Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
CALEDONIA — Montague’s baseball team exhibited the same fighting spirit it had shown all season, but the Wildcats’ rally came up just short in a 6-5 loss to Lansing Catholic in the Division 3 regional finals Saturday at Davenport University.
Montague finishes with a 23-15 overall record against a tough schedule featuring several Division 1 and Division 2 teams, many of them ranked. The Wildcats were unbeaten in the West Michigan Conference at 14-0 and captured a district championship.
Lansing Catholic scored five runs in the fourth inning on two walks, two hits and an error to take a 6-2 lead, which the Cougars made stand. Montague chipped away and had the tying and winning runs on third and second with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but the Wildcats could not push them across.
Lansing Catholic (22-15) lost to Pewamo-Westphalia in the quarterfinals, 12-8, later in the day. P-W mercy-ruled Grand Rapids Covenant Christian, 10-0 in six innings, in the other regional final Saturday.
P-W advances to the state semifinals against Detroit Edison at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
Check out dozens of photos at the top of this story and video highlights and reaction below, followed by details from the Montague-Lansing Catholic game:
Montague pitching:
Owen Petersen (LP) 3 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 4 K, 4 BB
Colton Blankstrom 4 IP, 3 R (1 ER), 3 H, 4 K, 0 BB
Montague hitting:
Nick Moss 3 H, 1 RBI
Colton Blankstrom 1 RBI
Tugg Nichols 1 H, 1 RBI, 1 R
Hayden McDonald 2 H, 1 RBI
Owen Petersen 2 R
Tate Stine 1 R
Chase Gowell 1 H (3B), 1 R
Lansing Catholic pitching:
Drew Diehl (WP) 5.1 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 4 R (2 ER), 7 K, 3 BB
Drew Burlingame 1 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 K, 1 BB
Austin Gates 0.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K, 1 BB
Lansing Catholic hitting:
Austin Gates 1 H, 1 R
Seth Elberson 2 H, 1 RBI, 1 R
Daniel Shipman 1 H, 2 RBI, 2 R
Ty Trahey 2 H, 1 RBI
Ty Rakan 1 H, 1 RBI
Padraic Cotter 1 H
Jake Sudol 1 R
