Baseball: Chargers best Chemics to win district title

by Tommy Lemoine

Throughout the regular season, inconsistencies plagued the Dow High varsity baseball team.

On Saturday, the Chargers finally put it all together.

After beating Bay City Western 7-4 in the semifinal game, the Chargers took down cross-town rival Midland High 5-3 to advance to next week’s regional game in Flushing against the host Raiders.

“We had had so many inconsistencies throughout the year that overshadowed what we could do,” said Chargers’ coach Kip Harris. “I think that today was kind of gratifying for not just the seniors, but I think for the team as a whole.”

Though Dow was able to win the tournament, it didn’t come easy. After Dow starting pitcher Brett Lechner walked Thomas Ahearn to start the championship game, a weather delay postponed play for over an hour and fifteen minutes. When play resumed, Midland High’s offense was ready.

After an Eric Dawson walk, A.J. deOliveira promptly delivered an RBI double to start off the scoring for the Chemics. Midland would plate two more courtesy of RBIs from Jeff Schaffert and Josh Hahn to take a 3-0 first-inning lead.

Midland High head coach Eric Albright chose to start Andy Angus in the championship game, despite his struggles against the Chargers throughout his career. After a quick first, Angus ran into trouble in the second as Dow High was able to respond.

Centerfielder Connor Hanlon led off the inning for the Chargers with a double to left-center to get things going. After Nate Richard’s one-out single two batters later, Jimmy Durfee delivered an RBI single to put his team on the board. Two batters later, Andrew Seer tied the game at three with a single that scored two.

“We get guys on and we get them over, and get a base hit or a sacrifice fly,” Harris said. “Those are the little things you have to do in baseball that we’ve been a little inconsistent with over the course of the year.”

After giving up the early lead in the first, Lechner settled down and pitched very well for the Chargers, going 6 2/3 and giving up just the three runs while striking out two.

“It was a pretty gutsy performance,” Harris said of Lechner. “He was tired, but he battled through.”

Dow High scored the go-ahead run in the third inning off an RBI double off the bat of Matt Skirving, the Saginaw Valley League leader in runs driven in.

In the top of the sixth, Lechner helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly that scored Sean Hartman, making the score 5-3.

Things got dicey for Lechner in the seventh when the Chemics loaded the bases, but senior Tim McDonald came in with two outs to close out the game and secure the championship for the Chargers.

Dow was led by Durfee offensively, who had one of his biggest games of the season, going 3-for-3 and scoring a pair of runs.

“Today the feel was a little bit different. I think that we were a little more consistent,” Harris said. “It’s good that we came back more aggressive at the plate.

For Albright, he sees the day’s loss to Dow High as a major disappointment despite his team’s 17-3 regular season record in the SVL.

“Our goal was to win a district championship, and we didn’t achieve that goal,” he said. “Our league standing was irrelevant and our win-loss record was irrelevant, but everything we did was having a goal to win the district championship, and we didn’t do that.”

One of the reason’s Albright’s team fell short of winning the championship may have been due in part to the nine-inning contest they played just prior against Bay City Central.

The two teams stayed close in a wild affair after the Chemics tied the game at six in the sixth inning off of three straight one-out RBIs.

The two teams then proceeded to take the game into extra innings, when in the ninth the Chemics exploded for four runs, two of which came off of a two-run double from Ben Mercure.

Despite extra innings, Derek Dalzell went the distance for the Wolves and suffered the loss. He surrendered 11 hits and 10 runs while striking out eight. The Chemics, on the other hand, used five pitchers with Matt Lane getting the win.

In the Chargers’ first game, Hartman recorded the victory in the team’s 7-4 win over the Warriors of Bay City Central. Seer went 2-for-4 with a run to lead the offense.

For Harris, it’s been one of the best weeks of his life, as last Saturday he became a father for the first time. And now just a week later, his team is ready to advance in postseason play with a district championship under its belt.

“It’s been a long week, back and forth from the hospital twice a day and trying to get to practice,” Harris said. “But he’s healthy, everybody’s doing well, and it’s a win for the team. It’s a pretty good cap on a long weekend.”