Okemos at Grand Ledge – – Baseball – – Second Game of Doubleheader – – The Bleacher Denizen – – April 28, 2025 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, it’s a beautiful day for baseball and your Bleacher Denizen is in the press box at Grand Ledge to write up the baseball doubleheader between the hometown Comets and the Wolves from Okemos. I also covered the opening game of this doubleheader. Here is the play by play of that game.
https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2025/04/29/okemos-at-grand-ledge-baseball-first-game-of-doubleheader-the-bleacher-denizen-april-28-2025-by-chuck-krafft/

While we wait for the second game to start, I hope you will enjoy this cover of “Georgia” from my You Tube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrWlNWzmTiw

Here are the starting lineups for the second game. Okemos will again be the visiting team and bat first.

OKEMOS

Carter Haremski cf

James Poletes lf

Jake Stagg rf

Jimmy Pignataro p

Sebastian Blair dh

Gabe Hart c

Keagan Noble ss

Henry Schnelker 3b

Caleb Wilkinson 2b

Damon Wu will play first base, but not bat.

GRAND LEDGE

Aidan O’Keefe rf

Gavin Wegenke c

Jaydin McCammon dh

Tory Nyquist 1b

Preston Bohnet ss

Drew Buckland cf

Kyle Smith p

Cooper Parks 3b

Ashton Delaney lf

Owen Shriner will play second base, but will not bat.

Let’s take a look at the events of this game through the aging, but occasionally alert eyes of a Bleacher Denizen who was never able to get his baseball career going. He was showing some promise as a pitcher, but everything fell apart when the powers that be ruled that he was no longer allowed to use a shoulder cannon to fire his pitches to the plate. Alas, when the velocity was severely reduced, so was the Bleacher Denizen’s time on the mound.

Grand Ledge Pitcher Kyle Smith retired the Okemos leadoff batter in the top of the first inning on a fly to right field. James Poletes doubled to right center field and went to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Stagg. Jimmy Pignataro singled to right field to drive in James Poletes. Ashton Delaney made a fine running catch of a foul fly to left field to record the third out.

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

Okemos Pitcher Jimmy Pignataro retired the Comet leadoff batter in the bottom of the first inning on a grounder to first base. Gavin Wegenke walked. Jake Stagg ran a long way to catch a foul fly to right field for the second Comet out. Carson Marlan entered the game as a courtesy runner for Gavin Wegenke and went to second base when Tory Nyquist walked. Jimmy Pignataro retired the next batter on a grounder to second base to end the inning.

Grand Ledge Pitcher Kyle Smith struck out the Okemos leadoff batter in the top of the second inning. Keagan Noble singled to left field and stole second base. Keagan Noble advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Henry Schnelker. Kyle Smith struck out the next batter to end the inning.

JImmy Pignataro retired the first two Grand Ledge hitters in the bottom of the second inning on a fly to center field and a grounder to second base. Cooper Parks singled and took second base on a single to right field by Ashton Delaney. Grand Ledge made its third out on a fielder’s choice grounder to the second baseman.

Kyle Smith retired the three Okemos hitters in the top of the third inning on a grounder to shortstop, a strikeout and a fly to the shortstop.

In the bottom of the third inning, JImmy Pignataro retired the three Grand Ledge batters on a grounder to second base, a fly to right field and a strikeout.

The Okemos lead remained at 1-0 after three innings.

In the top of the fourth inning, Kyle Smith retired the three Okemos hitters on a bouncer to first base, a popup to the shortstop and a grounder to second base.

JImmy Pignataro struck out the Comet leadoff batter in the top of the fourth inning. Drew Buckland was safe at second base on an error. Kyle Smith singled to right field to drive Drew Buckland home. Kyle Smith advanced to third base on a throwing error. Okemos Right Fielder Jake Stagg made a great running catch of a sacrifice fly to right field by Cooper Parks. Kyle Smith scored on the play. Okemos Third Baseman Henry Schnelker made a great diving stop of a grounder by Ashton Delaney and was able to throw him out at first to get the third out.

Grand Ledge scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead.

Grand Ledge Shortstop Preston Bohnet made an outstanding leap to grab a bad hop and threw the Okemos leadoff batter out at first base to open the top of the fifth inning. Kyle Smith retired the next two Okemos batters on a fly to center field and a strikeout to end the inning.

Jimmy Pignataro retired the Grand Ledge leadoff batter in the bottom of the fourth inning on a fly to left field. Gavin Wegenske singled and stole second base. Okemos Left Fielder James Poletes made an excellent running catch on a drive to deep left field by Jaydin McCammon. Camron Marlan came in as a courtesy runner for Gavin Wegenske. Tory Nyquist walked. Preston Bohnet was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The next Comet batter was out on a grounder to second base. Okemos First Baseman Damon Wu made an excellent grab of the throw to ensure the out.

Kyle Smith struck out the Okemos leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning. James Poletes lined a single to left field and stole second base. Jake Stagg walked. Jimmy Pignataro walked to load the bases. Sebastian Blair was safe at first base and James Poletes was forced out at home on a fielder’s choice grounder to the first baseman. Grand Ledge Gavin Wegenke made an excellent play to corral the throw to secure the out. Kyle Smith retired the next batter on a soft fly to third base to end the inning.

Kyle Smith singled to center field to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning for Grand Ledge. Sam Brown entered the game as a courtesy runner for Kyle Smith. Sam Brown went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Cooper Parks. Jimmy Pignataro retired the next Comet hitter on a bouncer to third base. Grand Ledge made its third out on a fly to right field.

Grand Ledge had a 2-1 lead after six innings.

Keagan Noble led off the top of the seventh inning by reaching first base safely when his third strike was not caught. Keagan Noble stole second base. Keagan Noble scored and Henry Schnelker reached second base when a throwing error was made on a sacrifice bunt. Caleb Wilkinson walked. Henry Schnelker went to third base and Caleb Wilkinson to second base when Carter Haremski beat out a bunt single to load the bases with no one out.

Henry Schnelker and Caleb Wilkinson scored when James Poletes was safe at second base on an error. Carter Haremski advanced to third base.

Sam Brown came in to pitch for Grand Ledge. Carter Haremski scored and James Polates advanced to third base on a bunt single by Jake Stagg. Jake Stagg stole second base. Aidan O’Keefe made a fantastic diving catch of a sacrifice fly to right field by Jimmy Pignataro; James Poletes scored from third base. Drew Buckland made a nice running catch in center field to record the second Okemos out. Sam Brown got the next batter out on a fly to left field to end the inning.

Okemos scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 5-2 lead.

Gavin Wegenke singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for Grand Ledge. JImmy Pignataro retired the next Comet hitter on a fly to right field. Tory Nyquist belted a double out to the left field wall. Gavin Wegenke advanced to third base. Gavin Wegenke scored and Tory Nyquist advanced to third base on an RBI bounce out to second base by Preston Bohnet. Jimmy Pignataro retired the next Grand Ledge batter on a fly to right field to end the game.

Grand Ledge scored one run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Okemos won the second game of the doubleheader by the final score of 5-3.

Kyle Smith had two singles and one RBI for Grand Ledge. Gavin Wegenke had two singles. Tory Nyquist had a double. Cooper Parks had a single and one RBI. Ashton Delaney had a single. Preston Bohnet had one RBI.

Kyle Smith pitched six innings and struck out six Okemos batters.

James Poletes had a double and a single for Okemos. Jimmy Pignataro had a single and two RBI. Jake Stagg had a single and one RBI. Carter Haremski and Keagan Noble each had a single.

Jimmy Pignataro pitched the complete game for the Wolves and struck out two Comet batters.