Wodek's arm, timely hits lift Petoskey baseball into regional title round
PETOSKEY — Petoskey head coach Shawn Racignol has been preaching pitching and defense to his guys ever since the postseason began.
He knows well enough that it’s what carries teams this time of year.
And in the biggest moment of the season Thursday at Turcott Field in Petoskey, his team delivered both in a Division 2 regional semifinal
Behind timely hits and that combination of great pitching and defense, it was all enough to lift the Northmen into the regional championship round with a 3-0 victory over visiting Escanaba.
Through all the highs and lows of the season, senior Tyler Goeldel still believed reaching this point was always possible with this team.
“Being around this program for a long time, I know there’s no quit,” said Goeldel. “No matter how low things get, we can also spike up. We had a 10-game losing streak and then we bounced back and we’ve got a 10-game winning streak. I think these guys are a bunch of hard-working kids that come to practice and try to get one percent better every day.”
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Garrett Wodek brought one of his best pitching performances of his junior season to the mound and leaned on a defense that tracked down 10 fly ball outs and had just one blemish on the day.
Wodek pitched all seven innings with just three hits allowed and no walks issued through 86 pitches. He also struck out three.
As far as what was working? One pitch in particular.
“Really the fastball,” Wodek said. “They would crush the off-speed today, so I had to work that fastball outside. I was getting my calls and they couldn’t hit it.”
He also leaned on that defense when he needed to.
“Defense tonight had my back,” Wodek added. “They toughed it out and helped me out. The defense has been very good for us.”
Originally scheduled to be in Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday, the game was called due to the weather and field conditions across the bridge, sending the Northmen back home without a game.
Thursday’s game then began in a downpour, which the teams played through for the first couple innings until the clouds parted.
That’s when Petoskey plated a run in the top of the third, leaned on its defense and Wodek, then added an insurance pair that ignited Petoskey’s bench and crowd in the seventh on a two-RBI single by Brendan Swiss.
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That energy was a part Goeldel addressed with teammates before the game.
“I told them, ‘We’ve got to be loud because this is our season,’” he said. “I think that really set in with them. We were a play away form our season ending in districts if that catcher catches that ball. We wouldn’t be practicing, we wouldn’t be playing.
“So I told the guys to get on the jump. If we’re energetic, we play great.”
Goeldel finished the game 3 for 4 atop the lineup, Haden Janes drove in a run on a single, Lucas O’Donnell went 2 for 3 and Swiss had the pair of RBIs.
It’s been a strong close to the season for Goeldel, as he’s moved atop the lineup and loved it ever since.
“I like it,” he said. “I can be a tone setter and show what I’ve got. I like being that tone setter to get a leadoff single or bunt on, just show that we can do it.”
Petoskey (26-13) moved into a hosted Division 2 regional championship game against Saginaw Swan Valley at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, June 8. Sparta will play Spring Lake in a 10 a.m. regional title game in Petoskey to start the day. The winners of each game will then meet in a 3 p.m. quarterfinal, with the state semifinals on the line.
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Just like Goeldel, Wodek believed all along in this team. Even though he won’t be able to take the mound Saturday due to pitch count, he’ll still be ready with the bat and still believing they’ve got what it takes to keep it rolling.
“From the beginning, we knew we were going to be a good team,” Wodek said. “We knew we had the grit to battle through all these tough teams. We had a tough schedule, we battled. Even with some losses, we knew we could do it.”
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey baseball tops Escanaba in a Division 2 regional semifinal
