Portland St. Patrick vs. Maple City Glen Lake – – MHSAA Baseball Regional Final – – The Bleacher Denizen – – June 6, 2026 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, your Bleacher Denizen is at Theunissen Stadium at Central Michigan University to watch the baseball regional final between the Lakers of Maple City Glen Lake and the Shamrocks of Portland St. Patrick. I will also be covering the semifinal between Fulton and Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart as well as the final game.

It is a beautiful sunny day today. It’s not too hot and I don’t know if you could have better weather for a baseball game!

While we wait for the games to begin, I hope you will enjoy this cover video of “I’ll be Seeing You” from my You Tube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VARqaaFbk4

Here are the starting lineups. St. Patrick will be the home team and Glen Lake will bat first.

MAPLE CITY GLEN LAKE

Tanner Crick 3b

Sully Atkins p

Colton Newman ss

Spencer McNitt cf

Brady Turner 1b

Levi Lamb 2b

Jacob Peplinski c

Fletcher Middleton dh

Ben Wassa lf

D.J. Mikowski will play right field, but will not bat.

PORTLAND ST. PATRICK

Jerryd Scheurer ss

Charlie Thelen c

Brady Leonard p

Tyler Thelen 1b

Isaiah Rockey 2b

Logan Howe c

Mason Simon cf

T.J. Chamberlain rf

Hudson King lf

It is now time to review the events of this Regional Final through the occasionally alert eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who never had much of a baseball career in the days of yore when he attempted to play. It seems that he developed an idea to save expenses on baseballs. He would avoid hitting the baseball as he batted to reduce wear and tear on the stitches and covers. While the team saved some money, his coach became alarmed at what the consistent strikeouts did to the team’s offense. As the strikeouts went up, the Bleacher Denizen’s playing time went down.

Tanner Crick led off the top of the first inning for Glen Lake with a double to deep left field. Tanner Crick went to third base on a pickoff error. St. Patrick Pitcher Brady Leonard struck out the next Laker batter. Tanner Crick scored on a sacrifice bunt by Colton Newman. Shamrock First Baseman Tyler Thelen made a long run to catch a foul popup for the third Laker out.

Maple City Glen Lake scored one run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.

Maple City Glen Lake Pitcher retired the first two St. Patrick hitters in the bottom of the second inning on a groundout to the shortstop and a strikeout. Brady Leonard was safe at first base on an error. Laker Catcher Jacob Peplinski fired the ball to second base to catch the runner stealing for the third out.

Brady Turner singled to lead off the top of the second inning for Glen Lake. When he tried to stretch it into a double, Shamrock Left Fielder Hudson King fired the ball to second base to cut him down. Brady Leonard struck out the next two Laker batters to end the inning.

Tyler Thelen beat out a bunt single to lead off the top of the second inning for St. Patrick. The next hitter hit a fly to Pitcher Tanner Crick, who fired to first base to double the runner off. St. Patrick made its third out on a fly to center field.

With two full innings in the books, Maple City Glen Lake holds a 1-0 lead.

Brady Leonard retired the three Laker hitters in the top of the third inning on a grounder to second base, a strikeout and a fly to right field where Shamrock Right Fielder T.J. Chamberlain made an excellent running catch to take a single away from Tanner Crick.

Sully Atkins retired the first two Shamrock batters in the bottom of the third inning on a liner to first base and a grounder to the shortstop. Hudson King beat out a high hopper to second base for a single and stole second base. Jerryd Scheurer singled to right field to drive Hudson King home. Jerryd Scheurer stole second base. Sully Atkins retired the next hitter on a grounder to first base to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored one run in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Brady Leonard retired the three Glen Lake hitters in the top of the fourth inning on two strikeouts and a grounder to shortstop.

Sully Atkins retired the first two Shamrock batters in the bottom of the fourth inning on a strikeout and a fly to left field. Isaiah Rockey singled up the middle. Logan Howe doubled down the left field line and Isaiah Rockey advanced to third base. Mason Simon singled to right field to drive Isaiah Rockey and Logan Howe home. Laker Right Fielder D.J. Mikowski threw home; when the runner tried to go to second base, Laker Catcher Jacob Peplinski threw him out to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead.

Brady Leonard retired the three Laker batters in the top of the fifth inning on a strikeout and two bouncers to the shortstop.

Sully Atkins retired the three St. Patrick hitters in the bottom of the fifth inning on a grounder to third base, a grounder to shortstop and a fly to left field.

Brady Leonard struck out the the first two Laker hitters in the top of the sixth inning. Tanner Crick beat out a bouncer up the middle and went to second base when Sully Atkins was hit by a pitch. Brady Leonard retired the next hitter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

After five and one half innings, St. Patrick still had a 3-1 lead.

Charlie Thelen tripled to deep center field to lead off the top of the sixth inning for St. Patrick. Emmet Fandel entered the game as a courtesy runner for Charlie Thelen. Brady Leonard drilled a single to left field to drive Emmet Fandel home. Tyler Thelen doubled to center field and Brady Leonard advanced to third base. Brady Leonard and Tyler Thelen both scored when Isaiah Rockey laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Glen Lake made an overthrow. Isaiah Rockey ended up on second base and took third base on a wild pitch.

Sully Atkins struck out the next Shamrock batter. Mason Simon singled to center field to drive Isaiah Rockey home; Mason Simon advanced to second base on a throw to the plate and stole third base. Mason Simon scored when T.J. Chamberlain was safe at first base on an error. T.J. Chamberlain went to third base when Hudson King was safe at second base on an error.

Colton Newman came in to pitch for Glen Lake. Rogelio Galindo went in to play shortstop.

Jerryd Scheurer was intentionally walked. T.J. Chamberlain scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Charlie Thelen. Hudson King went to third base and Jerryd Scheurer to second. Brady Leonard was intentionally walked. Colton Newman retired the next Shamrock pitcher on a grounder to second base to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend its lead to 9-1.

Brady Leonard retired the first two Laker batteries in the top of the seventh inning on a line drive to first base and a grounder where Shamrock Shortstop Jerryd Scheurer made a great diving stop and threw the runner out at first base. Levi Lamb beat out an infield single. Brady Leonard retired the next runner on a grounder to the pitcher to end the game.

St. Patrick won by the final score of 9-1 and will play the winner of Fulton and Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart in today’s quarterfinal.

Tanner Crick had a double and a single for Maple City Glen Lake. Brady Turner and Levi Lamb each had a single. Colton Newman had one RBI.

Sully Atkins pitched five and one third innings and struck out three Shamrock hitters. Colton Newman pitched two thirds of an inning.

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

Brady Leonard pitched the complete game for St. Patrick. He gave up only one run and four hits while striking out nine Laker hitters.’