Northville vs Plymouth, Midland High vs Bay City Western, and Pontiac vs Troy Athens.
 

Four teams ranked in the top ten in Division 1 baseball competed last night against one another, eliminating two from the state tournament.  Pre-District playoff games consist of a un-calculated “draw of the hat” scenario and this year second ranked Midland High drew fourth ranked Bay City Western and third ranked Northville pulled seventh ranked Plymouth.  

After a conference matchup 1 inning tie-breaker this past Friday, Bay City Western split with Midland High beating them 4-3 in the bottom half of the inning, which only lasted 15 minutes.  With this win, Western took part of the Saginaw Valley League Championship.  The two knew they were going to meet again come Tuesday for the birth into the district semifinals against Saginaw Heritage. The Chemics proved to be the tougher of the two teams last night, when a back and forth battle proved to be outdone when Thomas Smith connected for a 2-run homerun in the 6 inning capping the win 6-3. Bay City Western scored one in the second, one in the third, and one in the fourth to make it a 3-2 game.  Notables in the game for Midland (besides Smith) include: sophomore Tanner Gross, who had a double and a RBI; Alex Rapanos, who had a double; and Michael Wright, who had a double and run.  Senior and Western Michigan bound Jason Regnier threw the complete game and retired the side in the seventh one-two-three. Notables for Western include Junior catcher Grant Bridgewater, who started the offensive trend for the Warriors with a lead-off double and then later scored breaking up the shutout.  Senior David Freed went the distance for the Warriors.  

In another top ranked pre-district match-up at Salem High School, Northville mustered past Plymouth 5-4. Senior ace Matt Stojkov had to do the impossible for the Northville Mustangs to come out on top, again.   Stojkov led the Mustangs to victory over Plymouth a week earlier during the Kensington Lakes Area Association (KLAA) League semi-finals game. Stojkov was up for the challenge and overcame the impossible.  The Northville pitcher led his team to victory with a complete game five-hitter, striking out five and walking four. Being down 3-0 in the 6th inning, Adrian-bound Jeff Gertley singled hard to centerfield with two runners on base.  The centerfielder misplayed the ball and the ball ran all the way to the fence.  Gertley took advantage of the blunder and ran through the stop sign at third to score, tieing the game at three apiece. In the top of the seventh, senior Matt Satterfield broke the tie by connecting for a two run single putting the Mustangs ahead 5-3. Plymouth added a run in the bottom of the 7th to cut it to 5-4 with the tying run at second and two outs.  Plymouth then lined out to short to end the game. Notables for Plymouth include starting pitcher Justin Thompson, who didn’t allow a hit until the 6th inning.  Plymouth ended its season with school best wins and its first KLAA division championship. 

Troy Athens High hasn’t been known for its baseball teams in the past. With a young team and one returning starter, Tommy Eng, Troy Athens has a tall mountain to climb this postseason.  However, if that one returning starter has anything to do with mountains he will sure climb long and hard.  Eng led his team to victory by striking out 21 batters and etching the game winning hit.  In five innings of extra play, the Troy Athens team squandered with Pontiac 1-1, playing twelve innings of baseball. Player of the night, Eng, pitched nine innings giving up one unearned run, four hits and two walks.  Pontiac jumped on Athens by scoring four runs in the top of the 12th inning. In late innings fashion, Eng finished the game by hitting a 2-run double in the bottom half of the twelth.  With a big come from behind win yesterday against a solid Pontiac squad, Troy Athens could be a spoiler down the road.