Grand Ledge vs. Williamston – – Baseball Diamond Classic Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 29, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

In the first baseball semifinal of the night, the Comets from Grand Ledge meet the Hornets from Williamston. Grand Ledge earned its spot in this semifinal game with a win over St. Johns. Williamston got here by beating one of the top seeds, Okemos in a quarterfinal game.

Here is a play by play of Williamston’s big win over Okemos in the quarterfinal! https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2024/05/24/okemos-vs-williamston-diamond-classic-baseball-semifinal-the-bleacher-denizen-may-23-2024-by-chuck-krafft/

Here are the starting lineups! Grand Ledge will be the home team and Williamston will bat last.

WILLIAMSTON

Hunter Van Sickler cf

Ben Convey ss

Carter Gulick c

Aiden Friess 1b

Brayden Johnson 2b

Hawk Harding 3b

Miles Keener rf

Kaleb Nelson lf

Richard Cuzydlo dh

Brett Palmer will pitch, but will not bat.

GRAND LEDGE

Gavin Wegenske lf

Preston Bohnet ss

Alex Cornman dh

Lucas Caterino 1b

Andrew Deibel 2b

Jaydin McCammon 3b

Aidan O’Keefe rf

A.J. Skinner p

Drew Buckland cf

Easton Cochran will catch, but will not bat.

It is now time to review the events of this game through the somewhat observant eyes of an aging Bleacher Denizen whose baseball career never really materialized. Your Bleacher Denizen was misled by the rousing cheers he heard every time that he swung at a baseball and missed. He figured that because he was getting all this praise, missing the baseball was the thing to do. Alas, his coach pointed out that the cheers were coming from the fans of the opposing team and severely curtailed the Bleacher Denizen’s playing time!

Grand Ledge Pitcher A.J. Skinner retired the first two Williamston hitters in the top of the first inning on a bunt to third base and a fly to right field. Carter Gulick was safe at first base on an error. Carter Gulick was safe at first base on an error. Jack Kindinger entered the game as a courtesy runner for Carter Gulick. Jack Kinginger advanced to second base when Aiden Friess walked.

Brayden Johnson singled to left field to drive in Jack Kindinger as Aiden Friess advanced to second base. Hawk Harding singled to right-center field to drive in Aiden Friess. Brayden Johnson advanced to third base on the single. A.J. Skinner retired the next batter on a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.

Williamston scored two runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Gavin Wegenke walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning for the Comets and advanced to second base on a single to right field by Preston Bohnet. Gavin Wegenke advanced to third base on a fly out to center field by Alex Cornman. Preston Bohnet held at first base. Williamston Pitcher Brett Palmer picked the runner off first base for the second out of the inning. Brett Palmer struck out the next Comet hitter to end the inning.

Grand Ledge First Baseman Lucas made a great stretch to receive the throw from the shortstop and barely nipped the Williamston leadoff batter in the top of the second inning. Grand Ledge Pitcher A.J. Skinner struck out the next Hornet hitter. Hunter Van Sickler singled to left field. Ben Convey singled to left field and moved Hunter Van Sickler to second base. A.J. Skinner struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

Andrew Deibel singled to left field to lead off the bottom of the second inning for the Comets and advanced to second base when Jaydin McCammon was hit by a pitch. Aiden O’Keefe beat out a bunt single. Andrew Deibel got to third base and Jaydin McCammon to second on the play. The bases were loaded with no one out. A.J. Skinner singled to right field to drive Andrew Deibel in. Jaydin McCammon advanced to third base and Aiden O’Keefe to second.

Noah McCartney entered the game as a courtesy runner for A.J. Skinner. Drew Buckland was hit by a pitch. Jaydin McCammon came home to tie the game. Aiden O’Keefe went to third base and Noah McCartney to second. Brett Palmer struck out the next Comet batter. On a wild pitch, the runner from third base tried to score, but Hornet Catcher Carter Gulick quickly retrieved the ball and threw the runner out. Noah McCartney advanced to third base and Drew Buckland to second base.

Preston Bohnet singled up the middle to drive Noah McCartney and Drew Buckland home. Preston Bohnet took second base on the throw to the plate. With a 3-1 count on the next batter, Richard Cuzydlo came in to pitch. He retired the next Grand Ledge batter on a groundout to shortstop to end the inning.

Grand Ledge scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 4-2 lead.

A.J. Skinner retired the three Williamston batters in the top of the third inning on a groundout to third base, a fly to left field and a groundout to second base.

Richard Cuzydlo retired the three Grand Ledge batters in the bottom of the third inning on two strikeouts and a groundout to first base.

Comet Shortstop Preston Bohnet sprinted into short center field to snare a line drive off the bat of Miles Keener to record the first Hornet out in the top of the fourth inning. Kaleb Nielsen lined a single to center field. Kaleb Nelson stole second base. Hunter Van Sickler walked. A.J. Skinner retired the next Hornet hitter on a fielder’s choice grounder to third base to end the inning.

Williamston Pitcher Richard Cuzydlo retired the first two Grand Ledge hitters in the bottom of the fourth inning on flies to center field. Drew Buckland was safe at first base on an error and stole second base. Grand Ledge made its final out of the inning on a grounder to the second baseman.

With four full innings in the books, Grand Ledge holds a 4-2 lead.

Gavin Wegenke came in to pitch for Grand Ledge. A.J. Skinner went to left field.

Gavin Wegenke struck out the Williamston leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning. Aiden Friess singled. The next Hornet hitter was out on a foul popup to first base. Hawk Harding lined a single to right field. Aiden Friess advanced to third base and Hawk Harding took second base on the throw to third. Miles Keener singled to drive Aiden Friess and Hawk Harding home to tie the game. Miles Keener took third base on a wild pitch. Gavin Wegenke retired the next Williamston batter on a foul popup to the catcher to end the inning.

Williamston scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game at 4-4.

Richard Cuzydlo retired the Grand Ledge leadoff batter in the bottom of the fifth inning on a grounder to third base. Alex Cornman walked. Grand Ledge made its second out on a fly to center field. Alex Cornman went to second base on a wild pitch. Brady Williams entered the game to pinch run for Alex Cornman. Richard Cuzydlo retired the next hitter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

Gavin Wegenke retired the Williamston leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning on a fly to center field. Hunter Van Sickler singled and went to second base on a groundout to third base by Ben Convey. Hunter Van Sickler went to third base on a balk (as far as I can tell). Carter Gulick walked. Jack Kindinger went in as a courtesy runner for Carter Gulick and moved up to second base when Aiden Friess was hit by a pitch.

Hunter Van Sickler scored, Jack Kindinger went to third and Aiden Friess to second base on a wild pitch. Gavin Wegenke retired the next Williamston hitter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

Williamston scored one run in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-4 lead.

Hawk Harding came in to pitch for Williamston. Jack Hart went in to take over at third base.

Hawk Harding retired the first two Grand Ledge batters in the bottom of the sixth inning on a fly to left field and a grounder to first base. Pinch Hitter Cooper Parks was out on a fly to right field to end the inning.

Jaydin McCammon came in to pitch for Grand Ledge and Cooper Parks took over at third base. Gavin Wegenke moved out to left field.

Hawk Harding walked to lead off the top of the seventh inning for Williamston and stole second base. Miles Keener hit a double that bounced off the center field fence to drive in Hawk Harding. Kaleb Nielson walked; on ball four, Miles Keener stole third base. Kaleb Nielson stole second base. Jack Hart walked to load the bases. Hunter Van Sickler singled to left field. Miles Keener scored, Kaleb Neilson went to third and Jack Hart to second base.

Kaleb Nelson scored, Jack Hart went to third base and Hunter Van Sickler took second base on a wild pitch. Ben Convey drilled a single to left field to drive Jack Hart and Hunter Van Sickler home. Ben Convey went to second base when Carter Gulick walked.

Preston Bohnet came in to pitch for Grand Ledge. Jaydin McCammon went to third base and Cooper Parks moved to shortstop.

Jack Kindinger entered the game as a courtesy runner for Williamston. Ben Convey went to third base and Jack Kindinger to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Aiden Friess. Brayden Johnson singled to left field and drove in Ben Convey. Jack Kindinger advanced to third base; Brayden Johnson went to second base on the throw home. Hawk Harding singled to left field to drive Jack Kindinger and Brayden Johnson home.

Hawk Harding advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Preston Bohnet struck out the next Hornet batter and got the third out on a foul popup to the pitcher.

Williamston scored eight runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 13-4 lead.

Hawk Harding retired the Grand Ledge leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh inning on a grounder to shortstop. Gavin Wegenke walked. Williamston Left Fielder Kaleb Nelson made an excellent running catch of a drive by Preston Bohnet to record the second Comet out. Hawk Harding struck out the next batter to end the game.

Williamston won this semifinal game 13-4 and advances to the Diamond Classic Final game for the first time in history!

Preston Bohnet had two singles and two RBI for Grand Ledge. A.J. Skinner had one single and one RBI. Aiden O’Keefe and Andrew Deibel each had one RBI. Drew Buckland had one RBI.

A.J. Skinner had a nice outing on the mound; he pitched four innings and gave up only two unearned runs and scattered five hits. He struck out three batters.

Hawk Harding had three singles and three RBI for Williamston. Miles Keener had a single, a double and three RBI. Hunter Van Sickler had three singles and one RBI. Brayden Johnson and Ben Convey each had two singles and two RBI. Aiden Friess and Kaleb Nelson each had one single.

Brett Palmer pitched one and one third innings for Williamston; he gave up four runs and five hits while striking out two batters. Richard Cuzydlo pitched three and one third shutout innings. He gave up no hits and struck out two batters. Hawk Harding pitched two shutout innings. He gave up no hits and struck out one batter.

Here is the play by play of the night’s second doubleheader between DeWitt and Holt. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2024/05/30/holt-vs-dewitt-baseball-diamond-classic-semifinal-the-bleacher-denizen-may-28-2024-by-chuck-krafft/