Follow on Twitter- @PrepBaseballM
Follow on Instagram- @pbrmichigan

Interested in attending a PBR Michigan event? Check out our schedule by clicking here.

To view all things Spring HS related, click here.

• Team Rankings | Heat Sheet | Preseason All-State | Team Previews

2023 MHSAA Tournament: Division 2 State Semifinal - University Liggett vs Forest Hills Eastern

EAST LANSING - There will be a new Division 2 state champion.

University Liggett scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to knock off defending champ Forest Hills Eastern 2-0 in the D-2 semifinals on Friday. The win sets up a title game between Liggett, the D-3 state champ in 2021, and Grand Rapids Christian, the 2022 state runners-up.

Scoreless heading to the last of the sixth, the Knights pushed across two runs when a ball hit by Oliver Service was thrown into right field on a slow infield roller between home and the mound on a bang-bang play at first. Joey Randazzo, who reached on a one-out single down the left-field line, and Reggie Sharpe, who hit a double down the right-field line with two away, both scored on the play.

That was enough for Randazzo, who threw a five-hitter in victory, fanning five and not allowing a free pass.

Until the sixth, a Jarren Purify sharp single to center was the lone hit off of Eastern pitcher Jacob Pallo, who finished with six Ks in his three-hit effort, walking one in losing for the first time in 11 decisions this season.

Pallo had two of the five hits by the defending state champs, with leadoff hitter Collin Fridsman also producing a pair of singles for the fourth-rated team in Michigan in Division 2.

After getting a runner to second base in each of the first three innings, the Hawks never had a runner past first over the final four innings in a game defense came up big for the third-ranked Knights.

In the second, after an outstanding grab of a pop up by Service at catcher, Purify, the Liggett shortstop who is a Clemson commit, threw to second baseman Reggie Sharpe for a pick off of a runner on a ground ball with a runner on second and one down.

In the fourth, Randazzo picked off a runner at first for the third out while in the seventh, with the tying run at the plate and a runner on first, a Purify to Sharpe to first baseman Ryan Jones double play was followed by a pop out to send Liggett to the state finals in search of a seventh crown in school history.

LINESCORE

Forest Hills Eastern  000  000  0  -  0  5  1
University Liggett      000  002  x  -  2  3  1

Records: University Liggett 26-11, Forest Hills Eastern 32-9.

Winning pitcher: Joey Randazzo (7 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks).

Losing pitcher: Jacob Pallo (6 innings, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 3 hits, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk).

Leading hitters: (Forest Hills Eastern) - Collin Fridsman 2 singles; Brendan Thompson single; Jacob Pallo 2 singles. (University Liggett) - Jarren Purify single; Reggie Sharpe single, run; Joey Randazzo single, run.