Rochester Adams baseball was looking at a third straight first-weekend exit in the MHSAA playoffs.
Until, that is, one swing from Luke Borowski.
Adams, ranked No. 4 in Division 1 by the coaches association, entered the top of the seventh inning of the Division 1 baseball district final trailing crosstown rival Rochester, 6-2. With one out, Adams called on Borowski to pinch-hit.
The senior lefty got the pitch he wanted – a low and inside two-seam fastball – and barreled it. The line drive to center field continued to rise until it cleared the 360-foot fence at Adams’ baseball field. The solo home run trimmed the Falcons’ lead to three runs.
“I’ve been ready,” Borowski said. “I’ve been working for my moment and it just came.”
Seniors Johnny Safadi (single), Jesse Goettes (single) and Matt Toeppner (hit by pitch) loaded the bases in the next three at-bats. Sophomore Flip Watters kept the train moving by sending a low changeup to center field for a single, plating two runners to make it 6-5.
“If I’m sitting changeup like I hit, I’m going to attack it,” Watters said.
Toeppner and Watters stole second and third on the first pitch to Andrew Wozniak to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Adams then called for a suicide squeeze bunt, but the pitch was too high for Wozniak to get down, and Rochester easily tagged out Toeppner as he stole home.
A few pitches later, Wozniak remedied the mistake with a sharp double to left field to tie the game at 6.
“My thought was, if we miss the [squeeze], we still got Woz at the plate and we are still OK to tie this game up,” Adams coach Andy Lamkin said. “It was just a bad pitch, bad luck, bad timing.”
Rino Watters, Flip’s older brother and a Central Michigan football commit, struck out to end the big inning. Rochester had one runner reach in the bottom of the 7th, but Rino Watters shut the Falcons down and forced extras.
Adams’ Ben Peters reached on a Rochester error with one out in the eighth and proceeded to steal second. With two outs, sophomore Evan Newingham turned on an inside pitch for an RBI double.
“My eyes get big and my mind’s thinking just make good contact,” Newingham said. “And that’s what I did. I didn’t even feel it.”
Rino Watters remained in and closed Adams’ 7-6 victory. While Rochester hit in the bottom of the 7th, he walked over to the bullpen and told the reliever warming up that it was a tight strike zone, but not to worry too much because he planned on shutting the door himself.
The senior took a line drive comebacker off his right thumb (glove hand) on the first at-bat, but collected the ball for an out at first. He waved off coaches and trainers despite swelling popping up, determined to finish the game. He induced two more groundouts for Adams’ first district championship trophy since 2023.
“It hurt but it felt amazing,” Rino Watters said. “Because I played with [Rochester’s Andrew Scott] in travel ball. He’s a fast kid. I knew if he got on, it was going to be trouble because he can steal bases.”
Watters pitched the final 5⅔ innings after coming in as emergency relief. Rochester jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third inning by stringing together long at-bats and a few key base hits. Rochester put two runners on with one out via hit by pitch and walk, forcing Adams starter Akhil Pilla out of the game. Reliever Kent Lutzka walked the next two, giving Rochester a run, and he was pulled for Rino Watters.
All of his inherited base runners scored in Rochester’s crooked inning, but he settled down from there and got the requisite outs to keep the comeback alive.
“It’s nice to be able to give the ball to Rino and say, go be a senior, go be a leader, go be a warrior,” Lamkin said.
Adams, which has been well-ranked all season, will face the winner of District 29, hosted by Utica Eisenhower Saturday. Three wins sit between the Highlanders and a trip to East Lansing.
“Hopefully, we still got another week and a half,” Rino Watters said. “We are trying to get to East Lansing.”
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pinch-hit HR saves season for Rochester Adams baseball
Reporting by Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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