Plymouth Christian Academy at Fowler – – Baseball – – Fowler 2025 Baseball/Softball Invitational – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 3, 2025 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, Fowler is hosting its annual baseball/softball invitational. The Fowler Eagles will play the Eagles from Plymouth Christian Academy in baseball’s third place game. (I guess we won’t be referring to either team by their nickname in this article.)

Your Bleacher Denizen finally got his body into gear (most nights, doing the blog keeps him up until mindnight or so and he has definitely become a second shift person.)

It’s a colder day than what the Bleacher Denizen expected, but other than that, there is no rain (some clouds) and it should be a decent day for baseball. I grabbed a pulled pork sandwich from the concession stand (a very nice one!) and got the starting lineups from Plymouth Christian Coach Eero Pertola and Fowler Coach Glenn Pung.

Here are the starting lineups. Fortunately, Fowler won the coin toss and will bat last, so your aging Bleacher Denizen will not have to deal with Fowler being the visiting team and should hopefully not suffer too much confusion during the game.

PLYMOUTH CHRISTIAN

Justin Shollack c

Dylan Beasley ss

Cooper Weaver 3b

Michael Fernandez dh

Luke Janigian 2b

Micah Lavigne p

Carter Dattilio cf

Josh Pop 1b

Josh Yeager lf

Danny Antone will play right field, but will not bat.

FOWLER

Conner Katich 1b

Sam Vanneste ss

Noah Schafer 2b

Trevor Spicer p

Ben Kohagen cf

Drew Weber rf

Jack O’Hare 3b

Seth Armbrustmacher dh

Beckett Hansen lf

Jesse Andros will catch, but will not bat.

It is now time to review the events of this game through the somewhat open eyes of a Bleacher Denizen who never really got far in his baseball career. When he petitioned the baseball powers that be to permit him to have ten strikes before he was called out, they denied his request. Thus, your Bleacher Denizen’s at bats typically lasted only three pitches as he watched baseballs whiz by him. (The extra pitches may not have helped much anyway.)

Fowler Pitcher Trevor Spicer retired the Christian leadoff batter on the top of the first inning on a fly to right field and struck out the next batter. Cooper Weaver was hit by a pitch and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Michael Fernandez doubled to right field to drive Cooper Weaver home with the game’s first run. Fowler First Baseban Conner Katich made a great diving catch to get Christian’s third out.

Plymouth Christian Academy scored one run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.

Christian Pitcher Micah Lavigne retired Fowler’s first two hitters in the top of the first inning on a strikeout and a grounder to third base. Noah Schafer walked and went to second base when Trevor Spicer walked. Jacob Halfmann entered the game as a courtesy runner for Trevor Spicer. Ben Kohagen singled to right field to drive Noah Schafer home as Jacob Halfmann went to third base. Christian Catcher Justin Shollack made a fine throw to second base to catch the runner trying to steal for the third out.

Fowler scored one run in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Micah Lavigne walked to lead off the top of the second inning for Christian. Fowler Shortstop Sam Vanneste was in the right spot to snare a hot line drive off the bat of Carter Dattilio and then threw to second baseman Noah Schafer to double off the runner. Josh Pop made it to first base safely when his third strike was not caught. Fowler Pitcher Trevor Spicer retired the next hitter on a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.

Christian Pitcher Micah Lavigne retired the three Fowler hitters in the second inning on a strikeout, a bouncer to the pitcher and a fly to left field.

Justin Shollack singled to lead off the top of the third inning for Christian with a single to left field. Miles Loiselle entered the game as a courtesy runner for Justin Shollack. Fowler Pitcher Trevor Spicer retired the next two Christian batters on a fly to second base and a fly to center field. Miles Loiselle stole second base. Christian made its third out on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop.

Micah Lavigne retired the three Fowler hitters in the bottom of the third inning on a grounder to first base where Micah Lavigne covered first base to catch the ball for the out, a foul popup to third base and a grounder to shortstop.

After three full innings, the score remained tied at 1-1.

Beckett Hansen took over the pitching duties for Fowler. Trevor Spicer moved to first base and Conner Katich went out to left field.

Cooper Weaver doubled to the center field fence to lead off the top of the fourth inning for Christian. Fowler Catcher Jesse Andros made a fine throw to third base to catch the runner stealing. Beckett Hansen retired the next two Christian batters on a bouncer to third base and a great diving catch by Right Fielder Drew Weber.

Noah Schafer walked to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning for Fowler. Micah Lavigne retired the next two Fowler batters on a foul popup to the pitcher and a fly to deep center field. Drew Weber beat out a bunt single; Noah Schafer advanced to second base; Noah Schafer went to third base and Drew Weber to second base on an overthrow. Fowler’s next batter grounded out to the shortstop to end the inning.

Beckett Hansen retired the three Christian hitters in the top of the fifth inning on a fly to left field where Conner Katich made a fine catch, a fly to right field and a popup to third base.

Shane Slocum came in to pitch for Plymouth Christian. Micah Lavigne went out to center field.

Shane Slocum struck out the first two Fowler hitters in the bottom of the fifth inning and got the third out on a bouncer to first base.

After five innings, the game was still tied at 1-1.

Jack O’Hare went in to pitch for Fowler and Beckett Hansen moved to third base.

Dylan Beasley singled to lead off the top of the sixth inning for Plymouth Christian and stole second base. Cooper Weaver walked. Dylan Beasley took third base and Cooper Weaver second base on a wild pitch. Michael Fernandez walked to load the bases. Dylan Beasley scored, Cooper Weaver advanced to third base and Michael Fernandez to second base on a passed ball.

Drew Weber came in to pitch for Fowler. Beckett Hansen went to right field and Jack O’Hare went to third base.

Drew Weber retired the next Christian batter on a popup to the shortstop. Micah Lavigne walked to load the bases. Cooper Weaver scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Carter Dattilio. The runners at first and second base did not advance. Pinch Hitter Mickey Callison singled to center field to drive Michael Fernandez home as Carter Dattilio advanced to third base.

Pinch Hitter Julian Hoover doubled to deep center field to drive Carter Dattilio home as Mickey Callison moved up to third base. Drew Weber retired the next Christian hitter on a fly to left field to end the inning.

Christian scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-1 lead.

Sam Vanneste was safe at second base on an error ot lead off the bottom of the sixth inning for Fowler. Shane Slocum struck out the next hitter. Sam Vanneste advanced to third base on a groundout to the shortstop by Trevor Spicer. Fowler made hits third out of the inning on a grounder to the shortstop.

Drew Weber retired Christian’s leadoff hitter in the top of the seventh inning on a fly to center field. Cooper Weaver doubled to deep right field. Cooper Weaver scored when Michael Fernandez reached third base on an error. Michael Fernandez scored on an RBI groundout to third base by Luke Janigian. Christian made its third out on a fly to third base.

Christian added two runs in the top of the seventh inning to extend its lead to 7-1.

Drew Weber beat out an infield single and went to second base on an overthrow. He advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Pinch Hitter Jacob Halfmann singled to right field to drive Drew Weber home. Jacob Halfmann advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Jacob Halfmann advanced to third base and when the next batter struck out, but the third strike was not caught and the catcher had to throw to first base to get the out.

Beckett Hansen walked.. Conner Katich got an RBI on a fielder’s choice grounder to first base; Jacob Halfmann scored, Beckett Hansen was out at second base and Conner Katich safe at first base. Christian Pitcher Shane Slocum got the final out of the game on a popup to the shortstop.

Fowler scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Plymouth Christian Academy won the third place game at the Fowler Invitational by the final score of 7-3.

Drew Weber had two singles for Fowler. Ben Kohagen and Jacob Halfmann each had one single and one RBI. Conner Katich had one RBI.

Trevor Spicer pitched three innings for Fowler. He gave up one run and struck out two batters. Beckett Hansen pitched two shutout innings.

Cooper Weaver had two doubles for Plymouth Christian. Michael Fernandez and Julian Hoover each had a double and one RBI. MIckey Callison had a single and one RBI. Justin Shollack and Dylan Beasley each had one single. Luke Janigian and Carter Battilio each had one RBI.

Mitch Lavigne pitched four innings for Plymouth Christian. He gave up one run and struck out two batters. Shane Slocum pitched three innings. He gave up two runs and struck out four batters.