ADRIAN – Xavier Gibbs will play baseball for Adrian College next year.
The recent Onsted graduate got a little preview of that on Monday, June 16, in the Monroe County vs. Lenawee County All-Star Game.
“He got to pitch on the mound that will be home for him next year,” Onsted coach Holden Branch said of Gibbs, who was 9-3 with a 1.06 earned-run average and struck out 112 in 81 innings for Onsted this spring. “It was his last high-school start.
“He pitched this weekend, so I asked him before the game if he wanted to throw one pitch or one batter. He said, ‘No, I’ll throw the whole inning.’”
Gibbs was part of a strong pitching performance that carried Lenawee County to an 8-4 win over Monroe County at Adrian College.
“I had seven pitchers on the roster and all seven of them threw well,” Branch said.
Tyler Bruggeman of Adrian was named the Most Valuable Player for Lenawee County. He had two hits including a triple and scored on a single by teammate Solomon Hiatt.
“I think he was on base every time,” Branch said.
Patience was the key to the Lenawee offense.
“Our guys were able to wait back,” Branch said. “Some of their guys were struggling to throw strikes. I think some of them might have had some fatigue from throwing for their summer teams this weekend. We just waited for the fastball and tried to drive it.”
Branch liked the enthusiasm of his squad.
“The energy was up,” he said. “Some of them probably had some bad at-bats to end their seasons. This gave them another chance.”
The Monroe County MVP was Tyler Dafoe of Summerfield, who played his final game Friday in the Division 4 state semifinals. Most of his teammates and competitors saw their season end weeks ago.
“I had no rust,” he said.
He collected two hits, two RBIs and scored a run during an 8-4 loss to Lenawee.
“It was very fun, a great experience and challenging,” Dafoe said.
The experience is more important than the final score in All-Star Games.
“It was definitely fun to get to play baseball one more time,” Dafoe said.
It most likely was his final baseball game.
“I am going to Lourdes University to study business,” Dafoe said. “I am still on the edge about playing a little bit of basketball there.”
Dafoe also was a standout for Summerfield’s football and basketball teams, topping 1,000 career points in basketball.
“We had one bad inning,” said Jared Janssen of St. Mary Catholic Central, who coached Monroe County. “It was a pretty competitive game for the most part, a lot more competitive than the game was last year.
“That’s baseball. We had one bad inning with an error and a couple of walks and they took advantage of it.”
Whiteford’s Nate Stevens tripled and scored on a single by Brennan Runyon of SMCC to give Monroe County an early run.
“He threw a high fastball and I took it for a ride,” Stevens said of his triple. I hit it right over the centerfielder’s head and it rolled to the fence. I felt pretty quick going round the bases, but the video says otherwise.”
The game was tied 2-2 and 3-3 before Lenawee Christian scored five runs in the fourth inning to pull away.
Stevens, who will play baseball at Owens Community College in Ohio next year, loved his All-Star experience.
“It was awesome,” he said. “It was great to see everyone and a great environment. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Dean Thomas of Ida logged a hit and scored a run for Monroe County and Runyon, Stevens and Casey Monroe (Airport) all threw a clean inning.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Gibbs, Bruggeman lead Lenawee County to all-star win over Monroe
Reporting by Niles Kruger, The Monroe News / The Daily Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
