DETROIT — It took nearly nine hours to play a tripleheader May 22 at The Corner Ballpark in downtown Detroit, the former site of the Detroit Tigers, to determine the Catholic High School League Bishop Division boys baseball champion.
At 2:30 p.m., in the first semi-final contest, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice came from behind to slip past Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 5-4.
In the other semi-final at 5:46 p.m., Toledo St. John’s Jesuit stunned No. 6-ranked Warren De La Salle Collegiate, 1-0.
It was 7:50 p.m. when Brother Rice and St. John’s took the diamond for the division title.
At 9:54 p.m., Brother Rice was celebrating an 8-1 victory and its second Bishop title in a row and 15th in its history.
Semi No. 1: A seventh-inning rally
St. Mary’s wasted little time in letting Brother Rice know it was in for a battle. Luke Crighton opened with a double off Warriors ace Blake Ilitch. Hudson Brzustewicz followed with a single. Andrew Tribul walloped an Ilitch fast ball 340 feet over the right field fence and the Eaglets had a quick 3-0 lead.
The Warriors responded with their own three-run rally in the top of the third inning on the combination of a base on balls, a single by Cash Van Ameyde, an error, and catcher Broder Katke’s two-run base hit.
The Eaglets went back in front, 4-3, in their half of the inning via a pair of walks and a single but managed only a run on Tribul’s ground out (his fourth RBI).
Brother Rice started the seventh inning with walks to Cash Van Ameyde and Maksim Neshov. Katke drove in Van Ameyde with the tying run. Neshov raced home with the winning run on junior Tristan Turner’s fly ball to left field.
Ilitch hurled five innings (4 runs, 4 hits, 5 walks, 7 Ks) and was relieved by junior lefty Cole Duhaime, who put the lid on a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning. Combined, they allowed only two singles to the Eaglets’ last 21 batters.
Senior Paul Touvalian (4 IP, 3 runs, 3 hits, 4 walks, 8 Ks) and senior Luke Crighton (2 IP, 1 hit, 2 runs, 3 walks, 3 Ks) shared the mound duties for St. Mary’s.
Semi No. 2: A pitchers’ duel
St. John’s senior Tony Caracciolo and De La Salle senior Mason Pilarski had near-carbon copy performances through the first four innings.
Caracciolo faced 13 batters and allowed two runners: a single by his mound opponent Pilarski and another he hit with a pitch.
Three of 15 batters reached base against Pilarski: a walk, a double and he, too, hit a batter.
The fifth inning would tell the tale.
St. John’s outfielder Mason Williams led off with an infield single that bounced off Pilarski’s glove. On the next pitch, he advanced to second base on a passed ball charged to catcher Vito Zito.
Catcher Lincoln Bucher beat out a bunt that hugged the third base line. Williams moved to third base. St. John's had runners on first and third.
Karter Washington hit a high hopper toward shortstop. De La Salle third baseman John Bismack cut it off, threw to second baseman Mason Stempin for a force out, who then relayed to first baseman Zack Wagner for a double play.
Williams stalled a moment, then broke for home plate when Bismack threw to second base. Wagner threw to Zito at home plate. Williams slid on his stomach with his left hand stretching out to touch home plate, just before Zito whirled around to tag him. Safe! St. John's led, 1-0.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the first two De La Salle batters made outs. Perhaps the nerves got to Caracciolo. He walked the next three batters. Pilarski, who had the only hit for De La Salle (21-8), popped out to the first baseman to end the Pilots’ only threat.
Caracciolo allowed one hit, walked three and struck out 13.
Pilarski gave up three hits, walked one and whiffed 12.
The final: Rice takes charge
Brother Rice wasted little time in pursuing a repeat championship.
Cash Van Ameyde led off the game with a triple to deep right center field and promptly came home on Broder Katke’s single.
The Warriors (18-10) scored five runs in the fourth inning and two more in the sixth. The heavy hitters included Katke (a 2-run double), doubles by Anthony Flores and Maksim Neshov and a single by Michael Stanton.
St. John's scored in the third inning on a double by catcher Lincoln Bucher. He scored on a bases-loaded walk.
“It’s the little things," coach Bob Riker said. "You have to throw strikes, you have to catch the ball, you have to put the ball in play. If you can do two of those three things better than the other team, you are probably winning most of those games.”
Griffin Delusky (3 IP, 6Ks), Ethan Reidy (3 IP) and Grady Preston (1 IP) shared the mound duties for Brother Rice.
St. John's called on senior JJ Foti (4 IP, 6 runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, 2 Ks), Carson Bruning (2 IP, 2 runs) and Jon Tober (1 IP).
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
