Fowler vs. Portland St. Patrick – – Baseball District Final – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 30, 2026 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, your Bleacher Denizen is at the baseball district in Fowler. He saw the only semifinal game – – between Lansing Christian and Portland St. Patrick – – Fowler advanced to the final when Morrice, its opponent, could not play the game and had to forfeit. Here is the play by play of the Lansing Christian/St. Patrick semifinal. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2026/05/30/lansing-christian-vs-portland-st-patrick-baseball-district-semifinal-the-bleacher-denizen-may-30-2026-by-chuck-krafft/

Thus, it is time for the Fowler Eagles to play the Shamrocks from Portland St. Patrick in the final game. It’s a beautiful day for baseball, nice and sunny, but not too hot! (In a bit of foreshadowing, your Bleacher Denizen is reporting arriving home with a minor sunburn, but it didn’t get too bad. Many thanks to both the St. Patrick and the Fowler coaches for letting me sit in their dugouts out of the sun to take my notes!

While we wait for this game to begin, I hope you will enjoy this recent addition to my Patriotic You Tube Playlist, “God Bless the USA”, which was originally written and recorded by Lee Greenwood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ePjJiWG5OY

They flipped a coin and determined that even though we are in Fowler, St. Patrick will be the home team! The Bleacher Denizen’s mind is struggling with this concept, but he will persevere and take his notes!!! Fowler will bat first. Here are the starting lineups.

FOWLER

Chase Katich 2b

Jesse Andros c

Noah Schafer ss

Trevor Spicer 1b

Jack O’Hare 3b

Beckett Hansen p

Drew Weber cf

Cam Rhynard rf

Easton Hufnagel lf

PORTLAND ST. PATRICK

Jerryd Scheurer ss

Charlie Thelen c

Brady Leonard p

Tyler Thelen 1b

Isaiah Rockey 2b

Logan Howe 3b

Mason Simon cf

T.J. Chamberlain rf

Hudson King lf

It is now time to review the events of this game through the occasionally alert eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen (soon to turn seventy) who was never able to get his baseball career really going. It seems that coaches and umpires hated his idea to bring creativity to base running. Instead of boringly and predictably running the bases counter-clockwise like everyone else, your Bleacher Denizen found it more interesting to run to third base after he hit the ball.

Umpires claimed to be confused by this and responded by coldly and aloofly calling your Bleacher Denizen out without even considering the strategic possibilities. When the umpires did this, my coaches started being skeptical about the possibility. As the outs piled up, so did the amount of time the Bleacher Denizen sat on the bench.

Chase Katich beat out an infield single to lead off the top of the first inning for Fowler and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Jesse Andros. Noah Schafter walked. Trevor Spicer hit a foul popup to the catcher; Chase Katich alertly tagged up and raced to third base. St. Patrick Pitcher Brady Leonard retired the next Eagle hitter on a bouncer to the mound to end the inning.

Jerryd Scheurer walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning for St. Patrick and went to second base on a wild pitch. Fowler Pitcher Beckett Hansen retired the next Shamrock on a fly to left field where Easton Hufnagel made a nice running catch. Beckett Hansen got the next two Shamrock hitters out on a fly to center field and a grounder to second base to end the inning.

Beckett Hansen walked to lead off the top of the second inning for Fowler. Brady Leonard retired the next Eagle batter on a bunted fly to third base. Beckett Hansen advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Cam Rhynard. Brady Leonard struck out the next Fowler batter to end the inning.

Isaiah Rockey led off the bottom of the second inning for St. Patrick with a walk and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Logan Howe. Beckett Hansen retired the next Eagle batter on a fly to left field. T.J. Chamberlain singled to centerfield to drive Isaiah Rockey home. T.J. Chamberlain advanced to second base when Hudson King blooped a single to center field. Beckett Hansen struck out the next Shamrock hitter to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored one run in the bottom of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead.

Brady Leonard retired the three Fowler hitters in the top of the third inning on a popup to first base, a strikeout and a fly to left field.

Beckett Hansen retired the Shamrock leadoff batter in the top of the third inning on a fly to center field. Brady Leonard doubled to left field. Tyler Thelen tripled to deep center field to drive Brady Leonard home. Beckett Hansen retired the next batter on a foul popup to the catcher. Logan Howe bounced a single to left field to drive Tyler Thelen home. St. Patrick made its third out on a grounder to second base.

St. Patrick scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning to push its lead to 3-0.

Brady Leonard retired the three Fowler hitters in the top of the fourth inning on a bouncer to the pitcher, a popup to the pitcher and a fly to right field where T.J. Chamberlain made a great running catch.

T.J. Chamberlain was safe at first base when the third strike on his strikeout was not caught to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning for St. Patrick. T.J. Chamberlain advanced to second base on a wild pitch and took third base on a sacrifice bunt by Hudson King. Jerryd Scheuer was safe at first and T.J. Chamberlain out at home on a fielder’s choice grounder to first base. Eagle First Baseman made a clever play by holding on to the ball as long as possible to allow the runner to break for home; he only threw after the runner committed to trying to score.

Jerryd Scheurer stole second base. Charlie Thelen walked. Brady Leonard doubled down the right field line; Jerryd Scheurer and Charlie Thelen both scored. Brady Leonard advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Beckett Hansen retired the next Shamrock hitter on a bouncer to first base to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to stretch its lead to 5-0.

Drew Weber walked to lead off the top of the fifth inning for Fowler. Brady Leonard retired the next Eagle hitter on a fly to center field and struck out the following two batters.

Noah Schafer came in to pitch for Fowler and Beckett Hansen went to play shortstop.

Noah Schafer retired the first two Shamrock batters in the bottom of the fifth inning on a fly to right field and a strikeout. Mason Simon doubled to center field. T.J. Chamberlain singled to center field to drive Mason Simon home. T.J. Chamberlain advanced to second base on an error on the play. Hudson King singled to center field to drive T.J. Chamberlain home.

Jerryd Scheurer was safe at first base on an error and Hudson King advanced to third base. Jerryd Scheurer stole second base. Fowler Third Baseman Jack O’Hare made a great running catch of an infield fly to retire the next Shamrock batter for the third out.

St. Patrick scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend its lead to 7-0.

Brady Leonard struck out the Fowler lead off batter in the top of the sixth inning. Noah Schafer walked and went to second base when Trevor Spicer singled to left field. Brady Leonard got the next batter to hit a grounder to second baseman Isaiah Rockey, who flipped the ball to Shortstop Jerryd Scheurer to get the force at second base. Jerryd Scheurer fired the ball to First Baseman Tyler Thelen to compete the double play and end the inning.

Brady Leonard was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Tyler Thelen walked.

Cam Rhynard came in to pitch for Fowler. Noah Schafer went back to shortstop. Beckett Hansen moved to second base and Chase Katich went out to play right field.

Brady Leonard and Tyler Thelen executed a double steal that put Brady Leonard on third base and Tyler Thelen on second. Brady Leonard scored on a sacrifice fly to left field; Tyler Thelen also came home on an error. Cam Rhynard retired the next Shamrock hitter on a foul fly to first base. Mason Simon walked. Cam Rhynard retired the next Shamrock hitter on a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.

St. Patrick added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and took a 9-0 lead.

Jerryd Scheurer came in to pitch for St. Patrick. Isaiah Rockey moved to shortstop. Brady Leonard went out to play center field and Mason Simon moved to left field. Sean Fedewa went in to play second base.

Beckett Hansen was safe at first base on an error to lead off the top of the seventh inning for Fowler. Jerryd Scheurer retired the next Shamrock hitter on a fly to center field. Cam Rhynard was safe at first base on an error and Beckett Hansen advanced to second base. Jerryd Scheurer struck out the next batter. Beckett Hansen took third base and Cam Rhynard second on a wild pitch. Fowler made its third out on a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning and the game.

St. Patrick won and the district by the final score of 9-0. They will play Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central in the Regional semifinal at Fowler this Wednesday!

Chase Katich and Trevor Spicer each had a single for Fowler.

Beckett Hansen pitched four innings and struck out two batters. Noah Schafer and Cam Rhynard each pitched one inning.

Brady Leonard had two doubles and two RBI for St. Patrick. T.J. Chamberlain had two singles and two RBI. Hudson King had two singles and one RBI. Tyler Thelen had one triple and one RBI. Logan Howe had one single and one RBI. Mason Simon had a double. Isaiah Rockey had one RBI.

Brady Leonard pitched six shutout innings and only gave up two hits while striking out one batter. Jerryd Scheurer pitched one shutout inning while overcoming a couple errors and struck out one batter.