MONTAGUE – After a doubleheader sweep over Orchard View on Thursday, the Montague baseball team completes the regular season as WMC-Lakes champs with an overall conference record of 11-1, with wins of 13-0 and 10-0.
In the final conference doubleheader against Orchard View, the Wildcats just needed to win one of two games to fend off second-place Whitehall.
GAME ONE
In game one, senior Bryton Belinger took the hill and held the Cardinals to just one hit through five innings and struck out 14 batters.
Montague tacked on seven runs in the bottom of the first. Belinger lined a 2-RBI single, Jack Degan singled to add two RBIs, and Ryver Jarka cleared the bases with a triple that would add two more runs.
With Belinger dealing at the rubber, the Wildcats had no problem holding the lead and took care of game one easily.
GAME TWO
Senior Conner McKeown got the nod to lead game two on the mound, and much like Belinger, McKeown went five innings of shutout baseball, giving up just three hits and striking out eight.
Belinger led the Wildcats offensively, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Cooper Bradley added three hits as well; Fletcher Thommen and Kellan Francis each contributed two hits.
The 2025 season seemed to have started before last year ended, when a young Wildcat squad trounced its way to a district title and a regional appearance.
Montague began the 2024 season 5-10 and was essentially out of the conference race. The season would soon turn around once the GMAA tournament came around, when they battled against a state-ranked North Muskegon team but would eventually drop the game 2-1.
As a heavy underdog to win the district, with top schools such as Ravenna and North Muskegon standing in its way, the Wildcats, backed by tough pitching and well-rounded hitting, hoisted up a 2024 Division Three district mitten.
Fast forward to the offseason heading into the present season, Montague had only lost a handful of seniors and remained a threat around the league with a lot of returning production.
The Wildcats knew they wanted to begin the 2025 season off strong, and with crosstown rival and conference foe Whitehall on the schedule in early April, it was a perfect opportunity to take command of the Lakes division early.
Behind a dominant seven innings of shutout pitching from junior Eli Petersen, Montague defeated Whitehall 1-0 and 10-2 after an offensive explosion in game two.
Montague would go on to finish the month of April with a record of 12-3 and held tons of momentum heading into a doubleheader against Oakridge, in which they would split, giving the Eagles their second conference loss.
In the final conference doubleheader against Orchard View, the Wildcats just needed to win one of two games to fend off second-place Whitehall.
Montague will end the regular season with a tough four-game stretch, with two games against Spring Lake, and will play both West Michigan Christian and Fruitport this Saturday.
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