Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart vs. Royal Oak Shrine Catholic – – MHSAA Division 4 Baseball Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – June 12, 2026 – – by Chuck Krafft
Today, the Bleacher Denizen is at the MSU McLane Stadium to watch the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 4 Baseball Semifinal. In this game, the Irish from Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart will play the Knights from Royal Oak Shrine Catholic to determine who will play in tomorrow’s final game. Sacred Heart brings a 36-4 record into this game and was rated second in the state. Royal Oak Shrine was 26-8 and is ranked number 11.
As we wait for this game to begin, I hope you will enjoy this original Christian tune from my You Tube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxrh1V9JJkE
Sacred Heart just beat last year’s champion, Portland St. Patrick in the quarterfinal to earn its spot in this semifinal game. Here is the play by play of that game. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2026/06/06/portland-st-patrick-vs-mt-pleasant-sacred-heart-mhsaa-baseball-quarterfinal-the-bleacher-denizen-june-6-2026-by-chuck-krafft/
The Irish have two fantastic pitchers, Nate Siler, who pitched a great game against St. Patrick in the quarterfinal, and Nate Davis, who dominated Fulton in the Regional Final. Nate Siler, who was an all-State pitcher last year, had a 13-1 record with a stingy 0.80 ERA and 134 strikeouts. Brady Davis was 12-2 with a sparkling 0.52 ERA. Noah Zeien also contributed on the mound with a 3-0 record and an 0.54 ERA. We can see that opponents have had a difficult time scoring on Sacred Heart this year!
The Irish also have some formidable hitters. Noah Zeien, who spends most of his time playing third base, batted .460 and stole 45 bases. Hank MacDonald batted .442 with 14 doubles and 67 RBI. Brady Davis hit .536 to go along with 14 doubles, 48 RBI and 23 stolen bases. Nate Siler batted .457 with 11 doubles and 51 RBI. Teegan Duffy hit .422 with 64 runs, 37 RBI and 20 stolen bases.
Royal Oak Shrine also has some top players. Nate Alba has an 11-2 won loss record as well as a 1.40 ERA and 170 strikeouts. He also contributes with the bat with a .286 average and 31 RBIs. Cayden Barbato is hitting .444 with 21 stolen bases. Luke Robinson is hitting .385 with 31 RBI and 21 stolen bases. He is 3-1 on the mound with a 2.71 ERA. Sean Murphy brings a .468 average with 17 doubles and 43 RBI as well as 17 stolen bases. He also pitches and has a 7-3 record to go with a 2.62 ERA and 85 strikeouts. Blake Archibald is hitting .333. Owen Bellows has a 5-1 pitching record with a 2.91 ERA.
Thanks to Geoff Kimmerly and the MSHAA for providing these statistics.
Here are the starting lineups. Shrine won the coin toss and will be the home team. Sacred Heart will bat first.
SACRED HEART
Noah Zeien 3b
Teegan Duffy cf
Brady Davis 1b
Nate Siler p
Hank MacDonald c
Brody Collin 2b
Jaxon Moore ss
Maxim Boykin-Lynch rf
Caleb Strauch dh
Nico Vasquez will play left field, but will not bat.
SHRINE
Caydin Barbato ss
Blake Archibald cf
Luke Robinson 1b
Sean Murphy c
Nate Alba p
Owen Bellows 2b
Grant Poulton 3b
Adam Imai lf
Toby Graveline rf
It is now time to review the events of this game through the somewhat watchful eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to get his baseball career going. However, he is proud of all the memories that opposing catchers and umpires have of the cooling breezes generated by the Bleacher Denizen’s well-known flailing attempts to hit baseballs!
Shrine Pitcher Nate Alba retired Sacred Heart’s leadoff batter in the top of the first inning on a grounder to first base. Teagan Duffy doubled to right field. Brady Davis singled to center field to drive Teagan Duffy home. Nate Alba retired the next Irish batter on a fly to right field. Hank MacDonald blasted a double into the left field corner to drive Brady Davis home. Walter MacDonald entered the game as a courtesy runner for Hank MacDonald. Nate Alba struck out the next Irish batter to end the innnig.
Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart scored two runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Sacred Heart Pitcher Nate Siler retired the three Shrine hitters in the bottom of the first inning on two strikeouts followed by a groundout to second base.
Nate Alba retired the Sacred Heart leadoff batter on a grounder to shortstop. Maxin Boykin-Lynch lined a single off the pitcher’s glove. Nate Alba struck out the next Irish hitter and got the third out on a grounder to third base.
Irish Pitcher Nate Siler retired Shrine’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the second inning on a grounder to shortstop and struck out the next two batters.
Knight Pitcher Nate Alba retired the first two Irish hitters in the top of the third inning on a fly to right field and a strikeout. Brady Davis walked. Sacred Heart made its third out on a grounder to third base.
Nate Siler struck out the three Shrine hitters in the bottom of the third inning.
With three innings in the books, Sacred Heart had a 2-0 lead.
Brody Collin led off the top of the fourth inning for the Irish and was safe on an error. Nate Alba retired the next two Irish batters on a soft fly to the mound and a strikeout. Brody Collin went to second base on a wild pitch. Nate Alba struck out the next Sacred Heart batter to end the inning.
Nate Siler retired the first two Shrine hitters in the bottom of the fourth inning on a strikeout and a grounder to the shortstop. Luke Robinson hit a double to deep right field. Nate Siler retired the next Shrine batter on a fly to center field.
Noah Zeien walked to lead off the top of the fifth inning for Sacred Heart and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Teegan Duffy. Noah Zeien advanced to third base on a groundout to second base by Brady Davis. Nate Siler pounded a double to left field to drive Noah Zeien home. Jack McConnell entered the game as a courtesy runner for Nate Siler. Hank MacDonald hit a double to center field and Jack McConnell scored.
Walt MacDonald went in as a courtesy runner for Hank MacDonald. Shrine Catcher Sean Murphy fired the ball to third base to catch the runner stealing for the third out.
Sacred Heart scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning to boost its lead to 4-0.
Nate Siler retired the Shrine leadoff batter in the bottom of the fifth inning on a grounder to the shortstop. Owen Bellows singled to right field. Nate Siler struck out the next Knight hitter. Owen Bellows stole second base. Nate Siler struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Nate Albas retired the three Sacred Heart hitters in the top of the sixth inning on a squib to the catcher followed by two strikeouts.
Nate Siler struck out the three Knight hitters in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Sean Murphy went in to pitch for Shrine in the top of the seventh inning. Toby Graveline moved to catcher and Nate Alba went to right field.
Sean Murphy retired the three Irish hitters in the top of the seventh inning on a grounder to the shortstop, a foul popup to first base and a fly to right field where Nate Abla made an excellent running catch of a bloop by Teegan Davis that almost dropped in behind first base.
Luke Robinson singled to center field to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for Shrine and went to second base when Sean Murphy walked. Owen Bellows was hit by a pitch. Luke Robinson took third base and Sean Murphy second base. Nate Siler struck out the next two Knight hitters to end the game.
Sacred Heart won this Division 4 Semifinal by the final score of 4-0 and will play in tomorrow’s final game.
Luke Robinson had a double and a single for Royal Oak Shrine. Owen Bellows had one single.
Nate Alba pitched six innings and gave up four runs and only six hits while striking out seven Irish hitters. Sean Murphy pitched on inning and retired each of the Irish hitters he faced.
Hank MacDonald had two doubles and two RBI for Sacred Heart. Nate Siler had a double and one RBI. Teegan Duffy had one double. Brady Davis had a single and one RBI. Maxim Boykin-Lynch had a single.
Nate Siler pitched a brilliant three hit complete game shutout for the Irish. He struck out 16 batters.