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2023 MHSAA Tournament: Division 4 State Semifinal - Beal City vs Hackett Catholic

EAST LANSING - Beal City scored a run in the first inning and pulled away for an 8-0 win over Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep in the first Division 4 state semifinal on Friday.

Josh Wilson fired a three-hit shutout for the second-rated team in the state, which is in search of the fourth state title in school history, the others coming in 1993, 2009 and 2010.

Hot-hitting Jack Fussman, who had reached base eight times in the past two Beal City games, hit an RBI double in the opening frame to plate Owen McKenney, who reached on a one-out single. 

The Aggies added two in the fourth on just one hit, a two-out single by Cayden Smith in an inning that featured two hit batters and a Hackett Catholic error. The uprising was limited when centerfielder Bennett Carpenter hit the cutoff, second baseman Eli Backman, who threw to catcher Noah Emmer for the third out of the inning on the Smith base hit.   

But Beal City put the game away with three in the top of the sixth featuring singles by Jake Gauthier and Braylon Zuker, a hit by pitch and a Smith bases-clearing double to center.

The Aggies completed the scoring in the seventh on an RBI double from Wilson and a run-scoring single from Gauthier.

Hackett never had a base runner reach third against Wilson, who struck out five and walked just one in pitching Beal City to the state finals for the second year in a row. The Aggies lost to Gabriel Richard 4-3 in last year’s championship game.

Smith and Gauthier each had a pair of hits for Beal City, while Eli Backman had two of the three hits by Hackett Catholic, the 11th-ranked team in Michigan which won the 2021 D-4 state champ.

LINESCORE

Beal City                     100  203  2  -  8  9  0

Kalamazoo Hackett  000  000  0  -  0  3  2

Records: Beal City 30-8, Kalamazoo Hackett 24-15-1.

Winning pitcher: Josh Wilson (7 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk).

Losing pitcher: Preston Cosby (5.2 innings, 6 runs, 5 earned runs, 7 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks, 3 HBP). Other: Brooks Basler (1.1 innings, 2 runs, 1 earned run, 2 hits, 1 strikeout, 0 walks, 1 HBP).

Leading hitters: (Beal City) - Cayden Smith single, double; Owen McKenney single, run; Jack Fussman double, run, RBI; Josh Wilson double, run, RBI; Jake Gauthier, 2 singles, run, RBI; Braylon Zuker single, run; Lane Gross 2 runs; Cole Timlann single, run. (Kalamazoo Hackett) - Eli Backman 2 singles; Tyler Beach single.