HART – The 2025 season for the Hart Pirates was much of an up-and-down campaign that saw themselves searching for their identity at times. “While the road down the season was bumpy at times, that positive outlook put us in a position to be playing some of our best baseball of the season in the stretch run of late May,” said manager David Riley.
Coming into the season as district runner-up, Hart had its sights on its first since 2004 with many of last season’s production returning. “Building a culture of hard work continues to be the first goal. We believe success will follow hard work,” said Riley ahead of the 2025 season.
This was Riley’s eighth and final season at the helm of Hart baseball and has truly given the program a winning culture. “The 8 seasons I have been blessed to coach have been a privilege. I am proud of the program’s growth over those years, and I can’t wait to see the next steps that will be taken,” Riley stated.
In the district round, the Pirates held on to win close games over Hesperia (3-2) and Mason County Central in the district final (2-0).
Hart would go on to lose a tight regional semifinal game against a well-rounded Evart (24-11) team, 3-2, on Wednesday. The first four innings were scoreless for both clubs; Hart’s Ty Schlukebir dominated through three innings on the mound.
Evart tacked on three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Hart would answer the following inning with two of its own after an RBI single from Brendan Hiddema and an RBI groundout. The Pirates, in the top of the seventh, went down in order to seal the game for Evart.
“We lost a tough one-run game to Evart in the first regional. Again, I am just very proud of the way our kids played and the mental fortitude they brought to not back down and not give in to a team ‘favored’ against us,” Riley mentioned after the loss.
It was the pitching staff that kept Hart in many of its games this season, primarily Schlukebir and Avery Guikema, two senior southpaws at the top of the rotation.
Early on in the season, the Pirates traveled to Morley Stanwood for the “Cat Classic” tournament. Schlukebir and Guikema took the hill in both games. Schlukebir tossed a complete game shutout allowing just one hit and struck out 12 in the opening round, defeating Fremont 4-0. Guikema essentially mirrored Schlukebir’s performance in the championship game, throwing five innings of zero earned run baseball while striking out nine hitters. Hart would go on to mercy host Morley Stanwood 13-2.
“It was then that my two senior lefties really established their ability to control games and be huge factors in big games for us as starting pitchers,” Riley said about the two.
In a district stacked with Shelby, Mason County Central, Hesperia, and of course Hart, the Tigers were the clear-cut favorite to advance. Once Mason County Central upset Shelby with a walk-off home run, Riley and the club started to really believe the district was theirs to win.
Schlukebir shut down Hesperia’s lineup in the semifinal, but would be ineligible for the championship; the decision was a no-brainer for Riley to hand the ball to Guikema and bring home a district mitten.
A 2-3 performance at the dish from Aiden Coker, and Guikema’s seven innings of pure dominance, Hart was able to complete its Cinderella district run.
“The district championship was a long time coming as we have been close over the last decade but just couldn’t seal the deal,” Riley said. “The boys simply believed they could and then went out there and DID. That is what I am proud about, the boys really deciding that they were going to do it.”
Junior Halen Boos has been the Pirates’ backstop for the last three seasons and once again paid wonders on behalf of the success of the team this season. Boos caught every game this season and has, as Riley likes to say, been a “Workhorse” behind the plate.
There is no doubt the Hart baseball program will miss Riley’s leadership, though he leaves behind a legacy that brought the Pirates their first district title in 21 seasons.
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