Holt vs. Olivet – – Diamond Classic Baseball Quarterfinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 23, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, in the second full game of the scheduled doubleheader at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium, the Holt Rams will play the Olivet Eagles. It is always fun to sit in the press box at this beautiful stadium.

This is the second full game of the evening. Holt had to finish the last three plus innings of its win over Portland St. Patrick before the two scheduled games. (Holt and St. Patrick were playing their first round game Monday night when rain forced them off the field.)

Here is the play by play of the first game between Williamston and Olivet. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2024/05/24/okemos-vs-williamston-diamond-classic-baseball-semifinal-the-bleacher-denizen-may-23-2024-by-chuck-krafft/

Olivet will be the home team. Holt will bat first.

Here are the starting lineups.

HOLT

Chase Monzo 2b

Eddie McDonald ss

Jake Robel lf

Luke Redd p

Cade Greene c

Mitch DuBois 3b

Landon Jayaraman rf

Ethan Walter 1b

Seth Holtry dh

Lucas Cascaddan will play center field, but will not bat.

OLIVET

Bryce Wine cf

Lalo Aguirre p

Jackson Sinclair 1b

Trip Burkett ss

Linkin LaPaugh dh

Jake Miller c

Caleb Waffle 3b

Patrick Priesman lf

Jack Masters 2b

Caiden Giguere will play right field, but will not bat.

Here is the play by play game through the (hopefully) interesting view of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to have much of a career in baseball. By age 12, I was showing some promise hitting from the tee, but it was overwhelming when I realized that real baseball players hit live pitches. (Real pitches tended to sail by your Bleacher Denizen and land in the catcher’s mitt.)

Chase Monzo singled up the middle to lead off the top of the first inning for Holt. Eddie McDonald singled to right field and Chase Monzo went to second base. Olivet Pitcher Lalo Aguirre struck out the next Holt batter. Eddie McDonald was out at second and Luke Redd safe at first on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop. A throwing error on the play allowed Chase Monzo to score from second base.

Cade Greene singled and Luke Redd advanced to second base. Holt made its final out of the inning on a grounder to the shortstop.

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

Holt Pitcher Luke Redd struck out Olivet’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the first inning. Lalo Aguirre pounded a ground rule double that bounced over the center field fence. Luke Redd retired the next Eagle hitter on a grounder to the shortstop and struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Holt’s leadoff batter in the second inning was out on a grounder to shortstop. Ethan Walter was safe at first on an overthrow; Olivet Catcher Jake Miller made an excellent hustle play running down the first base line to get the ball so that the runner was held at first base. Ethan Walter took second base on a sacrifice bunt by Seth Holtry. Lalo Aguirre struck out the next Ram hitter to end the inning.

Luke Redd retired Olivet’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the second inning on a grounder to shortstop. Jake Miller singled down the left field line. Olivet made its next out on a fly to right field. Luke Redd picked the runner off first base to end the inning.

Eddie McDonald singled to right field to lead off the top of the third inning for Holt and advanced to second base on a single to right field by Jake Robel. Eddie McDonald advanced to third base and Jake Robel to second base on a groundout to third base by Luke Redd. Lalo Aguirre struck out the next Ram batter. Mitch DuBois lined a single to center field to drive in Eddie McDonald and Jake Robel. Lalo Aguirre struck out the next batter for out number three.

Holt scored two runs in the top of the third inning to extend its lead to 3-0.

Luke Redd struck out Olivet’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the third inning. Jack Masters singled to right field. Jack Masters was out at second base and Bryce Wine safe at first base on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop. Lalo Aguirre singled to right field and Bryce Wine advanced to second base. Brennen Wine entered the game as a courtesy runner for Lalo Aguirre. Luke Redd retired the next Eagle hitter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

Lalo Aguirre retired the three Holt batters in the top of the fourth inning on a fly to right field, a strikeout and a fly to center field.

Luke Redd retired the Eagle leadoff batter in the bottom of the fourth inning on a fly to center field. Linkin LaPaugh walked. Jake Miller doubled down the left field line and Linkin LaPaugh advanced to third base. Linkin LaPaugh scored and Jake Miller advanced to third base on an RBI groundout to second base by Caleb Waffle. Patrick Priesman walked. Luke Redd got the next batter to hit into a fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop to end the inning.

Olivet scored one run in the bottom of the fourth inning to trim the Holt lead to 3-1.

Lalo Aguirre retired the Holt leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning on a foul popup to the catcher. Jake Robel doubled to center field. Luke Redd bounced a single up the middle that barely eluded the second baseman to drive Jake Robel home. Luke Redd advanced to second base on a groundout to second base by Cade Greene. Mitch DuBois was intentionally walked. Holt made its final out of the inning on a bouncer to third base.

Holt scored one run in the top of the fifth inning to boost its lead to 4-1.

Jacob Metzger came in to pitch the bottom of the fifth inning for Holt. He retired the three Olivet batters on a strikeout, a bouncer to the pitcher and another strikeout.

Lalo Aguirre struck out the first two Holt hitters in the top of the sixth inning. Chase Monzo ripped a single to left field. Lalo Aguirre struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Trip Burkett walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning for Olivet. Jacob Metzger retired the next Eagle hitter on a fly to center field. Jake Miller walked and Trip Burkett advanced to second base.

Mitch DuBois came in to pitch for Holt. He struck out the next two Eagle batters to end the inning.

After six innings, Holt had a 4-1 lead.

Lalo Aguirre struck out Holt’s leadoff batter in the top of the seventh inning. Luke Redd hit an infield single and advanced all the way to third base. Lalo Aguirre struck out the next batter. Because Lalo Aguirre had passed the per game pitch limit, he came out of the game and Linkin LaPaugh took over on the mound.

Olivet Left Fielder went way back to catch a drive by Mitch DuBois to end the inning.

Olivet came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning needing three runs to tie the game.

Jack Masters singled to center field to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for Olivet. Mitchell DuBois struck out the next Eagle batter. Lalo Aguirre was safe at first base and Jack Masters out at second base on a rocket bouncer to Shortstop Eddie McDonald. Olivet made its third out on a bouncer to third base to end the game.

Holt won this game 4-1 and will play DeWitt in a semifinal game next week.

Lalo Aguirre and Jake Miller each had a double and a single for Olivet. Jack Masters had two singles. Caleb Waffle had one RBI.

Lalo Aguirre pitched six and two thirds innings for Olivet. He gave up four runs and ten hits while striking out nine batters. Linkin LaPaugh pitched one third of an inning and retired the only batter he faced.

Luke Redd had two singles and one RBI for Holt. Mitch DuBois had a single and two RBI. Jake Robel had a single and a double. Chase Monzo and Eddie McDonald each had two singles. Cade Greene had one single.

Luke Redd pitched four innings. He gave up just one run and five hits while striking out two batters. Jacob Metzger pitched one and one third innings; he gave up no runs or hits while striking out two batters. Mitch DuBois pitched well to quiet an Olivet threat in the bottom of the sixth inning. He pitched one and two thirds innings while giving up no runs and one hit. He struck out three batters.