BIG RAPIDS – It wasn’t always sunshine and daffodils for the Ludington baseball team this season. After the first game of a doubleheader against Fremont, the Orioles were 0-10, and some would write them off from winning anything significant.
In those ten games, Ludington was only able to post 16 runs on the board. The 1-2 punch in the rotation, Brody Kaminski and Thomas Weinert, carved out hitters in that span. Unfortunately, they weren’t getting much run support.
Though the record didn’t look pretty, neither did their schedule. Doubleheaders against Spring Lake, Whitehall, Oakridge, West Michigan Christian, and Montague didn’t necessarily set them up for success.
“Going into the season, we knew we were scheduling tough teams, and at times, the schedule was going to be a nightmare. We kept telling the team to stay strong, work hard, and play good baseball,” said manager Alan Albrecht.
After ending the regular season on a five-game skid, the Orioles entered district play with nothing—literally nothing—to lose. A 7-6 win over Chippewa Hills in the district semifinal and a 6-4 win over Cadillac in the final game gave Ludington its first district title since 2006.
In the district semifinal, Ludington trailed Chippewa Hills 4-0 after the top of the fifth, but all of a sudden, the Orioles began to rally with two outs in the sixth. Three singles, two walks, and two errors later, Ludington took a 5-4 lead heading into the seventh inning.
Chippewa Hills regained the lead with a cluster of singles in the 7th, and in the bottom half, the Orioles were down to their last out and a runner on second.
Weinert scorched a fly ball to right field that would find its way down and score Kaminski from second. A clutch 8th inning on the mound from Ludington’s Karson Knowles set them up to walk it off in the bottom half. Zach Graham tallied a leadoff knock and would advance to second on a passed ball. Cleanup hitter Keen Patterson drove a ball to center that found its way on the outfield grass, scoring Graham from second and the winning run.
“(Zach) going 4-for-8, scoring 2 runs, and driving in 2 was huge for us on Saturday. Zach was involved in the biggest play of the day. When Zach singled in the 8th, he got a good read on the ball in the dirt and was able to get to 2nd. I knew if Keen drove the ball to the outfield, I was sending him,” said Albrecht.
Ludington was set to play Cadillac in the district final, a team that they had been swept by in the regular season.
The Orioles tacked on an early 4-0 lead, but it would not last. Cadillac fired back with three runs of its own in the third after an error, sac bunt, and a single.
After four innings of play, Ludington led 5-3, and Albrecht decided to bring in Caleb Benz after Kaminski dealt four innings of zero earned runs (3 R), allowing six hits.
“Brody was doing everything on the mound that we asked him to do. He is a gamer and always comes to play. We liked how he worked the first four innings but felt Cadillac was starting to time him up and thought we would bring in the lefty. Caleb just has an arm slot that is tough for hitters. He came in and did everything we expected. He pounded the zone and got the outs we needed,” Albrecht said when asked what went into the decision to go with Benz in the fifth.
Benz held Cadillac hitters to just one hit and no earned runs (1 R) through three innings. Graham, Kaminski, Knowles, Weinert, and Cooper Holmes all tallied RBIs in the win.
The Orioles advance to regional play on Wednesday with hopes of keeping their improbable season alive.
“Going into Wednesday’s regional game, we know we have a tough team to play in Standish-Sterling. The plan is to go right at them and play a clean game. We have to make sure we aren’t giving them extra chances at the plate.”
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