St. Mary ties game late, wins in extras over JoBurg for seventh-straight district title
GAYLORD ― Playoff baseball can be unpredictable. However, Gaylord St. Mary's postseason success has been rather predictable in the past few seasons.
The Snowbirds entered the 2023 postseason with six consecutive district titles under their belt, hoping to return to the MHSAA Division 4 state tournament after falling in the regional semifinals to Maple City Glen Lake a season ago.
In order to start that climb back to the state tournament, GSM would have to get through a home-hosted district on Saturday, June 3 that most notably included their rivals from Johannesburg-Lewsiton. And, after favorable matchups for both teams in the semifinal rounds, the two Ski Valley Conference foes squared off for the third and final time this season in the District 102 finals.
St. Mary initially jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but JoBurg countered with four runs in the third and another in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead that held late. Still, the Snowbirds stayed composed and eventually broke through, tying the game with two runs in the top of the sixth before another two runs in the top of the ninth sealed the deal on a 7-5 win to clinch their seventh-consecutive district title.
After JoBurg started the day with a 17-0 win over Wolverine and GSM followed with an 18-2 win over Boyne City, the two got things going in the title game. The Snowbirds seemingly had the game in control from the beginning, tallying a run on Dillon Croff's first-inning RBI double, tallying another on Joseph O'Connell's RBI double in the second and a third in the third on an RBI groundout from Donovan Blust.
Still, JoBurg stayed hungry, and while their bats didn't necessarily come alive, they did what they could to manufacture runs. That meant using a walk, a sacrifice bunt, two errors and a fielder's choice to push four runs across in the bottom of the third inning and take a one-run lead.
The Cardinals extended that to two runs in the fourth thanks to Benny Lindbert's single eventually coming around to score thanks to a balk, seizing momentum as the teams headed towards the final stretch.
The game tightened up in the final innings, and JoBurg pitcher Rily Mcvannel did all he could to keep the GSM bats quiet, but things finally broke in the top of the sixth as two errors and a bloop single just off the glove of Thomas Fox ended up scoring the two tying runs for St. Mary.
Both aces continued to deal as the game continued to heat up, but the pitch-count rules meant both were on their way out. Mcvannel was forced to give way to Eli Lindbert in the top of the seventh, while Croff lasted until the eighth before Daniel Jacobson took over.
Something had to break eventually, and something did for GSM in the top of the ninth inning as Croff drew a leadoff walk and Donovan Blust followed with a single. A few pitches later, Croff was up to third and scoring thanks to some wild pitches, giving the Blue Devils a 6-5 lead after briefly hesitating on a past ball.
Joseph O'Connell would get another run across as his ground ball drew a late throw home, giving the Snowbirds a 7-5 lead headed into the bottom of the ninth.
That was enough of a cushion for Jacobson on the mound as he struck out the first two batters of the final inning before Brett Koscielniak ended the game, throwing out a stealing baserunner at second base to secure the 7-5 win and district title.
Blust and Croff both had two hits apiece, while Croff finished with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Jacobson got the win on the mound, but Croff was stellar there as well, allowing just two earned runs and three hits in 7.2 innings of work.
For JoBurg, Mcvannel led the way with two hits and an RBI while striking out five batters in 6.2 innings of work.
GSM will now host East Jordan in the regional semifinal game on Wednesday, June 7 for a chance to play the winner of Painesdale Jeffers and Norway on Saturday, June 10 at Inland Lakes High School in Indian River.
Meanwhile, JoBurg wraps an overall successful season at 20-13 overall, just shy of a second-straight district title.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: St. Mary ties game late, wins in extras over Johannesburg-Lewiston for seventh-straight district title
