Prep Baseball Report

2022 MHSAA Tournament: Division 4 State Semifinal - Gabriel Richard Catholic vs Rudyard


Bruce Hefflinger and Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Michigan Senior Writer

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2022 MHSAA Tournament: Division 4 State Semifinal - Gabriel Richard Catholic vs Rudyard

EAST LANSING - Gabriel Richard Catholic put the game away with a six-run seventh inning and defeated Rudyard 10-3 in the Division 4 state semifinals on Thursday night.

Ashton Nowak had a two-run single in the inning for the Pioneers, which led 4-0 before Rudyard scored three in the bottom of the sixth to pull within one.

Austin Warner, Tate Besteman, Brett Mayer and Eli Sprague all hit singles in the sixth for Rudyard, which was helped out by two Gabriel Richard errors.

Connor Silka went the first six innings to pick up the victory for unranked Gabriel Richard, not permitting an earned run while giving up five hits and one walk.

Gabriel Richard took the lead in the first without the benefit of a hit, scoring on a ground out by Brenden Hills and the Pioneers added two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth, both times without a hit.

Tylor Morehouse was the only player in the game with more than one hit, producing a pair of singles while scoring twice for Gabriel Richard. Hills, a Madonna commit, scored three runs and Nowak, a Kalamazoo College signee, touched home twice for the Pioneers, a Division 3 quarterfinalist a year ago.

HOT TAKES

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Silka struck out 11 in six innings in a dominating performance against the third-ranked Division 4 team in the state. The senior right-hander did not allow an earned run in the game, throwing 76 of 102 pitches for strikes to overcome five Gabriel Richard errors in the win.

BIG MOMENT: Leading by one, Gabriel Richard had nobody on base and two outs in the top of the seventh before a Nick Wisniewski single to center started a string of six consecutive Pioneers reaching base. Ryan Rainey singled, Brenden Brothers walked, Nowak had a two-run single and Hills and Morehouse followed with singles. Additionally, there were three wild pitches, a throwing error and two stolen bases, including a theft of home by Hills for the fifth run of the frame.

LINESCORE

Gabriel Richard Catholic  100  021  6  -  10  7  5
Rudyard                               000  003  0   -   3  5  4

Records: Gabriel Richard Catholic 19-12, Rudyard 28-7-1.

Winning Pitcher: Connor Silka (6 innings, 3 runs, 0 earned runs, 5 hits, 11 strikeouts, 1 walk). Other: Ashton Nowak (1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 strikeouts, 0 walks).

Losing Pitcher: Brett Mayer (4 innings, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, 6 walks). Other: EJ Suggitt (3 innings, 7 runs, 4 earned runs, 5 hits, 3 strikeouts, 1 walk).

Leading Hitters: (Gabriel Richard Catholic) - Ashton Nowak single, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Brenden Hills single, 3 runs, RBI; Tylor Morehouse 2 singles, 2 runs, RBI; Connor Silka single; Bryan Tuttle RBI; Nick Wisniewski single, run; Ryan Rainey single; Brenden Brothers run; Brody Torlowski run. (Rudyard) - Aiden Bickel double; Austin Warner single, run; Tate Besteman single, run; Brett Mayer single, run; Eli Sprague single, RBI.

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