State Champs! Sports Network

MADISON HEIGHTS – Coming into this spring, Madison Heights Bishop Foley and West Bloomfield were widely considered two of the top prep baseball teams in the state and on Friday afternoon when the two squads faced off people expected a mega-clash.

 

However, Bishop Foley, winners of the past three straight Division 3 state championships, quickly turned the highly-anticipated showdown into a runaway. The Ventures jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the second inning and used a big fifth frame to pick up a 10-0 win in shortened fashion.

 

Bishop Foley skipper Buster Sunde was pleased with his team’s approach at the plate on Friday.

 

“In previous games this season, we’ve been trying to understand our approach going into the box and seeing it through and not (chase) when the pitcher gets two strikes,” he said. “We went into the box with a good mental attitude today and we had our game plan of striking the ball out in front because we knew that he (Cole) is a very good pitcher with a great arm. But we knew that if we got the foot down quick and struck the ball out in front, we could do something today.”

 

Sunde’s club pumped its record to 4-0 on the young season, using RBI from Mike Murley, Mike Ryan, Garrett Schilling and starting pitcher Austin Lukaschewski in the second inning to jump out to the 5-0 lead.

 

It would prove more than enough run support for Lukaschewski, signed to continue his career on the diamond in college at the University of Illinois-Springfield. The senior hurler threw five innings of one-hit baseball, while striking out four batters to earn the tally on the bump.

 

“My team behind me really got some runs early on,” Lukaschewski said. “So that really gave me some confidence to go out there and throw how I throw. Me and Griffin (Green), my catcher, have already developed some chemistry and it just felt good with some confidence from my team. I knew I could rely on them when a ball was hit in play.”

 

In the fifth inning, the Ventures used patience and a string of timley hits to officially close the door on the game. Senior David Chung drew a walk to bring in a run to make it 6-0 and Murley connected for a two-RBI single to push the lead to 8-0. Later in the inning, Bishop Foley brought the mercy rule into effect, with Ryan and Lukaschewski each posting RBI singles to seal the victory.

 

West Bloomfield fell to 2-1 following Friday’s loss.

 

“Sometimes when it rains, it pours," Lakers head coach Eric Pierce said. "I tip my cap to Bishop Foley, they capitalized everything that we gave them today. We had two bad innings where we didn’t necessarily execute and throughout the course of the game we fell behind hitters. We didn’t capitalize, Bishop Foley ended up leaving one person on base, we ended up leaving something like seven or eight on base.”

 

The lone hit of the game for the Lakers came from senior Dazon Cole (SS/P Central Michigan), who transferred into West Bloomfield from Pontiac and is being scouted by the pros.