Dansville vs. Portland St. Patrick – – MHSAA Regional Baseball Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – June 8, 2022 – – by Chuck Krafft

Well, it’s time for the Baseball Regional Semifinals tonight. Dansville will be hosting fellow CMAC member Portland St. Patrick. Your Bleacher Denizen is having a hard time deciding whether to call this the “CMAC Game of the Week” or not. I guess since it’s technically a Regional Semifinal in the MHSAA Baseball tournament, we will go with that. In any event, the Aggies from Dansville will compete with the Shamrocks from Portland St. Patrick to see who will go to the Regional Final on Saturday.

While we are waiting for the teams to warm up, we can listen to this original tune from my “Chuck Krafft” You Tube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3R-ZL9568

Here are the starting lineups. Even though the game is being played in Dansville, Portland St. Patrick will be the home team and the Aggies will bat first.

DANSVILLE:

Nate Stec ss

Cody Ream 2b

Zachary Sykes cf

Gavin Hollon 1b

Wyatt Mosley p

Calvin Tkaczyk 3b

Dylan Ream lf

Trevor Dase 1b

Cam Graf dh

Trenton Northrup will play right field, but will not bat.

ST. PATRICK:

Shane Cook ss

Lucas Simon cf

Charlie Thelen c

Braxton Teachworth 1b

Brayden Simon p

Kyle Edlund 2b

Simon Brown dh

Riley Mosser lf

Alex Fedewa will play right field, but not bat.

In an interesting twist, both Dansville and St. Patrick are using a freshman pitcher for this important regional game! (Wyatt Mosley for Dansville and Brayden Simon for St. Patrick.) When your Bleacher Denizen was a high school freshman, his biggest concern was getting through a day without out getting a detention for some bit of immature behavior. These guys are starting pitchers in a high school regional game!!

It is now time to review the events of this game through the occasionally observant eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who struggled when he attempted to play baseball. However, catchers and umpires alike were always delighted the breezes generated by your Bleacher Denizen’s flailing attempts to hit pitched baseballs. (I always thought it was my contribution to the battle against global warming!)

Brayden Simon struck out the Aggie leadoff batter in the top of the first inning. The next hitter was out on a liner to second base. Zachary Sykes lined a single to center field. Brayden Simon struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Shane Cook blooped a double to right field to lead off the top of the first inning for St. Patrick. The next hitter was out on a bouncer to the pitcher. Shane Cook advanced to third base on Charlie Thelen’s bouncer to the pitcher. Wyatt Mosley struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Wyatt Mosley walked to lead off the top of the second inning for Dansville. Brayden Simon struck out the next batter. Brayden Simon got the next batter to hit a grounder to shortstop Shane Cook, who relayed the ball to second baseman Kyle Eklund, who threw to first baseman Braxton Teachworth for an inning-ending double play.

Brayden Simon grounded a single to left field to lead off the second inning for St. Patrick. He moved up to second base when Brady Leonard was safe at first on an error. Wyatt Mosley struck out the next three batters to end St. Patrick’s threat.

After two full innings, this game was a scoreless tie.

Brayden Simon retired the three Aggie hitters in the third inning on a strikeout, a grounder to second base and a fly to left field.

Wyatt Mosley retire the three Shamrock hitters in the third inning on a grounder to second base, a fly to second base and a fly to left field.

Brayden Simon struck out Dansville’s leadoff hitter in the top of the fourth inning. Zachary Sykes beat out an infield single. The runner was out at second base and Gavin Hollon safe at first base on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop. Dansville’s next batter was out on a foul popup to first base to end the inning.

Wyatt Mosley struck out St. Patrick’s leadoff hitter in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brayden Simon walked. Wyatt Mosley picked the runner off first base. Wyatt Mosley struck out the next batter to end the inning.

After four innings, the game was still a scoreless tie.

Brayden Simon retired the three Aggie fifth inning batters on a fly to centerfield and two strikeouts.

Wyatt Mosley retired the first two Shamrock hitters in the fifth inning on a fly to left field and a bunt to first base where Second Baseman Cody Ream alertly covered first base to be able to take the throw for the out. Riley Mosser was safe at second base on an error. Shane Cook was intentionally walked.

Lucas Simon singled to centerfield to drive in Riley Mosser as Shane Cook went to second base. Charlie Thelen singled to centerfield to drive in Shane Cook. Lucas Simon came around to score when an error was made. Wyatt Mosley struck out the next batter to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Brayden Simon struck out the Dansville leadoff batter to open the top of the sixth inning and retired the next hitter on a grounder to the shortstop. Cody Ream singled to left-center field. The next Dansville batter was out on a grounder to first base to end the inning.

Wyatt Mosley needed only nine pitches to strike out all three Shamrock batters in the bottom of the sixth inning.

After six innings, St. Patrick had a 3-0 lead.

Gavin Hollon singled to centerfield to lead off the seventh inning for the Aggies and went to second base when Wyatt Mosley was safe at first on an error. Calvin Tkaczyk singled to drive in Gavin Hollon as Wyatt Mosley advanced to second base. Brayden Simon retired the next batter on a popup to first base.

Trevor Dase singled to right center field to drive in Wyatt Mosley; Calvin Tkaczyk advanced to third base. Cam Graf drove in Calvin Tkaczyk with a bounce out to first base. Trevor Dase advanced to second base. Nate Stec was intentionally walked. Trevor Dase went to third base and Nate Stec to second base when Cody Ream was safe on an error. With the bases loaded, two out and the game tied, Brayden Simon struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

Dansville scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 3-3.

Wyatt Mosley retired the three Shamrock batters in the bottom of the seventh inning on a strikeout, a grounder to first base and a strikeout.

The game was tied 3-3 after the regulation seven innings, so they had to continue playing! (This is what a Regional Baseball Game should look like!!)

Because Brayden Simon had thrown 105 pitches (technically 106), he had to leave the mound. Shane Cook came in to pitch for the Shamrocks and Brayden Simon moved to shortstop.

Shane Cook retired the three Aggie hitters in the top of the eighth inning on a fly to right field, a grounder to shortstop where Brayden Simon made a great throw to barely nip the runner at first base and a grounder to third base.

Wyatt Mosley retired the three Shamrock hitters in the eighth inning on a strikeout, a grounder to third base and another strikeout.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shane Cook retired the Aggie leadoff batter on a fly to left field. Trevor Dase was safe at second base on an error. The next Dansville batter was out on a popup to first base. Nate Stec was intentionally walked. Cody Ream singled to right field to drive in Trevor Dase. Nate Stec moved up to third base.

Zachary Sykes drilled a triple down the right field line that made it almost all the way to the fence; he drove in Nate Stec and Cody Ream. Gavin Hollon singled to drive in Zachary Sykes. Wyatt Mosley doubled to right field and drove in Gavin Hollon. Quentin Mayes entered the game as a pinch runner. Shane Cook struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Dansville scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to take an 8-3 lead.

Wyatt Mosley struck out the Shamrock leadoff batter in the top of the ninth inning. Brady Leonard walked. Because he had thrown the allotted number of pitches, Wyatt Mosley moved to first base and Trevor Dase took over the pitching duties.

Kyle Edlund was hit by a pitch and Brady Leonard moved up to second base. Trevor Dase retired the next batter on a foul popup to third base; Calvin Tkaczyk made a great running catch on the play. Riley Mosser walked to load the bases. Trevor Dase got the next Shamrock hitter to popup to first base to end the game.

Dansville won 8-3 and will play in Saturday’s regional final.

Shane Cook had a double for St. Patrick. Lucas Simon and Charlie Thelen each had a single and an RBI. Brayden Simon had a single. Brayden Simon pitched seven innings and gave up no earned runs while striking out nine batters. Shane Cook pitched two innings and gave up no earned runs.

Zachary Sykes had a triple, two singles and two RBI for Dansville. Gavin Hollon had two singles and an RBI. Wyatt Mosley had a double and one RBI. Cody Ream had two singles. Calvin Tkaczyk and Trevor Dase each had a single and an RBI. Cam Graf contributed the RBI that tied the game to send it into extra innings.

Wyatt Mosley pitched a fantastic game. He allowed no earned runs and gave up only four hits in nine innings as he struck out fifteen batters!