April 30 2014 Lowell Recap

Today the Scots set out to Lowell to take on the Red Arrows in the first official game of the series (yesterday's game is postponed and will be resumed Friday). The two teams were tied for first place in the OK White and the winner would have at least a one game edge on everyone in the league. The Scots started off hot putting Trent Foreman and Mitch McCallum in scoring position in the top of the first and only one out yet they didn't not score. This was a recurring theme for the Scots as they left 12 guys in scoring position throughout the entire night. The pitching on both sides was tremendous tonight, the Scots had Sam Vanderwal throw 5 innings and only give up 3 runs (2 earned) and then in relief had Keegan Mulvey go 4+ innings giving up 1 earned run, which was the deciding one. However the entire loss is not saddled to Mulvey so nobody go and point fingers there. The Scots had  plentiful opportunities to end the game and just never capitalized on any. They had a runner on third with one out in the 9th and that runner was picked off. The Scots played almost flawless defense all day with just one minuscule throwing mistake that led to one of the Arrows runs. The Scots had two players record RBIs, Joe Stegehuis and Logan Hudson. Even though the ball barely landed on the wrong side of the left field fence and the Scots fell 4-3 tonight, they are only one game out of first and in a three way tie for second and, if they win this series by defeating Lowell on back to back days they will reclaim first place solely. The pursuit back to the top begins tomorrow at home against Lowell at 4:30 with Caleb Sleeman on the bump for the Scots. Come out and support the squad!

April 24 2014 FHC Recap

Today the Scots boarded the bus to Ada to take on the FHC Rangers looking for a sweep and their 5th win in a row. Starting on the mound was Caleb Sleeman who was lights out in his first outing of the year in Jenison recording an 8-1 complete game victory. His opponent on the bump was righty Connor Kelly, a sophomore who is also a varsity basketball player at FHC. After trading zeros in the first, the Rangers finally broke through on an RBI infield single to put them up 1-0. Sleeman would be done for the day after that however due to an undisclosed injury, so the Scots had to dig into their bullpen early. The Scots gloves after this point went missing as there were errors, unfortunate hops and misjudged fly balls that led to the Rangers racing out to an 8-1 lead after 6. The lone Scots run was driven in by Chris Clark which is his team leading 7th RBI. There were multiple instances that the Scots could have tacked on more runs but the bats went quiet at the worst occasions. For instance, in the 5th Dan Zeman led off the inning with a double (yes you just read that right, Zeman doubled) yet he was stranded at third. There were other innings that guys were left on constantly and that's what came back to kill the Scots today. Down 8-1 headed to the 7th, the boys put in one last charge to try and rally back and they started off well. Hits were coming in frequent, including the first varsity hit in the career of Danny Paas, and the boys scored 3 runs with RBIs attributed to Joe Stegehuis, Mitch Horgan and Logan Hudson. The last batter of the game struck out for the Scots with runners on the corners and 8-4 was the final. The Scots fall to 4-2 in conference play while FHC improves to 2-4. The Scots will start their next series Tuesday April 29 when they travel to Lowell to face the Red Arrows. The projected starter is Dan Zeman, as he will go for his second consecutive W.

April 23 2014 FHC Recap

The Scots set out today in pursuit of their fourth win in a row, standing in their way today was the Forest Hills Central Rangers. Pitching for the Scots was lefty Sam Vanderwal who in his first outing earned a no decision and throwing for the Rangers was GVSU commit Mitch Ashcraft. Errors were the early story for the Scots as they allowed 5 unearned runs in the first four innings. With two outs in the third there was a ball that was overthrown to first base and that runner came around to score to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. In the 5th after increasing the lead to 2-0 off another error, the Rangers were poised to strike again with two men on when Ohio State commit Jake Vanderwal strolled up to the plate. Vanderwal got a hold of Vanderwal's fastballs and tattooed it over the right field fence for a 3 run bomb to give FHC a 5-0 lead headed to the bottom of the 5th. Sam Vanderwal ended today with a final line of 4 innings, and 5 runs all unearned and needed his team to pick him up to claw back to a no decision. And the team definitely picked him up with a huge 5th inning. The Scots came out with an array of hits and the first run was driven in by Mitch McCallum to make it 5-1. A few batters later, Joe Stegehuis strolled up to the plate for the Scots and cleared the bases with a 3 RBI triple to cut the deficit to 5-4. Stegehuis would come around on a passed ball to tie the game at 5 headed to the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 6th with two on and one out, Mitch McCallum was once again in a situation to drive in runs, this time they would give the Scots a lead. McCallum delivered with a 2 RBI single to left to give the Scots the 7-5 lead, which thanks to Keegan Mulvey, who earned his second win amidst pitching 3 innings of scoreless relief, they would keep all the way through. The Scots now improve to 4-1 in the OK White and with East Grand Rapids losing to Lowell tonight, they are tied in first place with the Pioneers. Tomorrow the Scots will travel to Ada to take on the Rangers in pursuit of a series sweep. The Scots will send Caleb Sleeman to the hill for the 4:30 first pitch. Thankyou to all of the fans who came out and supported this week, we appreciate the love. Also happy birthday to infielder Trey Roelofs who turns 18 today. Lastly, a shoutout to Rosa the waitress who celebrates all of our wins with us at Pizza Hut, you're the best.

April 22 FHC Recap

The Scots began their second conference series of the year today against the Forest Hills Central Rangers. The Scots were sending their ace Dan Zeman to the hill, who was coming off a strong effort in a very tough 1-0 loss to Jenison last week. Zeman, who is in his third varsity season was still searching for career W number one today when he faced off against the lefty Nick Anderson of the Rangers. The Scots got Dan Zeman run support early scoring three runs in the first. Chris Clark started the scoring with an RBI walk driving in Keegan Mulvey. The next batter was Trent Foreman who hit a single to right centerfield scoring both Logan Hudson and Mitch Horgan to put the Scots up 3-0 after the first. Zeman from that point took over and set the Scots on what appeared to be an smooth sail to victory. The final line for Zeman was 6.1 innings thrown, 3 hits, 4 walks and 3 runs all unearned. With the Scots up 3-1 in the 4th, Chris Clark singled in yet another run to make it 4-1 and it was 4-2 all the way until the top of the 7th. In the top of the 7th, the Scots had a couple errors and a walk that led to having runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. The batter hit one up the middle that was scooped up by Logan Hudson who tossed it to Mitch McCallum for one and the relay to first for the last out was not connected and it skipped away to the fence. It appeared as if the Rangers had tied the game, however Dan Zeman (now in right field) threw his hands up indicating that the ball had gone underneath the fence therefore it was out of play. After the umpires conferences, it was ruled that the second runner would have to return to 3rd base and the score would be Cal 4 and FHC 3. The next batter promptly hit a groundball to Trent Foreman who tossed it to Mitch Horgan and seal the W. Dan Zeman (1-1, 0.64) earns his first career varsity win while Trent a Foreman picks up his first save of the year. The Scots are now 3-1 in the OK White while the FHC Rangers dropped to 1-3. These two teams meet again tomorrow with the Scots sending lefty Sam Vanderwal to the hill. The game is at 4:30 in Caledonia so everyone come out and watch the boys go for their fourth straight trip to Pizza Hut, a newfound tradition following every W.

April 18 Jenison Recap

The Scots boarded the bus yet again this week for the final regular season meeting of the year against the defending OK White conference champion Jenison Wildcats hoping to win the series. The Scots were sending Caleb Sleeman to the hill, fresh off of his 7 pitch save last night and the tremendous outing carried over into tonight's action. Sleeman went the entire game tonight, allowing only one run and a few scattered hits. Otherwise Sleeman was dominating the Jenison offensive attack all night long. The Scots bats on the other hand picked up right where they left off last night. A frenzy of hits occurred tonight and from every single player in the starting lineup too. RBIs for the Scots tonight were quick spread out as well. Chris Clark and Austin Coon led the Scots with 2 a piece, yet Mitch Horgan, Joe Stegehius and Mitch Horgan all drove in one run as well. The 8th run the Scots scored came as a result of back to back balks by the pitcher Jake Ardtsen. The Scots finally played the full potential baseball that everyone expected to see every game this year and as a result took the 8-1 win to bring their record to 2-1. This is a tremendous start for the Scots in their pursuit of the OK White title. Next week the Scots have a three game set with Forest Hills Central starting Tuesday at home at 4:30. Come out and support the squad as they will keep on getting the job one.

April 17 Jenison Recap

Following last nights tough defeat at the hands of the Jenison Wildcats, the Scots came out to their home diamond with vengeance and the idea of tying the series at one game a piece. The Scots sent Sam Vanderwal to the hill for his first varsity action and the nerves were evident early as the first two guys reached on a walk and being hit by a pitch. After that however, Vanderwal settled in nicely and gave the Scots 3.1 quality innings of work. The Scots were trailing 3-0 early when Chris Clark drove in the first run of the season, bringing in Logan Hudson via sac fly. The Wildcats immediately responded with another run however to make it 4-1. From that point on, the Scots offense finally clicked and reached its apparent full potential. Joe Stegehuis had a beautiful extra base knock early in the inning and it took off from there. The Scots sent 10 men to the plate in the 5th and scored 5 runs. RBIs were credited to Logan Hudson with two, Mitch Horgan with one and Austin Coon with one. With a 6-4 lead headed into the top of the 7th the Scots sent Keegan Mulvey out for his 3rd inning of work yet despite the beautiful and nearly perfect first 2.2, the 7th was quite the ride. A couple walks and a single quickly loaded the bases with nobody out and the Scots made the turn to the pen bringing in Caleb Sleeman, tomorrow's projected starter. Sleeman came in and slammed the door shut requiring only 7 pitches to get three outs thanks to one of the weirdest double plays I've ever seen. On a groundball to 3rd, Mulvey fired it home to Clark for out number one. Clark immediately fired to to Mitch Horgan at first for out two. The weird part was the kid who hit the ball immediately quit running and so he was no more than 25 feet out of the box when he got thrown out despite there being a prior throw. Anyway, Sleeman struck out the last guy to record the Save and earn the Scots their first win of 2014 by a score of 6-4. Earning the win for the Scots was Keegan Mulvey who improves to 1-0. A huge shoutout to all of the fans in attendance, we love the big support, hopefully y'all keep showing up and we keep winning for you. The rubber match of the series is set for tomorrow at 4:30 back in Jenison with Caleb Sleeman slated to throw for the Scots.

April 16 Jenison Recap

After 7 games being cancelled due to weather, the Scots finally got the opportunity to lace up the spikes, button up the purple jerseys and face a real opponent. The defending OK White champion Jenison Wildcats were quite the first opponent. Today was a pitching matchup of two of the conference's premier arms of Caledonia's Dan Zeman against Jenison's Pat Leatherman (CMU Commit). Everyone expected a low scoring, pitchers duel and the game definately lived up to the hype. Pitching was the dominating force today as both of these two were on their A-game all day. Zeman lasted 4 innings and scattered only 3 hits and 1 controversially earned run. In the first inning with runners on the corners and one out, the first base runner Jake Ardsten took off stealing second. A beautiful bullet delivered from Chris Clark behind the dish appeared to clearly get to Huddy in time to record the out. The only person who would disagree is the one man who's opinion actually counts, the field umpire. The Wildcats ended up scoring on a sac fly to centerfield which had the first play been called correctly it would have been out number three. This would be the only run scored by the Wildcats all game. The Scots pitching was not the only reason they received such lofty expectations, as the offense is definately capable of producing great things. However, when you have not faced live pitching all year and the first guy you face is hard throwing, Central Michigan commit Pat Leatherman it's not the easy transition like you usually get. The Scots lack of live reps due to the bipolar mess of a state we live in showed, as they only put up 2 hits, both in the same inning and both by guys with the same name. Mitch Horgan singled to the right side and then two batters later Mitch McCallum singled to the left side, yet both of these guys never scored as the Scots could not get that one extra ball in play to plate a runner. Only three other base runners reached, a walk by Logan Hudson, Chris Clark getting hit and Mitch McCallum reaching on an error. Other than that Pat Leatherman had the Scots number all game going complete game to record the shutout striking out 14 batters. The Scots fall to 0-1 on the year, yet they have an immediate chance to rebound at home against Jenison tomorrow. Pat Gillies is sending lefty Sam Vanderwal to the bump to try and pick up the Scots first win of the season. Game is at home 430 come out and support your boys.