Portland St. Patrick vs. Norway – – MHSAA Division 4 Baseball Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – June 13, 2025 – – by Chuck Krafft
Today, the Michigan High School Athletic Association is hosting the baseball semifinals. The Shamrocks from Portland St. Patrick will take on the Knights from Norway in this Division 4 Semifinal matchup. I have covered all of St. Patrick’s games in the tournament so far. They defeated Maple City Glen Lake behind a strong pitching performance by Sean Fedewa in this quarterfinal game. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2025/06/08/portland-st-patrick-vs-maple-city-glen-lake-mhsaa-division-4-state-baseball-quarterfinal-the-bleacher-denizen-june-7-2025-by-chuck-krafft/
The Michigan High School Athletic Association provided this information about these two teams and the players that got them to this point.
Norway is 26-4-1 on the season and ranked Number 9 in the state. They are an offensive powerhouse that averages 10 runs per game. Cameron Varda is has a .568 batting average to go with 40 stolen bases and 32 RBI. Cole Baij is hitting .307 with 15 stolen bases. He also is an excellent pitcher who has a 12-2 record along with a 1.11 ERA. He has struck out 130 batters in 63 innings.
Landon Anderson is batting .505 with 42 RBI and 23 stolen bases. Owen Baij is batting .524 with 15 doubles, 48 RBI and 39 stolen bases. He also pitches; he has a 6-1 record to go with an 0.53 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 43 innings.
St. Patrick is 32-1 on the season and ranked Number 1. They have tremendous pitching led by Brady Leonard, who is 11-0 with an 0.89 ERA to go along with 90 strikeouts in 55 innings. Jerryd Scheurer is 7-0 with an 0.22 ERA when he is not playing excellent defense at shortstop. He is also one of the best leadoff batters and baserunners I have seen this year. Brayden Simon is 6-0 with an 0.48 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 44 innings. Sean Fedewa is 4-0 with a perfect 0.00 ERA.
St. Patrick did not submit offensive statistics, so I won’t report on them. Charlie Thelen is an excellent hitter from his catcher position. Also, Nathan Fears is an excellent defender who moves around between second base, shortstop and center field depending who is pitching at the moment. He is also a speedy base runner.
The weather has been shaky today, so the game is starting about an hour later than scheduled. This of course complicated the parking, so I had to carry my laptop from the Breslin Center to get to the playing field. Your Bleacher Denizen managed to get to the game in plenty of time and headed to the press box.
St. Patrick won the coin toss and will be the home team. Norway will bat first. Here are the starting lineups.
NORWAY
Cameron Varda rf
Landon Amundson c
Owen Baij ss
Cole Baij p
Bryce Adams 3b
Carter Cazzola rf
Elliott Kraemer lf
A.J. Gallino 2b
Landon Ross 2b
ST. PATRICK
Jerryd Scheurer ss
Charlie Thelen c
Brady Leonard p
Logan Howe 3b
Brayden Simon 2b
Tyler Thelen 1b
Simon White lf
T.J. Chamberlain rf
Nathan Fears cf
It is now time to review the events of this game through the eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen whose baseball career never got off to much of a start. However, he is proud to report that umpires and opposing catchers still remember the cooling breezes generated by your Bleacher Denizen’s flailing attempts to have his bat collide with baseballs.
Cameron Varda walked to lead off the top of the first inning for Norway and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Landon Amundson. Owen Baij lined a single to center field and Cameron VArda went to third base. St. Patrick Center Fielder Nathan Fears got the ball back into the infield quickly to prevent the run from scoring. Shamrock Pitcher Brady Leonard struck out the next Knight hitter and picked the runner off first base. The Shamrock infield did well to get the out quickly and preventing the run from scoring.
Jerryd Scheurer singled up the middle to lead off the top of the first inning for St. Patrick and went to second base when Charlie Thelen walked. Jerryd Scheurer advanced to third base and Charlie Thelen to second on a bad pitckoff throw. St. Patrick’s next hitter struck out when his two strike bunt went foul. Jerryd Scheurer scored and Logan Howe was safe at first base on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop. Charlie Thelen was out trying to advance to third base (and possibly acting as a decoy so the run could score.) Norway Pitcher Cole Baij retired the next Shamrock batter on a fly to right field to end the inning.
St. Patrick scored one run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Bryace Adams was safe at first base on an error to lead off the top of the second inning for Norway. Brady Leonard retired the next three hitters on a strikeout, a fly to center field and another strikeout to end the inning.
Tyler Thelen doubled to left field to lead off the bottom of the second inning for St. Patrick. Norway Pitcher Cole Baij retired the next three Shamrock batters on a strikeout, a fly to center field and another strikeout to end the inning.
Brady Leonard retired the Knight leadoff batter in the top of the third inning on a fly to center field. Cameron Varda was hit by a pitch. Shamrock First Baseman Tyler Thelen made a nice catch running back on a foul fly to secure the second out. Brady Leonard struck out the next Norway hitter to end the inning.
Jerryd Scheurer walked to lead off the bottom of the third inning for St. Patrick. Cole Baij struck out the next Shamrock batter. Brady Leonard doubled to deep left field; Jerryd Scheurer advanced to third base. Jerryd Scheurer scored and Brady Leonard advanced to third base when Logan Howe was safe at second base on an error. Brady Leonard and Logan Howe scored when an error was made on Brayden Simon’s bunt. Brayden Simon advanced to second base. Brayden Simon advanced to third base when Tyler Thelen beat out a bunt single.
Brayden Simon was out at home when Simon White was safe at first base on a fielder’s choice bunt to the pitcher. Tyler Thelen advanced to second base. Cole Baij retired the next Shamrock hitter on a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.
St. Patrick scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning to push its lead to 4-0.
Brady Leonard retired the three Norway batters in the top of the fourth inning on a fly to right field, a grounder to the shortstop and a bouncer to the pitcher.
Cole Baij retired the three St. Patrick hitters in the bottom of the fourth inning on a grounder to third base, a fly to center field and a high popup to the pitcher.
Brady Leonard retired the Knight leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning on a bouncer to the shortstop. A.J. Gallino singled down the right field line and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Landon Ross. Nathan Fears ranged back in center field to catch a nice drive by Cameron Varda to end the inning.
Brady Leonard doubled to deep center field to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning for the Shamrocks and took third base on a sacrifice bunt by Logan Howe. Brady Leonard scored on a sacrifice squeeze bunt to third base by Brayden Simon. Cole Baij struck out the next Shamrock hitter to end the inning.
St. Patrick scored one run in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend its lead to 5-0.
Brady Leonard retired the Norway leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning on a grounder to the shortstop. Owen Baij singled to right field. Shamrock Right Fielder T.J. Chamberlain made a fine catch in right field going back on a drive by Cole Baij to second the second out. Shamrock Center fielder made a fantastic running, diving catch of a drive to center field by Bryce Adams to get the final out.
Cole Baij struck out St. Patrick’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth inning. T.J. Chamberlain was safe at first base on an error and took second base on a sacrifice bunt by Nathan Fears. T.J. Chamberlain scored when Jerryd Scheurer was safe at first base on an error. Jerryd Scheurer advanced to second base when Charlie Thelen walked. Hudson King entered the game as a courtesy runner for Charlie Thelen.
Owen Baij took over on the mound for Norway and Cole Baij moved to shortstop.
Brady Leonard singled to left field to drive Jerryd Scheurer home. Norway Pitcher Owen Baij cut off the throw to the plate and was able to throw out the Shamrock runner going to third base.
St. Patrick scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 7-0 lead.
Brady Leonard retired the three Norway hitters in the top of the seventh inning on a strikeout and two bouncers to the pitcher.
St. Patrick won this game by the final score of 7-0 and will play in tomorrow’s final game.
Owen Baij had two singles for Norway. A.J. Gallino had one single.
Cole Baij pitched 5 and two thirds innings and struck out five St. Patrick batters. Owen Baij pitched one third of an inning.
Brady Leonard had two doubles, one single and one RBI for St. Patrick. Brayden Simon had one single and two RBI. Tyler Thelen had two singles. Jerryd Scheurer had one single. Logan Howe had one RBI.
Brady Leonard pitched a complete shutout game for the Shamrocks. He gave up only three hits and struck out five batters.