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By Dylan Hefflinger, Brent Alwine and PBR Staff
Michigan Editor in Chief/Regional Scout and Michigan Scouting Director

Top Stories for The Year 2014

PBR Michigan started up on April 10th, 2012 as seen here. Brent Alwine then took the reigns in Michigan to start 2014 and has been an integral part in helping PBR Michigan grow.

Now that Michigan is fully entrenched as a top PBR state, we look to continue our climb while continuing to provide top notch baseball coverage in Michigan. 

Brent, PBR Michigan Director of Scouting, along with Dylan Hefflinger, Michigan Editor in Chief/Regional Scout take a look back at the year in review and put together a list of the top stories for 2014.

We would like to thank all who participated in the contest as well as all the student-athletes, coaches, parents, fans, and supporters, as without your help none of these stories could happen. Us at PBR are ready to bring even better coverage for the state of Michigan in 2015. 

After a two-day twitter contest for top story, we reveal the top six stories of 2014 for PBR Michigan.

No. 1A - 10 votes

Dan Griesbaum Takes Grosse Pointe South to State Championship Game

Dan Griesbaum Sr. is widely known across the state for the consistency his ball clubs have year in and year out at Grosse Pointe South.

2014 saw Grosse Pointe South win its 7th straight district title. In Coach Griesbaum 30+ years as a the head coach at Grosse Pointe South his has produced 60+ players that have gone on to compete collegiately in college, most notably and recently retired Major Leaguer Chris Getz.

To read full story please click here.

No. 1B - 10 votes

Bay City Western's Back-to-Back

Bay City Western entered the 2014 season as the defending state champions in Division 1, but history was not on there side, as there were a few factors working against the Warriors.

• No team has ever won back-to-back state titles in Division 1 history.
• The Warriors lost key players off the 2013 championship, those players now competing in college were, Grant Miller (Western Michigan), Brett Adcock (Michigan), Connor Foley (Saginaw Valley State), Brenden Harris (Saginaw Valley State), and Grant Bridgewater (Northwood).

Western's almost didn't even make it out of the first round of the tournament as they narrowly defeated Midland 2-1, but once they made it to the state final four, the Warriors cruised to the state championship. Western outscored their opponents 12-3 while outhitting them 24-8.

To read full story please click here.

No. 3 - 6 votes

Garrett Schilling's Perfect Record

Garrett Schilling knows to be confident in himself and to trust his pitching abilities as he has in the past, after all, he has been a perfect 35-0 in his Bishop Foley career.

Bishop Foley was a three time state champion since Garrett has joined the club. The team was determined to win a 4th title with 14 seniors on the roster this season and one of the most dominant pitchers in Michigan history on the team. But fell just short with a 5-4 loss to University Liggett in the state finals.

To read full story please click here.

No. 4 - 5 votes

Nick Plummer Has Arrived

The first time we at PBR saw Nick Plummer was May 2013. What we saw was an athlete who had an advanced approach at the plate, showcasing a quiet, calm confident demeanor. Once the speedster got on base, he instantly became aggressive, swiping bases, taking the extra base and just having fun being a baseball player.

A month later, Plummer attended Michigan's Top Prospect Games. Here is a look at his write-up from the event:

To read full story please click here.

No. 5 - 2 votes

Brent Alwine Takes Over As Scouting Director

Brent Alwine came on board with PBR Michigan in late January to take over the vacate spot left by Mike Penn.

"Brent hit the ground running and hasn't looked back," stated Chris Valentine, Executive Director. "Mike Penn laid a great foundation for PBR Michigan, and Brent continues to find ways to build upon and improve our ability to help amateur players across the great state of Michigan."

Brent graduated from IPFW in 2006 and was a four-year starter for the Mastodons. Brent received a degree from Purdue University in Organizational Leadership and Supervision and a master's degree in Liberal Studies from Indiana University in 2009.

To read full story please click here.

No. 6 - 1 vote

Liggett Wins Their Third Title In Four Years

Each of the past four years, University Liggett head coach Dan Cimini has had his teams playing in the state championship game.

In 2011 and 2013 the Knights won the state title in Division 4 and were runner-up in 2012, but in 2014 it would be a slightly different scenario as Liggett as the Knights moved from Division 4 to Division 3, but that did not bother the Knights at all.

Liggett's toughest game came in the regionals as they would have to go through the 3-time defending state champion Bishop Foley and did just that, beating them 5-4 in the opening game of the regional.

To read full story please click here.