By John Raffel
Correspondent
MATTAWAN— Mattawan’s baseball team will be playing this weekend at Michigan State University’s McLane Stadium after winning three games last week.
The Wildcats are 32-9-2 overall. They beat Lowell 2-1 in eight innings on June 3 in a regional semifinal game. Then they played Traverse City Central in the regional finals and won 8-1. This put them in the quarterfinal game later that day against Byron Center and Mattawan won 3-1.
On Wednesday in the Regional semi-final Mattawan defeated Lowell 2-1 behind a strong pitching performance by Kaden Jominy, throwing six innings of no-hit baseball with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Liam Walsh, Jack Reiter and Maxx Vanantwerp had two hits apiece. A big hit in the eighth inning by Jack Reiter scored two runs to get the win.
“It was an unbelievable pitching performance by Kaden. To throw six innings of no hit baseball is hard in any game, but in the post-season it is even more special,” Mattawan coach Brett Vaughn said. “Jack has been struggling a little this postseason, but was able to get a huge hit when it counted the most, with the bases loaded to get the walk-off win.
“On Saturday in the Regional finals we were able to jump out to an early 6-0 lead through the first three innings, which allowed the guys to settle in and beat a solid TCC team 8-1.”
Pat Dougherty, Liam Walsh, and John Pelak added two hits apiece to catapult us to the big win. Jominy once again threw a solid five innings, allowing five hits and striking out five.
Nate Fowler came in and closed the door throwing two innings, allowing no hits and striking out one.
“Kaden had another great outing, and it was nice to see Nate come in and finish them off,” Vaughn said.
“We did a great job putting the ball in play and making them make plays. We only had two strikeouts in the game, which usually leads to more succesks from our team.”
In the state quarterfinal against Byron Center, “We got out to a quick start again scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning,” Vaughn said. “Maxx Vanantwerp threw the first 3.1 innings allowing just 1 run and 4 hits. Liam Walsh came in and threw the rest of the game allowing no hits and no runs. We only had five hits on offense, but again put the ball in play only striking out three times. Pat Dougherty had two hits in the game to lead the Wildcat offense.
“Maxx didn’t have his best stuff today, but he was gritty and got through it. Liam came in and was really good. The speed difference and the pace of play kept Byron Center off balance.”
Mattawan on Friday at 2:30 p.m. will play Detroit Catholic Central (27-12) in a state semifinal game at MSU. The winner plays at 5 p.m. on Saturday for the state title against Rochester Adams for Brownstown Woodhaven.
