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Division 2 Team Of The Week: 6th Edition - Goodrich

GOODRICH - The first year as head coach at Goodrich has been even better than expected for Ben Almasy.

“This team has adjusted to their new coach very well,” related the mentor for the Prep Baseball Division 2 Team of the Week. “I thought this year would have a few hurdles with the boys making the transition to a new coach, but they have more than exceeded expectations.”

A 25-7-1 season included two victories over Owosso and three impressive wins on Saturday, 9-0 and 12-1 over Lake City and a 5-0 shutout of Cass City. Gavin Dunn tossed a one-hitter with nine strikeouts, permitting a base hit with two outs in the last inning against the 16th-rated D-3 team in Michigan, to improve to 7-0 on the season with a 0.45 ERA. The southpaw committed to Grand Rapids CC has 75 strikeouts in 44 innings.

Batterymate Carson Raether has lived up to his rating as the top senior catcher in the state, with the Miami signee hitting .427 with 21 doubles. In addition, the two-time All-State performer has thrown out 22 baserunners this year.

Juniors Cole Ilijanic (outfielder), Cross Darby (RHP/SS) and Nate Gould (outfielder) along with sophomore Thomas Niles (RHP) each earned all-conference recognition this season as well for the Martians, which finished second behind Lake Fenton in league play at 12-2.

“This has been a great season overall,” pointed out Almasy, a former coach at New Lothrop who picked up his 600th all-time win this year after sitting out last season. “We knew from the start that we had a lot of newcomers but they have adjusted well to the varsity game. Our seniors are the main reason we haven’t had any bad stretches. They have been great leaders through the win streaks and the tough losses.”

A difficult district is on the horizon according to the Goodrich head coach, whose squad has one game ahead this week with Clio and a doubleheader against Cranbrook Kingswood.

“We have the best pitching team in Michigan in Powers (the top-rated D-2 team in the state) and what I think is one of the best hitting teams in Lake Fenton in our district,” Almasy explained. “We have beaten Lake Fenton (rated No. 11 in D-2) once and lost a decent game to Powers. If we get some breaks and play great, we can win but there isn’t much room for error against those two teams.”

While it has been an enjoyable season to date, there was a point in time when the future was not so bright for Almasy.

“I had to retire in 2022 because I needed a transplant,” Almasy explained. “I was given months to live because I had a disease called NASH. I actually got a liver transplant from a mother of one of my ballplayers from a past team. It’s a wild story but I’m still here doing what I love.”

Almasy is enjoying every minute of it.

“We return seven starters and a few more key role players with a very good JV team and freshmen team,” concluded Almasy, in looking ahead to what is now a bright future. “There will be some great competition for a spot on the team next season and I think we are only going to get better, but we have to work on this year before we worry about that.”

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