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Lakeshore stymies Chelsea, 7-1; John Glenn whips Divine Child, 15-4 in D2 semifinals
East Lansing – Much like the Division 1 semifinals, Thursday’s Division 2 semifinals were one-sided games.
Stevensville Lakeshore looked sharp in defeating Chelsea 7-1 and Bay City John Glenn took advantage of a plethora miscues by Dearborn Divine Child to win a raggedly-played second semifinal, 15-4, at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
The final will be played Saturday 11:30 a.m.
Lakeshore will be making its first appearance since 1990 when the Lancers won the Class B title. John Glenn is making the program’s second final appearance. The Bobcats lost in to Grand Rapids Christian, 6-1, in 2012.
Lakeshore (35-6) trailed 1-0 before scoring four in the bottom of the third inning and junior lefthander Connor Brawley cruised after that allowing just two hits in the final four innings.
Lakeshore has had its mojo working this season and it comes in the form of a chain, a 20-link chain to be exact. Often teams will use an inanimate object to rally behind and so far the chain has proven to be a charmer.
“The 20 links are for (the total number of) the players and coaches,” coach Mark Nate. “We play as a unit. They just believe in themselves. The attitude in practice is fun. The attitude in the games is more serious.”
Brawley was seriously good. After allowing a home run to Cal Barrett in the first inning he was Chelsea’s worst nightmare. His pitch count was in the low 80s and, after that homer, he made few mistakes. He gave up five hits and no walks.
“No, we weren’t put back (after the home run),” Brawley said. “We were confident. It was early. There wasn’t anybody on base. Getting those four runs was big for us. Just to get on the board was big.”
Chelsea coach Adam Taylor said he knew his team had to scratch out some runs after that first inning. The Bulldogs (31-10) just didn’t get it done.
“Their pitcher was the difference,” he said. “We knew he was good coming in. He threw all three pitches for strikes. In high school, that works.”
John Glenn (34-8) scored seven runs in the second inning on four hits and three errors. The official scorer was generous. Divine Child could have been assessed one or two more errors in the inning. The key hit in the inning was Matt Fisher’s two-run triple.
“It was pretty ugly,” Divine Child coach Dan Deegan said. “We had three errors in that inning and it could have been four. They teed off on every one of our pitchers. They pitched better than we did and they hit better.
John Glenn had 15 hits. Five players had two or more with Tanner Gilles collecting four. Corey Langenburg had four RBI and Fisher had three.
Brad Mularz went all five innings and allowed five hits. He also had a triple and three RBI.
Divine Child (23-20) used three pitchers without much success.
Zac Krauss and Scott Combs each had two hits for the Falcons.
“They’re a loose bunch,” John Glenn coach Jeff Hartt said. “Sometimes they’re too loose. We hit the ball well and I think playing an independent schedule helps us at this time of year.”
