By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
VICKSBURG — Prior to this year, Three Rivers’ baseball team had only been to the regional round of the MHSAA Division 2 tournament once in its history.
After notching their second-ever district title last week after knocking off Paw Paw in five innings, the Wildcats had to stare down another Wolverine Conference foe in the MHSAA Division 2 regional semifinals Wednesday morning – conference champ Niles, who had beaten them 6-1 and 8-1 just two weeks prior and had a 26-7-1 record coming into regional play.
They say postseason baseball is a different animal, and anything can happen on the diamond when the records are wiped clean. In what was an upset that will go down in the Three Rivers High School history books, the Wildcats gritted out a 2-1 victory over the Vikings, securing the school’s first-ever win in a regional game.
“This is big for the community. These guys, I just told them to believe in themselves from the very beginning. They’re a very talented group, I knew that coming in, and this is big for years down the road, it’s big for this community, and the high school, Three Rivers Community Schools, the district needed this,” Three Rivers manager Scott Muffley said.
With the win, Three Rivers moves on to the regional finals Saturday at Stevensville-Lakeshore, where they will take on the winner of Wednesday’s Hopkins-Gull Lake matchup at 12:30 p.m. Whoever wins will move on to the state quarterfinals round that afternoon at 3 p.m.
Tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, with runners on first and second with two outs, Three Rivers’ Mason Awe lined a single to left field that scored Jace Gray from second just ahead of the throw from left fielder Bryce Zache and gave the Wildcats a slim 2-1 advantage after having given up a 1-0 lead just a half inning prior.
Sophomore starting pitcher Aidan Williams then finished what he had started in the top of the seventh and final inning. Despite a Vikings batter reaching on an error by shortstop Drake Dibble with one out, Williams got a fielder’s choice groundout off the bat of Brody Lace and struck out Acie Kirtdoll to start the celebration.
It was the perfect way to cap off the morning for Williams, in which he threw a complete game, striking out seven Vikings hitters, walking just one and giving up seven hits and one unearned run.
“He’s one of my biggest competitors, and between the ears, the kid did phenomenal today. We knew he had to cut down on the walks, and once he composes himself on the mound, he’s tough to beat,” Muffley said.
Williams said afterward that he had pitched “the game of my life” in the regional semis.
“I’m so excited. We have so many seniors that just deserve this. The past two years, they’ve lost in the district finals, it just feels great – first regional win in school history,” Williams said.
Williams’ lone walk of the day came on the first batter of the game in the top of the first, which was quickly erased by a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Kirtdoll. After first baseman Brenden Olsen doubled to center field, designated hitter Braylon Schultz popped out to third to end the inning.
Three Rivers would capitalize on some small-ball in the bottom of the first inning against Niles ace Jaxen Racht – who had struck out 14 in their 2-1 district finals win against Stevensville Lakeshore last week – to score their first run. Racht was a little wild on the mound, walking Gray on a 3-1. Gray would steal second before Brady Penny struck out for the first out.
Designated hitter Gabe Young would then strike out on a ball that got away from Niles catcher Dane Asmus, but Asmus’ throw to first to try to complete the strikeout bounced away from Olsen, which allowed Gray to score to put the Wildcats up 1-0.
The 1-0 score would hold for quite a while as both pitchers and defenses locked each other down for the next few innings. Three Rivers would threaten a bit in the bottom of the third inning by getting a leadoff infield single and a stolen base from Tate Rohrer, but he would be out at third after a wild pickoff throw, and the Wildcats went quietly.
After the first inning, Three Rivers’ Williams did not allow a Niles runner to reach second base again until the top of the fifth inning, when with two outs, he gave up back-to-back hits to Zache and Lace, which put runners on the corners. Lace would steal second, but on a 3-2 pitch to Kirtdoll, Williams induced a groundout to second base to end the threat, screaming in joy as he walked off the mound.
Niles, though, would finally break through against Williams in the top of the sixth inning. Olsen reached second to lead off the inning on an error by Awe and would eventually steal third two batters later after Williams struck out Schultz. A groundout to short by Tanner Rachels would hold Olsen at third, but Dane Asmus would launch an RBI double over the head of Penny in center field to tie the game at 1-1.
Niles threatened to take a 2-1 lead on the very next batter, as center fielder Sam Rucker singled to left field. However, Dane Asmus would be thrown out at the plate on a perfect throw by Three Rivers left fielder Peyton Hradsky to keep the game tied at 1-1 and swing momentum back to Three Rivers.
“We know [Hradsky’s] got a great arm, but he launched that thing and it was a perfect throw,” Muffley said. “This is a game of momentum, and if they got that momentum back at that point, then it could’ve went either way. We gained it back by that big throw.”
That throw set up Awe’s heroics in the bottom of the sixth and Williams’ closing of the door in the seventh, with the Three Rivers bench pouring onto the field to celebrate a long-sought victory for the program.
“We’ve only had two district titles, 2010 and now this year in 2025, so this is the furthest Three Rivers has ever been,” Muffley said. “One of the reasons I came back to coach here, being my first year back, is because I knew the talent we had here. I knew it was going to be a large learning curve, and these guys have bought in. We’ve learned how to play as a team, and let me tell you, this team is special.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
