NOVI — Orchard Lake St. Mary’s opened its half of the first inning with two “hits.”
Lefthanded leadoff batter Hudson Brzustewicz was hit in the back by Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice lefty Cole Duhaime.
The next batter, Luke Crighton, hit a line drive to left field. Freshman Jonathan Henry attempted a shoestring catch. The ball rolled to the fence and Crighton raced around the bases for an inside-the-park homer for a quick 2-0 lead.
Crighton (an Indiana commit) and Duhaime (Virginia) locked in a duel until the fifth inning when St. Mary’s pounded Duhaime and a pair of relievers for four runs and another in the sixth for a 7-0 decision to claim the Catholic High School League Bishop Division baseball championship May 15 hosted by Detroit Catholic Central.
Crighton went the distance, limiting the Warriors to two harmless singles and striking out 10.
In the semifinal contests, Brzustewicz (Notre Dame) smacked a home run in an 11-0 victory against Warren De La Salle (19-2) while the Warriors prevailed 2-0 against Toledo St. Francis de Sales behind junior Griffin Deluskey’s two-hit pitching.
St. Mary’s (25-5) won its ninth league title. Brother Rice (22-9) was seeking its third in a row and 19th overall. Both teams have at least five games to play before the state tournament kicks off May 30: the Division 2, No. 1-rated Eaglets against Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood (16-7) and Division 1, No. 1-ranked Brother Rice versus North Farmington (16-7).
“Yeah, we got really good arms,” Brother Rice coach Bob Riker said. “I like our pitching. We've got to figure out a few things. We've got to really work on manufacturing runs offensively. Defensively, we've got to clean up some things, too.”
While baseball is a 3-balls, 2-strikes contest in the Catholic League, it’s the traditional 4-3 outside of it. “It calls for two different hitting approach styles,” said St. Mary’s coach, Nick DiPonio. “So we have to take a little bit different mentality.”
The Eaglets were 10-1 in non-league games where the 4-3 count is used. “We go over both throughout the year so we're prepared,” DiPonio said.
The ultimate goal is to be playing for the state championship on June 13 at Michigan State University. St. Mary’s has six titles in its history, Brother Rice three.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
