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ADRIAN, Mich.---The Kingsford Greens American Legion Baseball team made five errors and could not overcome those mistakes, and fell to North Branch, 5-2, at the Class A State Tournament in downstate Adrian.
The Greens had chances against North Branch left-handed pitcher Brady Davis, but could not get the big hit at the right time. North Branch, located near Lapeer east of Flint, also won a morning game, 2-1, over Hudson.
Davis, an All-Stater at M Pleasant Sacred Heart High School this season, led his team to a MHSAA Division Four state championship in June. He threw a one-hit shutout in the state title game against Marcellus at Michigan State University. Davis was on the North Branch team despite Mt. Pleasant being 118 miles away from Lapeer.
In the first inning, Jack Kreigl and Pablo Finley had back-to-back hits against Davis, and Trent McLain drew a walk to load the bases. But Davis struck out Mason Koski and Colin Olsen to end the scoring chance.
In the bottom of the first inning, Greens pitcher Owen Baij gave up a one-out double to Ivan Kosmerick, but appeared to get the second out of the inning when Wyatt Jolman popped it up to right field. The ball was dropped, however, so North Branch had two men on. With two outs and two strikes, Jackson Luke rifled a shot into the left field corner to bring home two runs, putting Kingsford in an early 2-0 hole.
Kingsford got a leadoff single from Landon Ross in the second inning, and with one out, Garrett Brown lined one toward right field. North Branch second baseman Isaac Zocco jumped high in the air to make the catch, and get the double play at first base.
It stayed 2-0 until the fifth inning. North Branch catcher Caleb Waffle crushed a triple to the distant Nicolay Field fence. Luke's fly ball was missplayed in center field, bringing home the third run, and Garrett Hill had an RBI hit to make it 4-0.
Kingsford tried to rally in the sixth inning. Kreigl drew a walk to start the inning and then scored all the way from first base when Finley cranked a triple into the left field corner. Finley scored on a ground out by McLain, and it was a 4-2 game.
In the bottom of the inning, though, North Branch scored another unearned run. Jolman was safe on an infield error and later scored on a bad throw on a stolen base attempt in the first-and-third situation. That made it 5-2.
Still, after all of the poor defense and missed offensive opportunities, Kingsford still had a chance at the plate in the seventh inning, With one out, Brad Bottesi crushed a triple to the left-center field fence, ending Davis's day on the mound via the pitch count rule.
Hill came in to pitch, and with two out, walked Jack Spreen and hit Kriegl with a pitch. With the tying runs on base, Finley slugged one up the middle. The shortstop was positioned in the right spot, however, got the ball, shoveled to second for the force out to end the game.
Baij took the loss on the mound, throwing his max pitches, allowing eight hits, five runs (two earned). He struck out six and walked one.
Davis got the win, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing runs on five hits. He struck out eight batters and walked two. Hill finished up by getting the final two outs.
Kingsford (16-4-1) lost for just the second time since June. They will be back on the field Friday morning for a loser's bracket game against the team they beat last summer for the state championship, Stevensville-Lakeshore (12-14-1). Game time is 9 am ET/8 am CT. Listen live on FM-94.3 The Breeze.
North Branch (19-4-1) will play Breckenridge (7-11-1) in the winner's bracket.
