Hornets Beat a Path to the Plate, Win District

On a gusty day at Saline High School, the Hornets baseball team breezed past the opposition in the MHSAA Division 1 baseball tournament.

In the district semifinal against a tough Bedford team, Saline scored five runs in the first and cruised to a 9-2 victory. In the district championship game, the Hornets blew out the Monroe Trojans, 18-0, with Brent Vaccaro throwing a four-inning perfect game.

The Hornets advance to the regional at Monroe next Saturday, where they’ll face Wayne Memorial.

Everyone in attendance knew that the winner of the Saline-Bedford semifinal would likely claim the district.

“The winner of that game had a real good chance at winning the district. We didn’t expect it to be a 9-2 kind of game, but funny things happen,” said Saline coach Scott Theisen.

Senior Justin Goike threw seven strong innings for Saline, striking out seven, walking two and giving up two hits. Both runs he gave up were unearned. Goike said he and the other seniors were just glad to be still playing after the first round of playoffs.

“I knew I’d have to pitch a strong game because Bedford has a good lineup. We took advantage of a few of their errors early on and got some runs to give us some breathing room,” said Goike. “Hopefully, we’ll make a run at states. We have a tough region. But we’ve got a great team. We’re really close. We have good chemistry. And we work hard to do the little things right.”

Bedford threw their ace, the 6’6 junior, Jackson Lamb, at the Hornets.  The Hornets jumped on him for five runs in the first.

Gage Hammond led off by reaching base after swinging at a wild pitch for a third strike. He stole second and came in on a single by Trent Theisen. Theisen advanced to second on a passed ball and then Austin Hauck walked. Theisen and Hauck advanced on a double steal. AJ Korzuck loaded the bases when he reached base on an error by the third basemen. Michael Hendrickson followed with a two-run single. Korzuck came in on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.  Hendrickson later came in on a passed ball.

“Mentally, I think we were determined to push some runs across on Lamb,” Theisen said.

Saline added a run in the second. Theisen walked, took second on a passed ball, stole third and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Hauck.

The Hornets added three more in the bottom of the fourth. Stefan Hastings led off with a walk. Hammond followed with a double. Hastings and Hammond both scored on passed balls. Theisen singled and, with the bases loaded, came home on a balk.

The Hornets pounded the Trojans in the final, which was called after four innings with Saline leading 18-0.

Saline scored nine in the second, one in the third and eight in the fourth, pounding 14 hits. Vaccaro’s four-inning perfect game was almost lost in the slugfest.

“It feels great to throw a perfect game in the district final, even if it was only four innings,” Vaccaro said.

Vaccaro had never thrown a perfect game before. Not in varsity. Not in junior varsity. Not even in little league.

“When you’ve got a nine-run lead in the second inning, it’s easy to relax and pitch your game,” Vaccaro said.

Goike was 3-for-3 with 4 RBI and 2 runs. Michael Hendrickson was 2-for-3 with an RBI and 3 runs. Korzuck was 2-for-3 with three RBI and 2 runs. He hit a two-run double off the wall in centerfield. Stefan Hastings went 1-for-3 with 3 RBI and 2 runs. Hammond three runs. White and Bennett each drove in a pair of runs.

Wayne Memorial defeated Belleville to win its district at home. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Southgate Anderson-Allen Park game.