JOHANNESBURG ― When Gaylord St. Mary head coach Matt Nowicki walked off the field on Saturday, May 31 after winning the team’s fourth district championship in five seasons, they knew they were going to have their hands full in the next round.
“I guarantee you they’re looking past us because they put it on us pretty good,” coach Nowicki said of Alcona on Saturday. “We’re a different team now, as I imagine they are.”
The win over Johannesburg-Lewiston in the Division 4 district final set up a rematch between GSM and Alcona, a team that swept the Snowbirds pretty convincingly back in April, winning 5-2 and 12-0 in St. Mary’s first doubleheader of the season.
A lot has changed since then, and, like coach Nowicki said, GSM looks like a brand new team.
With a spot in the Division 4 regional finals on the line, GSM was the one who won convincingly, using a five-run first inning to build a lead and eventually cap off a 12-6 victory.
The Snowbirds capitalized right away, using four hits and four walks in the first inning to plate five runs and run up the pitch count for Alcona ace Evan Borsvold, putting the Tigers behind in multiple ways early.
Logan Greenier and Charlie Cameron both logged three hits on the day, but it was Greenier who provided the biggest hit as his towering solo home run in the bottom of the sixth put the finishing touches on GSM’s victory.
Sophomore Sam Kuznicki picked up yet another win on the mound, throwing 4.2 innings, giving up just two runs while striking out five. Freshman Lucas Greenier got the save, pitching 2.1 innings while allowing three earned runs and striking out three.
This continues a remarkable turnaround for the Snowbirds, who started the year 3-7 in their first ten games after the late-March ice storm that cost teams the first two weeks of the season. They are now riding a 10-game winning streak heading into the regional finals, a streak that started back on May 15.
GSM has another familiar foe ahead of them in East Jordan, the Ski Valley Conference champions. EJ swept GSM with scores of 6-0 and 10-1, part of the Snowbirds forgettable first month. That game is scheduled for Saturday, June 7 at noon in Rudyard. The winner of that game will play the winner of Norway and Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian in the D4 quarterfinals at 2 p.m.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Snowbirds still flying: Gaylord St. Mary baseball tops Alcona, onto D4 regional finals
Reporting by Dylan Jespersen, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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