Olivet’s varsity baseball team had its Division 2 district championship vacated due to an MHSAA rules violation regarding the daily pitch count limit.
The violation occurred during the Eagles’ 8-6 win over Marshall in nine innings on June 4 in the title game at Gull Lake High School.
In the bottom half of the 7th inning, Marshall head coach Tom Sharpley and Olivet head coach Bill Whitely met with the home plate umpire to discuss whether the Eagles’ starting pitcher exceeded the 105-pitch limit that is permitted by the MHSAA in a day.
After the conversation, the coaches went back to their dugouts and the issue was seemingly resolved before the pitcher was pulled with one out in the inning as Marshall proceeded to tie the game and force the game into extra innings, where Olivet ultimately won.
However, a video was dropped off to the MHSAA anonymously that showed the pitcher going over 105 pitches against Marshall, explained MHSAA Communications Director Geoff Kimmerly.
After reviewing the video and obtaining information from Olivet that the pitcher had also thrown 10 pitches in the Eagles’ win against the Gull Lake Blue Devils earlier in the day, MHSAA officials determined the rule had been violated, Kimmerly said.
“It was an anonymous video, and it was enough where we could count all of the pitches,” said Kimmerly. “We had found that the pitcher had thrown more than 105 in the day. We checked in with Olivet after that and Olivet confirmed that the pitcher had indeed gone over 105 pitches, and at that point it’s pretty open and shut that rule was broken.”
Olivet Athletic Director Matt Seidl said they were notified of the violation on the night of June 7 and the decision to force Olivet to forfeit its regional semifinal game against Charlotte was made by the MHSAA on the morning of June 8.
The Eagles were set to face the Orioles on June 8 at Eaton Rapids High School. Instead, Charlotte moved on to the regional championship game to face the winner of Hamilton and Grand Rapids Catholic, while the Eagles’ season came to an end and their district crown wiped from the official record books.
Marshall, meanwhile, did not get the opportunity to advance to the regional semifinal to face Charlotte in place of Olivet. Kimmerly explained why the Redhawks didn’t get to advance.
“That’s the toughest part of this whole thing,” said Kimmerly. “We’ve had this happen every few seasons in a variety of sports. And we might find out about it 10 minutes after the game’s over, we might find out three days after the game’s over—and our general rule on that is that you don’t go back and play it again. In some cases, the team has been done and they’ve turned their uniforms in and it’s all completely over. It’s the right thing to do there and it’s unfortunate it has to end this way. It’s a vacate, that keeps it consistent. We have to go with the vacate, especially three or four days after the fact now.”
On June 4, Olivet defeated host Gull Lake, 8-1, in the day’s first semifinal game, while Marshall took care of Pennfield, 11-1 in the second game to set up the championship matchup.
In the title game, the Eagles got out to an early 1-0 lead over Marshall before extending that lead to 3-0 when Jackson Sinclair smoked a two-run double into the gap in the top of the 3rd inning.
In the bottom of the 4th, a couple of defensive mishaps from the Eagles allowed the Redhawks to get a run back to make the score 3-1.
Then, in the bottom half of the 5th, Nick Ryan stepped up to the plate for Marshall and gave the Redhawks offense some life when he blasted a solo home run to left field to make it a one-run game.
After getting another runner on in the frame, Jesse Saldana doubled in a run to level the game at three apiece and give some momentum back to the Redhawks.
In the top of the 6th, the Eagles regained the lead after scoring two on a wild pitch to go up 5-3. In the top of the 7th, Olivet would add a much-needed insurance run when Evan Poulopoulos delivered a two-out RBI single to make the score 6-3 in favor of the Eagles.
Marshall had one last chance to rally in the bottom half of the 7th and the offense made the most of the frame and scored three to send the game into extra innings.
First, Luke Holbrook drove in a run on a single to make it 6-4, but Olivet cut down a runner at third base to record a much needed out for the Eagles.
With two outs and runners on first and second base, Coltin Chany roped a single into right field and the ball got by Olivet’s right fielder, scoring two runs on the play to tie the game at 6-6.
After each team was retired in order in the 8th, Olivet’s offense was able to manufacture a couple of runs in the top half of the 9th via a bases loaded walk drawn by Tyler Latunski, followed by a sacrifice fly by Brody Lehman to put the Eagles back up by two runs.
In the bottom of the 9th, Marshall’s offense threatened but was unable to score as the Eagles outlasted the Redhawks.
The win for Olivet improved its record to 31-2, which set the record for most wins in a season in the program’s history.
Olivet head coach Bill Whitely was proud of his team’s resiliency to overcome some defensive mistakes while still having the poise to bounce back from those and find a way to win.
“These kids have just battled all year,” Whitely said. “We’ve talked about competing and they’ve competed all the time. Whether we’re down or ahead—the kids are really young, it’s a really young baseball team but they compete. And I was really proud of them the way that we made some errors and guys didn’t hang their heads. They came back in and cheered for their teammates and got some big hits and that was the difference.”
Lolo Aguirre, who came on in relief in the title game, recorded wins in both games on the day for the Eagles, which improved his record to 11-0 on the season.
“They both (pitchers) wanted the ball, they’ve been excellent all season,” said Whitely. “Both guys pound the strike zone, their strikeout to walk ratio is really good. Both kids compete and they’re tough minded, competitive kids. And my catcher back there, he just started catching in January. He does a hell of a job with the pitching staff.”
For Marshall, its season ended with a 20-9 overall record while falling just short of a district title.
Head coach Tom Sharpley said he was proud of his team for overcoming adversity all season long and complimented both teams for a well-played game in the final.
“It’s something that’s taken place the whole spring (overcoming adversity),” said Sharpley. “First we were dealing with the weather, then there was an umpire shortage so our schedule didn’t have a great rhythm to it. This baseball game was incredible because either team could have won it at any point in time, and each team responded. Unfortunately, it came to an end for us, but we’re so proud of our kids for not giving up, not quitting and giving their best shot when we were seemingly down.”
Sharpley said the message to his team and to the departing seniors was a positive one as he thought they showed a tremendous amount of resolve to respond after being down in the game on several occasions.
“We told them, there were some prolific, great plays, then there were some not so good plays,” Sharpley said. “And that’s the same with how life is. If we have opportunities and sometimes it doesn’t go right, and we don’t react and respond correctly. Then you have the other side of it where you do respond to it well. I think our kids showed great resolve and character because they didn’t give up. And hopefully that carries on with them for the rest of their lives in some way.”
In Marshall’s game against Pennfield, Killian Bies hit two doubles and a single while driving in two runs in the Redhawks’ 11-1 semifinal win. Saldana had two hits and an RBI, while Holbrook added two singles and two RBIs. Hogan McCleary also drove in a run on two hits, while Coltin Chany recorded two hits and an RBI as well.
On the mound, Isaac Stetler pitched six innings and struck out five batters while allowing just one run on five hits.
In the Eagles’ win over Gull Lake, Aguirre pitched five innings while striking out one batter on three hits allowed.
At the plate, Sinclair went 2-for-3 and Lehman went 2-for-2. Bryce Wine was 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs, while Ramsey Bousseau went 1-for-3 and drove in three runs.