Fulton vs. Lansing Christian – – MHSAA Baseball Regional Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – June 6, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, your Bleacher Denizen is at Fowler’s baseball field to cover the regional semifinal between the Pilgrims of Lansing Christian and the Pirates of Fulton.

Your Bleacher Denizen drove through the rain Wednesday hoping things would clear up so that game could be played, but it was not meant to be. Thus, here we are on Thursday trying to make this game happen! Today, it’s sunny, but the wind is strong enough where it will probably affect fly balls.

Here are the starting lineups. Fulton will be the home team, so Lansing Christian will bat first.

LANSING CHRISTIAN

Noah Link ss

Trevor Orton 2b

Asa Harvey p

Ethan Shank rf

Sam Mustapha lf

Dylan Kinnas 3b

Will Marl c

Ethan Damesworth 1b

Brayden Moore dh

Collin Leavitt will play center field, but will not bat.

FULTON

Bryson Sattler p

Parker Duflo c

Parker Billings 3b

Jared Akin 1b

Lincoln Beltnick ss

Parker Hungerford lf

Connor Cunningham cf

Tanner Villalobos 2b

Layne Spekin dh

Trevor Brown will play right field, but will not bat.

It is now time to review the events of this game through the generally open eyes of an aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to get his baseball career off the ground. He was showing some promise as an outfielder who could catch high fly balls before they became home runs, but everything changed when the baseball powers that be ruled that he could no longer use his pogo stick in the outfield.

Noah Link walked to lead off the top of the first inning for the Pilgrims and stole second base. He went to third base on a groundout to third base by Trevor Orton and scored on an RBI bounce out to the pitcher. Fulton Pitcher Bryson Sattler retired the next Christian hitter on a groundout to the shortstop to end the inning.

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

Christian Pitcher Asa Harvey retired Fulton’s leadoff hitter in the bottom of the first inning on a grounder to third base. Parker Duflo singled to center field. Ethan Shank made a valiant diving effort on Parker Billings’ wind-blown drive to right field, but it fell for a double; Parker Duflo advanced to third base. The next Pirate hitter bounced to Pitcher Asa Harvey, who looked home to hold the runner at third base and then got the out at first base. Fulton made its third out of the inning on a grounder to second base.

Sam Mustapha walked to lead off the top of the second inning for the Pilgrims. Fulton Right Fielder Trevor Brown made a great diving catch of a drive off the bat of Dylan Kinnas to record the first Christian out of the inning. Bryson Sattler retired the next Pilgrim hitter on a fly to center field. Sam Mustapha stole second base. Christian made its final out on a grounder to second base.

Christian Pitcher Asa Harvey retired the first two Pirate hitters in the bottom of the second inning on a bouncer to first base and a grounder to the shortstop. Tanner Villalobos beat out an infield single and took second base on an overthrow. Asa Harvey struck out the next Pirate hitter to end the inning.

Brayden Moore walked to lead off the top of the third inning for the Pilgrims. Fulton Shortstop Lincoln Beltnick made a fine play when he caught a grounder that tipped off the pitcher’s glove and threw to second base in time to get the force out on Brayden Moore. Noah Link was safe at first base on the play. Trevor Orton singled to right field and Noah Link advanced to second base.

Noah Link advanced to third base and Trevor Orton to second on a passed ball. Bryson Sattler struck out the next Pilgrim batter and got the third out on a fly to left field.

Bryson Sattler was safe on an error to lead off the bottom of the third inning for the Pirates. Asa Harvey retired the next Fulton batter on a fly to center field. Christian Catcher Will Marl fired the ball to second base to catch the runner stealing. Fulton made its third out on a popup to the shortstop.

Parker Billings came in to pitch for Fulton. Bryson Sattler moved to shortstop and Lincoln Beltnick to third base.

Sam Mustapha walked to lead off the top of the fourth inning for Christian. He went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Dylan Kinnas. Sam Mustapha advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Will Marl walked and stole second base. Sam Mustapha scored and Will Marl advanced to third base on a bloop single to right field by Ethan Damesworth. Trevor Brown made a great throw back to the infield and Tanner Villalobos quickly relayed the ball home to catch the second runner trying to score. Parker Billings struck out the next Pilgrim batter to end the inning.

Christian scored one run in the top of the fourth inning to boost its lead to 2-0.

Asa Harvey retired Fulton’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the fourth inning on a bouncer to the pitcher. Lincoln Beltnick beat out an infield single and took second base on an overthrow. Parker Hungerford walked. The next Fulton hitter popped up; Christian Second Baseman Trevor Orton nearly caught the wind-blown popup; when it fell, he was able to force Parker Hungerford at second base. Connor Cunningham was safe at first base and Lincoln Beltnick made it to third base on the play. Asa Harvey struck out the next batter to end the Fulton threat.

Parker Billings retired the first two Christian batters in the top of the fifth inning of flies to left field. Asa Harvey walked. The next Pilgrim batter was out on a popup to third base to end the inning.

Christian First Baseman Ethan Damesworth made a fine play ranging back into short right field to catch a fly ball to retire the Pirate fifth inning leadoff batter. Fulton made its next out on a bouncer to third base. Parker Duflo walked. Fulton made its third out on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop.

With five full innings in the books, Lansing Christian had a 2-0 lead.

Sam Mustapha walked to lead off the top of the sixth inning for Christian and took second base on a wild pitch. Parker Billings struck out the next Pilgrim hitter. Sam Mustapha took second base on a wild pitch. Will Marl beat out an infield single and Sam Mustapha advanced to third base. Rocco Torrez entered the game as a courtesy runner for Will Marl. Rocco Torrez stole second base. Sam Mustapha scored and Rocco Torrez advanced to third base on an RBI groundout to the shortstop by Ethan Damesworth.

Rocco Torrez scored when Brayden Moore was safe at second base on an error. Noah Link doubled to left field to drive Rocco Torrez home. Jared Akin came in to pitch for Fulton. Parker Hungerford moved to first base and Layne Spekin went out to left field.

Trevor Orton and Asa Harvey were hit by pitches to load the bases. Noah Link scored when Ethan Shank was safe on an error. Trevor Orton advanced to third base and Asa Harvey to second base. Fulton Pitcher Jared Akin retired the next Pilgrim batter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

Lansing Christian scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to extend its lead to 6-0.

Jared Akin walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning for Fulton. He took second base on a groundout to third base by Lincoln Beltnick and third base on a groundout to first base by Parker Hungerford. Pilgrim Shortstop Noah Link made a nice diving stop of a grounder up the middle by Connor Cunningham and threw to first base from his knees to get the third Pirate out of the inning.

Jared Akin retired the three Christian seventh inning hitters on a strikeout, a popup to the pitcher and a foul popup to the catcher where Parker Duflo made a nice quick reaction to get to the wind-blown ball.

Asa Harvey retired the three Pirate seventh inning hitters on a groundout to the shortstop, a strikeout and a fly to left field where Sam Mustapha made a nice running catch.

Lansing Christian won this game by a 6-0 score and will play Beal City in Saturday’s Regional Final.

Parker Billings had a double for Fulton. Parker Duflo, Lincoln Beltnick and Tanner Villalobos each had a single.

Bryson Sattler pitched three innings for Fulton. He gave up one run and one hit while striking out one batter. Parker Billings pitched three and two thirds innings for Fulton. He gave up five runs, but only two of them were earned runs. He gave up three hits and struck out two Pilgrim batters. Jared Akin pitched one and one third innings. He gave up no runs and no hits while striking out one batter.

Ethan Damesworth had a single and two RBI for Christian. Noah Link had a double and one RBI. Trevor Orton and Will Marl each had one single. Asa Harvey had one RBI.

Asa Harvey pitched a brilliant complete game shutout for the Pilgrims. He gave up four hits and struck out three batters.