Eight MHSAA baseball teams from the Hometown Life region advanced in the postseason after claiming district championships May 29-30 – including six from Division 1.
Reminder: HTL covers teams in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Canton, Commerce Twp., Farmington, Farmington Hills, Garden City, Livonia, Milford, Northville, Novi, Plymouth, Redford, South Lyon, Wayne, Walled Lake, Westland, White Lake and Wixom.
Division 1
Northville 3, Canton 2
MJ Fortuna’s single scored Chase Steger for the district semifinal’s lone run in the 10th inning against Salem. Then Steger delivered a walk-off double to score Justin Klepp with the winning run against Canton. The Mustangs (18-10) advanced to the regional semifinal against Novi Detroit Catholic Central.
Novi Detroit Catholic Central 6, Novi 2
The sixth-ranked Shamrocks (24-16) advanced to the regional semifinal against Northville thanks to a four-run third inning. Saginaw Valley State signee Cam Swearingen drove in two runs, while Cincinnati commit Andrew Mahoney struck out nine, walked none and surrendered just one earned run on eight hits.
Livonia Franklin 12, Westland John Glenn 2
Logan McLaughlin did the heavy lifting in the district semifinal, striking out 10 and walking none in a 1-0 win over Taylor. Then Cooper Scholz struck out five over five innings against John Glenn to send the Patriots (22-8) into the regional semifinal against Monroe.
Milford 8, Walled Lake Central 7
The Mavericks (23-13) staved off a late rally by the Vikings to advance to the regional semifinal against West Bloomfield. Central scored three runs in the seventh, coming one run shy of forcing extra innings. Bryce Marszalek went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored, Billy Ochadleus was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, and Craig Borges drove in two runs. Five Mavericks pitched, with Borges striking out three to lead the way.
Birmingham Brother Rice 14, Birmingham Groves 0
The top-ranked Warriors (28-10-2) scored 10 runs in the first inning against rival Groves to advance to the regional semifinal against Warren Cousino. Jackson Haefner and Michael Stanton each drove in three runs, while Griffin Delusky struck out five over four innings.
Livonia Stevenson 10, Farmington 1
The Spartans (23-13) will face Detroit Western in the regional semifinal after a six-run sixth iced the victory. Tasso Kotsogiannis, Walker Maxwell and Luca Allevato each drove in two runs, while pitcher Caden Gawkowski struck out eight, walked five and allowed three hits.
Division 2
Birmingham Detroit Country Day 7, Madison Heights Lamphere 3
The Yellowjackets (20-10-1) scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back, advancing to the regional semifinal against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. Jerry Dixon homered, LJ Lanier drove in three runs and Joe Snow and Gunnar Lee each went 2-for-3. Andrew Nelson struck out five despite allowing 10 hits over seven innings.
Division 3
Plymouth Christian Academy 16, Ann Arbor Greenhills 1
Coltin Belanger went 2-for-2 with a double, four RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Eagles’ hit parade. Michael Fernandez struck out eight to help PCA (26-6) advance to the regional semifinal against Monroe St. Mary’s Catholic Central.
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life and the Detroit Free Press. Follow him on his new X.com account at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: MHSAA baseball: 8 district titles for Southeast Michuga
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
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