Gaylord St. Mary opens regional with win over Rogers City
Drew Kochanny
ROGERS CITY — The run continues.
The benefits of a tough non-conference schedule and competitive season within the Ski Valley Conference are paying off for the Gaylord St. Mary baseball team, as the Snowbirds continue to mash in the postseason.
The Snowbirds collected nine hits, including five extra-base hits, and scored in double digits for a third straight postseason game when they earned an 11-5 win over Rogers City to open regional play.
The win advanced St. Mary into a regional championship game on Saturday against Norway in Pellston. A win for St. Mary would then put them in a quarterfinal matchup against either Rudyard or Glen Lake, also in Pellston Saturday.
Against Rogers City, who advanced to the regional semifinals with a district victory over Johannesburg-Lewiston, a 1-1 game after the first then turned into a 3-1 advantage for St. Mary heading to the third.
That's when the Hurons then responded with four runs in the top of the third to retake the lead in a 5-3 game.
From there, St. Mary put its foot down, beginning with an RBI double from Donovan Blust, which scored Devin O'Dell. Chris Koscielniak then doubled to center, scoring Blust to tie the game at 5-5 after four.
The Snowbirds then took the lead back after a double by Dillon Croff was followed by a home run by Brody Jeffers, making it 7-5.
St. Mary never handed the lead back from there, as they later followed with four runs in the sixth.
Jeffers led at the plate with a 3-for-4 game that included the home run and three RBIs, Koscielniak doubled twice and had two RBIs, Conrad Korte went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Blust and Croff each had the doubles and Dom Kiester and O'Dell each stole a pair of bags.
Croff got the start on the hill and went four innings with four hits and two walks allowed, striking out two, while O'Dell then took over for three innings and earned the win behind one strikeout.
If St. Mary can get by Norway in the opener Saturday, then either teams in the quarterfinal, it would come as a Michigan High School Athletic Association record fifth straight time in the Division 4 final four and spot in the semifinals at Michigan State University.