one of the best catchers in Southwest Michigan.
“That dude just loves the game of baseball,” Cardona said. “He’s happy to be out here every single day.
“Behind the dish, he calls everything. He sees the game and knows the game well.”
Welke said he likes being in control.
“I like being able to touch the ball every single play,” he said. “You’re always in the play, always talking. You’re kind of the leader on the field.”
Other seniors on the team are Maxwell Pidgeon, Jack Mick, Antonio Parsayar, Keegan McIntyre and Danny Tafoya. Juniors are Nolan Ratliff, Seth Bartlam, Drew Clyne, Thomas Horein, Mateo Icaza, Izaak Bobbio, Finn Malek, Nolan Wilson, Andrew Wagster, Braden Hembree, Mason Wesaw, David Li and Evan Elkins. Evan McIntyre is the other sophomore.
Diehard fans
While his dad played and coached tennis, Ty Tomlinson knew at an early age it was not for him.
“I grew up playing tennis along with baseball and other sports, trying other sports out,” he said. “Tennis was just not for me.
“I was not the fleetest of foot back in my day, so I couldn’t move around the court all too well,” he laughed. “Dad and I would kind of butt heads a little bit, so I was ‘I’ve got to move on.’”
Ryan Tomlinson is a huge Detroit Tigers fan.
So huge, that his three sons’ names are all derived from former Tigers greats including two Hall of Famers.
Ty is named for Ty Cobb, while his 11-year-old brother is Graydon Gibson (from Kirk Gibson) and his 7-year-old bother is Myles Kaline (Al Kaline).
However, the two younger Tomlinsons are finding their niche in hockey right now.
Ty Tomlinson originally committed to play baseball at University of Michigan next season. But after feeling he found a better fit at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., the shortstop de-committed and opted to head south to play for the Division I Atlantic 10 Patriots.
“Plus it’s warmer,” he laughed. “I’m not a fan of the cold, and apparently neither is my hamstring.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Portage Northern’s Ty Tomlinson smiles during an at bat. (2) Ryan Juodawlkis stands in for a pitch. (3) Huskies coach Adam Cardona. (4) Catcher Braden Welke puts on his equipment. (Action photos courtesy of the Portage Northern baseball program; head shot by Pam Shebest.)