HART – After more than two decades of waiting, Hart’s baseball program claimed a district championship Saturday, May 31 with wins over Hesperia and Mason County Central.
“It’s been 21 years,” Hart Head Coach David Riley said. “I definitely can’t say this one has sunk in yet. Us running out on the field and having that moment was special, especially after losing a heartbreaker (in the district tournament) a year ago. That’s a memory I’ll never forget.”
In a bracket that featured only West Michigan Conference Rivers Division teams, Hart was pitted against Hesperia in the semifinals. The Panthers earned their way to that spot, having defeated Manistee in a pre-district battle a few days prior. Shelby faced off against MCC in the other semifinal on the opposite side of the bracket.
Hart took control of the game in the first inning, escaping Hesperia’s bats to earn their own chance at the plate. An opening error for the Panthers’ shortstop Hudson Schmitz got Halen Boos on base, allowing the Pirates to string together three singles. Those singles came courtesy of Aiden Coker, Avery Guikema and Joseph Osorio, and put Hart in an early 3-0 lead.
“That’s a solid Hesperia team that’s only gotten better throughout the year,” Riley said. “Their record doesn’t necessarily indicate the way they’ve played here lately. They played great baseball today so we had to play up to the challenge.”
Ty Schlukebir worked through the Panthers’ lineup with ease on the mound, not allowing a single run to cross the plate through three innings. On Hesperia’s side, Blake Sayer rebounded from that rocky first frame, shutting down the Pirates’ offense for the remainder of the game.
That opened the door for Hesperia to take the lead, if they could get by the arms of Schlukebir and Guikema.
Hesperia found first blood in the top of the fourth inning when Ian Fox singled on a ground ball to center field. That scored Anderson Boes who had reached on a Coker fielding error two at-bats before.
In the fifth inning, Hesperia led off with a Weston Hasted single, but followed it up with consecutive outs. In need of a rally, Schmitz slammed a line drive to left field for a double that brought Hasted home. Hesperia tried to tie the game several times, but were never able to get a runner beyond second base, allowing Hart to advance to the finals.
Schlukebir threw six and two-thirds innings, allowing just one earned run on six hits with 10 strikeouts. Guikema finished off the game in the final inning, facing just one batter and sitting him down via strikeout.
Boos, Coker, Schlukebir, Guikema, Osorio and Kevon Gray all had one hit on the day, with Osoria leading the team with two runs batted in (RBI).
MCC won the second semifinal of the day in dramatic fashion, setting up a chance for redemption for Hart. The Pirates and Spartans faced off at the start of May, with MCC taking a sweep in conference play.
Guikema earned the start on the mound for Hart in that game, putting together a masterclass complete game that saw him shutout the opponent completely. The Spartans only had four hits while punching out seven on strikeouts.
“Avery threw the ball the whole game, and was on point and fully in command,” Riley said. “We got a few big hits and scored when we needed to, but the defense won us the game.”
The bats for Hart were not as quick to get going. The score remained knotted at zero through the first two innings, but the Pirates found the hits they needed in the top of the third inning.
Boos led off with a double to right field and was brought home by a Coker single on the very next at-bat. Brendan Hiddema hit a single to score Coker three at-bats later, leaving the score at 2-0, which is where it stood for the remainder of the day.
Coker led the team, going 2-for-3 at the plate with one RBI. Hiddema, Osorio and Boos also had one hit each.
“We had a couple of great days of practice heading in. That was step one, getting ready mentally and having the right attitude,” Riley said. “Once the games started, we put up runs early which was huge. The pitching and defense came through for us.”
Hart moved to 12-17-1 with the pair of wins and advanced to the regional semifinals.
