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2022 Michigan High School Team Previews

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2022 Spring Team Preview: University Liggett

GROSSE POINTE WOODS - So how good has University Liggett been in the past decade? Since 2011 the Knights have been to eight of the last 10 Final Fours with seven state title game appearances and five championships.

Head coach Dan Cimini is expecting the same kind of season out of the 2022 Liggett squad, which is coming off a 31-5 campaign that included a Division 3 state crown.

“Staying healthy and playing our game is the key,” noted the 18th-year leader of the Knight, who inherited a program with just nine kids and has since rolled up a 470-105 record. “Pitching and defense is always our forte. Very little do we make mistakes and our pitchers throw strikes. If we get the lead for our pitchers, it’s tough to beat us.”

The perennial state power will have a new challenge ahead this season, moving up to the Catholic High School League Central Division.

“I asked to move up and Divine Child agreed to drop down,” Cimini noted. “I love that we’ll be playing against the best, I’ve always aspired to that. We’ve played them before, but now it means four games with each. It’s only going to make us better.”

Getting better is a scary thought about a team with every starter back from a squad that rolled to the Division 3 state championship a year back, outscoring the opposition 51-2 in tournament play including a 12-0 blanking of Traverse City St. Francis in the finals..

“We love a target,” Cimini said of being the favorites to once again bring home a D-3 state title. “We’ve been the team to beat the last 10 years. Our mentality is to not worry about the other team, we stay with what we do best and take care of ourselves.”

A staggering lineup of returnees begins with junior leadoff hitter Jarin Purify, the top-ranked 2023 in the state and a Michigan commit.

“He has a wealth of talent and is going to get drafted,” Cimini noted about the 27th-ranked junior shortstop in the nation, who has 6.5 speed in the 60 with outstanding range at shortstop.

Another Michigan recruit, Reggie Sharpe, will bat second and play second base.

“He’s super smooth up the middle and a great contact guy with great speed,” Cimini said of the second-ranked sophomore in the state.

Catcher Oliver Service, a junior committed to Texas, will hit third.

“He’s super athletic with great power and a great leader and teammate,” Cimini pointed out about the number four rated 2023 catcher in Michigan, who made the transition from outfield to behind the plate.

Matthew Greene, the school valedictorian who is considering Ivy League schools for baseball, will be the clean-up hitter after tying the state record for RBIs in a state title game with five. The 5-10 175-pound speedster moved from third base to center field in mid-season a year ago.

Ryan Jones, a 6-4 210-pound unsigned junior, will play first base and bat fifth while also providing the versatility to catch and go to the outfield.

Right fielder Jack Jones will be the six-hole hitter with third baseman Preston Barr batting seventh. Kurt Barr and junior left fielder Joey Randazzo will complete the batting order with depth coming from catcher Jake Martin and outfielder Ryan Knaebel, a pair of unsigned juniors.

Senior Kurt Barr, a Michigan signee rated sixth among 2022 pitchers in Ontario. and Jones, a junior headed to Michigan State, headline the pitching staff with sophomore Preston Barr and Blake Illitch, a highly-recruited freshman rated 10th in the country among 2025 RHPs, next in the rotation. Depth comes from Greene and Randazzo.

“The thing that’s exciting to me is these  guys had a lot of success at a young age, winning the Catholic championship and state championship,” Cimini summarized. “Now they’ve got to go out and try and repeat it. These guys understand that and aren’t satisfied. They want to repeat what they’ve already done.”

A trip to play at IMG in Florida opens the season in late March with the first game in Michigan set for April 2 at Brother Rice.

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