06/10/2007

St. Mary's rallies twice for baseball crown

Eagles top No. 7 Holton, Mesick

BY JEFF PEEK

jpeek@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Two come-from-behind victories resulted in one Division 4 regional title for the Lake Leelanau St. Mary's baseball team Saturday.

The Eagles rallied from four runs down to edge state-ranked Holton 8-7 in eight innings in the opener, then fought back from a 4-1 deficit to beat Mesick 8-5 in the championship contest.

St. Mary's head coach Steve Plamondon, who is three years into his second stint at the helm after coaching the team in the 1980s, said the regional crown is the first for the Eagles.

"These guys haven't quit all year,” Plamondon said. "We may get down, but we just keep at it.”

St. Mary's (28-6) advances to the Tuesday's quarterfinals at Gaylord against Rudyard, a 12-4 winner over Central Lake in the regional final at Johannesburg-Lewiston.

Trailing Mesick 4-2 in the title contest, the Eagles scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning. The first run scored on a double by Casey Drow, a fielder's choice by Ryan Korson and a sacrifice. Matt Pasch followed with a two-run single, Kienan Sutton ripped an RBI triple and Ray Platts singled home Sutton.

Platts later scored on an error to make it 8-4.

Mesick got one back in the bottom of the seventh — after Levi Spencer led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mark Fortelka — before winning pitcher Collin Korson closed out the game.

Mesick had taken a 3-1 lead in the third on Sean Dillingham's two-run single. The Bulldogs made it 4-1 in the fourth when Daniel Casselman singled and eventually scored on a bunt.

Chase Bates suffered the loss for Mesick.

"You play the game for seven innings, not six,” said Bulldogs coach Bill Casselman. "We've had our share of come-from-behind victories, but the bottom line is (the Eagles) were able to score when they needed to and we didn't.

"It was a very exciting game. I think the fans got their money's worth.”

In the first round, St. Mary's trailed Holton (22-6) 7-3 in the sixth inning before rallying for two runs in back-to-back frames to tie it 7-7 and send the game into extra innings.

Jordan Peplinski's two-run single in the sixth cut the deficit to 7-5, then two more runs scored in the seventh on a single by Sutton, a walk, an error and a passed ball.

After sophomore Ray Platts held off Holton in the top of the seventh, the Eagles plated the winning run when Peplinski led-off with triple to right-center and beat the throw to the plate on Collin Korson's ground ball to shortstop.

Platts went the distance for the win. He struck out eight.

The St. Mary's offense managed only five hits. Peplinski and Sutton had two each.

Mesick advanced with a 12-3 first-round win over Bear Lake. Pacing the Bulldogs were Tom Nakhovanh (2 hits), Cody Wagatha (3 RBIs), Fortelka (single, 2 walks, 2 RBIs) and Casey Carpenter (2 RBIs).

Wagatha was the winning pitcher.

Casselman said Mesick (31-4) set a school record for victories, passing the 1982 Class D state championship team, which won 30 games.