Fowler vs. Portland St. Patrick – – MHSAA Baseball District Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 30, 2025 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, the Bleacher Denizen is at Fulton’s Baseball Field for the MHSAA District Tournament. In today’s first game, the Fowler Eagles will play the Shamrocks from Portland St. Patrick to see who will play in today’s district final. Your Bleacher Denizen had a pleasant ride up north with no traffic problems.

When he got to the game, he was delighted to see the Fulton Senior Dakota Malek, who will be announcing the game. His silver-tounged announcing always adds a lot of flair to any event he does.

Here are the starting lineups. Fowler won the coin toss and will be the home team. St. Patrick will bat first.

ST. PATRICK

Jerryd Scheurer ss

Charlie Thelen c

Brady Leonard cf

Logan Howe 3b

Brayden Siimon p

Tyler Thelen 1b

Simon White lf

T.J. Chamberlain rf

Nathan Fears 2b

FOWLER

Conner Katich c

Noah Schafer ss

Sam Vanneste p

Trevor Spicer 1b

Jacob Halfmann lf

Jack O’Hare 3b

Ben Kohagen cf

Drew Weber rf

Beckett Hansen 2b

It is now time to review the events of this game through the occasionally alert eyes of an aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to get off to much of a start in his baseball or softball career. There was one big moment when he broke up a no-hitter in little league!!! The bad news is that your Bleacher Denizen was standing in center field when the ball dropped and he did not touch it. Oh well, except for an awkward conversation with the pitcher’s father a couple days later, life went on.

In the top of the first inning Jerryd Scheurer led off the game with a double to deep center field. He advanced to third base when Charlie Thelen singled to right field. Brady Leonard dropped a sacrifice bunt and was safe at first base on an error. Jerryd Scheurer scored and Charlie Thelen took second base on the play. Charlie Thelen advanced to third base and Brady Leonard to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Logan Howe.

Charlie Thelen scored and Brady Leonard went to third base on a pickoff throwing error. Sam Vanneste struck out the next two Shamrock batters to end the inning.

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

Conner Katich walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning for Fowler and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Noah Schafer. Sam Vanneste lined the ball over the shortstop’s head, but Jerryd Scheurer leaped and caught the ball; he quickly threw to second base to double off the runner and end the inning.

Sam Vanneste struck out the Shamrock leadoff batter in the bottom of the second inning. T.J. Chamberlain drew a walk. Sam Vanneste struck out the next St. Patrick batter. Jerryd Scheurer lined a single to center field and T.J. Chamberlain advanced to second base. T.J. Chamberlain went to third base and Jerryd Scheurer to second base on a wild pitch. Sam Vanneste retired the next hitter on a fly to left field to end the inning.

St. Patrick pitcher Brayden Simon retired Fowler’s first two batters in the bottom of the second inning on a grounder to the shortstop and a strikeout. Jack O’Hare singled to right field. T.J. Chamberlain made a nice throw from right field to get him out at second base when he tried to advance.

Brady Leonard was hit by a pitch to open the top of the third inning for the Shamrocks and took second base on a wild pitch. Logan Howe walked. Brady Leonard took third base and Logan Howe went to second base when a wild pitch got stuck in the backstop. Brayden Simon bounced a single to left field to drive Brady Leonard and Logan Howe home.

Brayden Simon advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Thelen. Simon White walked. Brayden Simon scored all the way from second base on a pickoff overthrow. Fowler Left Fielder Jacob Halfmann threw the ball to third base to get the runner out to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored three runs in the top of the third inning to extend its lead to 5-0.

Brayden Simon retired the three Fowler batters in the bottom of the third inning on a strikeout, a fly to left field and another strikeout.

Sam Vanneste retired the three St. Patrick batters in the top of the fourth inning on a strikeout, a grounder to the shortstop and a grounder to second base.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Shamrock Second Baseman Nathan Fears made a great play on a bouncer up the middle by Fiwker leadoff batter Conner Katich and threw to first base where Tyler Thelen made a great scoop to secure the out. Jerryd Scheurer made a great play on a grounder to shortstop to get the second Eagle out of the inning. Brayden Simon struck out the next hitter for the third out.

In the top of the fifth inning, Sam Vanneste got the three Shamrock batters out on two flies to center field and a foul popup to the catcher.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Brayden Simon got the three Eagle batters out on a grounder to third base and two strikeouts.

After five innings, St. Patrick’s lead was at 5-0.

In the top of the sixth inning Sam Vanneste retired the first two Shamrock hitters on a strikeout and a line drive to shortstop. Sam Vanneste reached his pitch limit and had to leave the pitcher’s mound. He went over to first base and Trevor Spicer came in to pitch. Trevor Spicer retired the next Shamrock batter on a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.

Brayden Simon retired the three Fowler hitters in the bottom of the sixth inning on a bunt to the catcher and two strikeouts.

Nathan Fears was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the seventh inning for St. Patrick. Jerryd Scheurer beat out a bunt single; Nathan Fears raced around the bases to score and Jerryd Scheurer made it to third base on a throwing error. Trevor Spicer retired the next Shamrock batter on a bouncer to the pitcher as the runner held and third base and struck out the next hitter. Jerryd Scheurer scored on a wild pitch.

Logan Howe walked. St. Patrick made its third out when First Baseman Sam Vanneste made a great running catch on a foul fly.

St. Patrick scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to boost its lead to 7-0.

Brady Leonard made a great running catch in center field to retire Fowler’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh inning. Brayden Simon struck out the next Eagle batter and got the third out when Tyler Thelen made a nice catch of a fly to first base.

St. Patrick won this game 7-0 and will play Fulton, the winner of the other semifinal game in the final game. (Fulton beat Carson City-Crystal 11-1 in six innings.)

Jack O’Hare had a single for Fowler.

Sam Vanneste pitched five and two thirds innings and struck out six Shamrock batters. Trevor Spicer pitched one and one third inning and struck out one batter.

Jerryd Scheurer had a double and two singles for St. Patrick. Brayden Simon had a single and two RBI. Charlie Thelen had a single. Brady Leonard had one RBI.

Brayden Simon pitched a complete game one-hit shutout for St. Patrick. He struck out eight Fowler batters.

I also covered the District Final. Here is the play by play of that game. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2025/05/31/fulton-vs-portland-st-patrick-mhsaa-baseball-district-final-the-bleacher-denizen-may-30-2025-by-chuck-krafft/