sun and news 4-24-21

The Sun and News, Saturday, April 24, 2021/ Page 7

TK’s last rally ended by Lakewood ace

Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
He had nine pitches left
according to his coach.
He only needed one.
Lakewood senior ace
Brady Gawne finished off
Viking victories in both of
his team’s games of the
Barry County Invitational
Saturday in Hastings, earn-
ing the complete game win
in the opener against the host
Saxons and then getting the
final out on a ground ball to
get his team out of a seventh
inning jam against
Thornapple Kellogg in the
championship game.
“I tell you what. I’ll be
honest with you. I really
wasn’t all that nervous. I
knew that if we got into a
jam, I knew that we had
Brady for nine pitches and I
knew that he would be able
to get the job done,”
Lakewood head coach Brad
Tacey said after his team’s
5-3 win over Thornapple
Kellogg.
Gawne, who also threw as
complete game victory in his
team’s season-opening win
over Lansing Catholic, came
on with the bases loaded and
two out in the bottom of the
seventh against Thornapple
Kellogg in the final and got
TK’s Eric Dipert to hit a
fielder’s choice to shortstop
Blake Price. Price had just
taken over at short when
Gawne moved from there to
the mound. He stepped on
the bag at second for the
force out.
The Barry County
Invitational championship is
the first for coach Tacey in
his six years leading the
Lakewood program. The
tournament obviously didn’t
take place in 2020 and there
was one other season in
which it was rained out
during his tenure.
Getting to throw Gawne in
the opener and Gavin
Willette for most of the
championship was a rarity
for the Vikings on a Saturday.
The Vikings’ Greater Lansing
Activities Conference ball-
games with Maple Valley
were postponed this week, so
there was no reason for the
team’s top pitchers to save
pitches.
Singles by Ethan Caris,
Ashton Benson and Matthew
Thompson were the only hits
for Hastings against Gawne
in the day’s first ballgame - a
5-1 Lakewood win. The one
run against Gawne was
unearned. He struck out 16
Saxons and didn’t walk a
batter.
Drew Markley threw well
for the Saxons too. He struck
out six in five innings of
work, allowing three runs
[two earned] on three hits
and four walks.
Gawne had three of those
hits and drove in a run. All
eight Lakewood hits in the
opener were singles.
Nathaniel Graham had two
and Brent Sweet, Andy
Wolverton and Willette had
one each. Graham had an
RBI.
Willette started the cham-
pionship game for the
Vikings and went 6.2 innings,
striking out five and walking
five. He was charged with all

three Trojan runs. TK man-

aged six hits off the starter.

Graham was the first reliever

for the Vikings but walked

the two Trojans he faced to

push across TK’s final two

runs.

Lakewood scored three

runs in the top of the third

inning against TK putting

together three straight two-

out hits. Sweet singled and

came home from second on a

single by Gawne. Gawne

then came around to score on

a triple off the bat of Graham,

and Graham eventually

scored on a passed ball.

Lucas Tacey led off the top

of the fifth with a walk for

the Vikings and came around

to score without the benefit

of a hit. He took second on a

passed ball, moved to third

on an infield ground ball by

Gawne and then scored on a

wild pitch.

The seventh inning jam

wasn’t the only one the

Vikings worked out of in the

championship. TK had the

bases loaded with nobody

out after Samuel McKeown

was hit by a pitch, Carsen

Burbridge singled and Carter

Stahl singled to start the bot-

tom of the fifth.

Willette got Alex Bonnema

on a called third strike for the

first out. McKeown scored

and everybody else moved

up a base on an RBI ground

out by Reese Garbrecht.

TK’s Nolan Dahley walked

to load the bases back up

with two out, but Burbridge

got a late break off of third to

try and score on a wild pitch

and was thrown out at the

plate by Viking catcher Jayce

Hansen.

Willette helped his own

cause with a one-out double

in the top of the sixth and

then his courtesy runner,

Nathan Willette, advanced

around the bases on a TK

error and a wild pitch.

TK put pressure on the

Vikings in the bottom of the

seventh. Stahl singled with

one out, but was still at first

when Bonnema flied out to

Lakewood left fielder Denny

Sauers. Gavin Willette then

walked Garbrecht and

Dahley to load the bases.

Dahley was in an 0-2 hole.

He fouled off four more

pitches, after earning those

first two strikes with foul

balls, before finally working

the walk. Graham came on

and walked TK’s Jonah

Summerhays on four pitches.

Graham got to 0-2 on TK’s

Kaiden Pratt, but Pratt then

looked at four balls to push

in another Trojan run that

made the score 5-3 and

brought Tacey out of the

dugout to bring on Gawne.

“It felt like they kind of

squeezed us a little bit there,”

Tacey said. “[Gavin] Willette

got tired there. That is the

first time he has ever tried to

go for a complete game in

his varsity career. I thought

Graham pitched perfectly

fine to those two batters he

saw. At the end of the day,

Brady [Gawne] comes in

there, one pitch and a ground

out and game over.

“The guys played well.

We played fundamentally

sound baseball. I think we

had one error in 14 innings.

That is phenomenal. I’ll be

honest with you, I feel good.

We have never won this tour-

nament since I have been

here. Normally we come out

here and we don’t play very

well, and we played abso-

lutely fundamental baseball

here today. I am proud of the

guys. They played well.”

Dahley, Summerhays,

Dipert and Burbridge each

singled once for TK in that

championship game. Stahl

had two singles.

Martin Hollern, Price,

Gawne and Sweet each sin-

gled once for the Vikings.

TK senior starter Levi

VanderHeide took the loss on

the mound. He gave up four

runs, three earned, on four

hits and two walks. He struck

out four.

Brett Caswell relived

VanderHeide in the fifth and

got the final seven outs. He

struck out two, walked one,

allowed one hit and one

earned run.

TK got to the champion-

ship game with a 7-0 five-in-

ning win over Delton

Kellogg.

The Trojans’ seven hits

were all singles, two by

McKeown and one each for

Garbrecht, Burbridge, Pratt,

Dahley and Caswell.

Garbrecht, Burbridge, Pratt,

Dahley and Caswell had one

RBI each and Bonnema,

Garbrecht, VanderHeide,

Pratt, McKeown, Dahley and

Caswell each scored one run.

Dipert pitched the Trojans

to the win. He struck out 13

in the five innings, walking

two and allowing a lone sin-

gle to the Panthers’ Blake

Thomas.

Hastings pounded out a

14-4 win over Delton

Kellogg in the consolation to

close the day.

The Saxons finished off

the Panthers with seven runs

in the top of the fourth

inning. Drew Markley had a

big game knocking a double,

a triple and walking twice.

He drove in three runs and

scored three times. Carter

Hewitt and Mitchell Rafter

also doubled for the Saxons.

Hewitt was 2-for-3 at the

plate with a walk, three RBI

and two runs scored. Caris

walked once and scored

twice out of the lead-off spot

for the Saxons.Rafter had

three Rbi and Matthew

Thompson two. Harrison

Smalley and Mason Denton

both singled once and drove

in a run. Denton scored twice

and Smalley once. Kaiden

Shumway walked once and

scored two runs too.

The top four batters in the

Delton Kellogg line-up each

scored a run against the

Saxons, Thomas, Jacob

Kemp, Mason Nabozney and

Hunter Belew. Aiden

Whitmore had Delton

Kellogg’s only hit, a two-run

single in the bottom of the

third inning.

The Saxons did the typical

Saturday bullpen thing in the

final. Hewitt started and

went two innings. He struck

out three and walked three

while being charged with

one unearned run. Denton,

Rafter and Patrick Gee all

threw in relief for Hastings.

Garrett Schisser took the

loss for the Panthers.

TK returned to OK Gold

Conference play Thursday

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Brett Caswell pitches for the Trojans during their

match-up with Lakewood in the championship game of

the Barry County Invitational in Hastings Saturday.

(Photo by Brett Bremer)

Thornapple Kellogg first baseman Kaiden Pratt slaps a tag on Delton Kellogg’s Seth

Lebeck after snagging a pick-off throw from pitcher Eric Dipert during their opening

round ballgame at the Barry County Invitational Saturday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

See BASEBALL, pg. 9