Detroit Edison baseball season ends in heartbreak in D-3 semi
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EAST LANSING — Detroit Edison baseball coach Mark Brown had a succinct explanation after his Pioneers' season ended on a Kalamazoo Christian walk-off single in the MHSAA baseball Division 3 semifinals.
"That's baseball," Brown said after Edison fell, 6-5, at McLane Stadium on Thursday, June 11.
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Edison jumped ahead in the first inning. They then rallied to tie it in the later innings after Kalamazoo Christian surged ahead in the middle frames. The Pioneers took a one-run lead in the seventh on a clutch two-out single by senior Jerrell Crosson.
Kalamazoo Christian, however, triumphed in the bottom of the inning. The Comets strung together a single, an RBI triple, an intentional walk, a hit-by-pitch and, finally, the winning single from junior Max Johnson to advance to Saturday's state championship.
Edison (23-9) lost in the margins of an incredibly tight and compelling semifinal. The Pioneers slightly outhit Kalamazoo Christian, 12-11, but had two runners thrown out at home plate and issued six walks, to just one from KC. The Comets delivered in the clutch, scoring four of their six runs with two outs in the third and fourth innings.
"That's how it goes," Brown said. "We had opportunities in the game, left a lot of guys on base. That's baseball. In the quarterfinal game, it went the other way.
"And that's baseball. Sometimes it goes your way. Sometimes it doesn't."
Edison's third trip to the state semifinals in the last five seasons ended like the first two – on the losing end. The Pioneers have consistently knocked at the door of the D-3 final over the past half-decade, but have yet to be invited in.
"We have to learn from this to get better," Brown said. "Right now, we are just not good enough. No excuses, we are just not good enough right now. So, hopefully the young guys going through this learn and understand what it takes to finish."
Edison enjoyed an early 2-0 lead thanks to runs in the first and third. But, starting pitcher Jamir Campbell was thrown out at home in the first inning, which stopped a potential crooked number.
The same mistake popped up in Edison's final at-bat. With two outs and runners at second and third, Crosson hit a groundball that bounced once and soared 10 feet in the air over Kalamazoo Christian's third baseman. The runner from second, DaiJon Brooks, was thrown out at home after having to sidestep his third base coach while heading toward the plate.
"That was real big," Brown said. "We scored one run when we could have put up two or three."
It exacerbated the impact of Kalamazoo Christian's bats. After two runners reached via walk, catcher Jace Rarick hit a towering drive off the left-center field wall, followed by an RBI double by Noah Zichterman to take the lead.
In the seventh, it was two straight hits followed by two free passes to set up Johnson's walk-off single through the left side of the infield.
"Give credit to them," Brown said. They got a lot of two-out hits, and we did not. That's baseball."
Though a strong senior class will now depart, Edison has plenty of returning players who now know what it takes to reach East Lansing. The question now becomes how to sustain and elevate.
It is a tremendous level to sustain given that Edison does not have its own baseball field and practices on their turf football field on Mack Ave., but a hunger remains to go one step further.
"I don't know if you understand what we go through just to play baseball and to play at this level," Brown said. "It's just tremendous what these guys accomplished this year."
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA baseball D-3 semifinal brings heartbreak for Detroit Edison