Baseball finals roundup: Loukinen lifts St. Mary's

East Lansing — Orchard Lake St. Mary's pitcher Greg Loukinen doesn't get nervous. Just ask him. The senior hurler knows it's not how you start, it's how you finish that counts.

Loukinen gave up two hits and a run in the first inning, but he settled back in and dominated defending champion Mount Pleasant's hitters in helping to lead St. Mary's to a 4-1 win in the Division 2 state championship game.

It's the school's first title since 2003 and the third in its long history.

"I wasn't feeling anything," Loukinen, a left-hander, said. "Regardless of the run, I knew what I had to do, and I knew my teammates would back me up."

After a single by Ryan Lucksted, a throwing error by third baseman Drew Boyd pulled Scott Grant off the bag at first to extend the first inning for Mount Pleasant. Max Trucks came up and notched a single and the game's first RBI to make it 1-0.

While it wasn't exactly a David versus Goliath matchup, St. Mary's (32-13) got three runs in the first two innings against a team that had outscored its playoff opponents 67-4 in the postseason entering the final.

It wasn't long until things evened up, though, as Mount Pleasant (27-13) allowed St. Mary's to tie the game after committing its own costly mistakes in the bottom of the first.

Mason Vaughan drew a seemingly innocent two-out walk from Mount Pleasant pitcher Hunter Buczkowski. After stealing second base, Vaughan moved up to third and scored after advancing on back-to-back wild pitches.

St. Mary's struck again in the second inning.

Buczkowski, who struggled with his control much of the day, issued a one-out walk to Griffin Sheposh, and Joe Carlini made him pay, drilling a double

into left field to bring Sheposh home to give St. Mary's a 2-1 lead. Carter Macias and Campbell Kinch drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Drake Titus, who singled to left field to stretch the lead to 3-1.

"I think that set the tone for us," St. Mary's coach Matt Petry said. "If we didn't get that run back, things might have gone another way."

Loukinen scattered just three more hits over the next six innings. He struck out seven and walked just one.

St. Mary's added another run against relief pitcher Cameron Mitchell in the fifth inning. Harrison Salter plated Titus with a single up the middle to make it 4-1 after St. Mary's had put runners at the corners with nobody out.

The only bit of trouble Loukinen got into was in the seventh, when he allowed a leadoff single to Buczkowski. Loukinen struck out the next two batters before walking Obie Ricumstrict and bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Mount Pleasant's best hitter, Zachary Heeke.

After a visit from his coach to the mound, Loukinen struck Heeke out looking and the celebration began.

"He battled through some adversity there, and he did a great job settling down and not letting it bother him," Petry said. "It's very typical. He doesn't let too much bother him."

Cool. Calm. Collected. Champion.

Division 1

After knocking on the door for several innings, Hartland finally walked off with its first MHSAA Division 1 state championship in a 2-1 win over Portage Northern on a hit to center field from Brett Oliver in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Hartland stranded the winning run in scoring position three times during extra innings, but Richard Bortle was delivered home after leading the final inning off with a single and advancing to third on a Thomas Rivet base hit.

That's when Oliver stepped to the plate and drilled one over the center fielder's head for the win.

"I was kind of struggling at the plate all day," Oliver said. "But I got my pitch and I hit it.

I'm just so proud of all these guys. I'm proud of how we fought. I love it."

The win delivered Hartland its first state championship.

John Baker pitched all 10 innings (132 pitches) for Hartland, striking out 11 while allowing one run on five hits and walking three.

Baker also went 2-for-2 at the plate with two walks and an RBI.

Tommy Henry pitched eight innings (151 pitches) for Northern, striking out eight while allowing one run on seven hits and walking six.

Division 3

Jackson Lumen Christi erupted for six first-inning runs en route to an 8-0 victory over Buchanan for its first state title in 37 years.

Connor Mogle had three hits and three RBIs for Lumen Christi (24-16), including a two-run single in the first inning to back John Fleming, who held Buchanan to four hits in a complete-game shutout.

Connor Fors added three hits and two RBIs, and Chad Thayer had three hits and two runs scored. Fleming, Josh Iocca and Parker Cook had two hits apiece.

Buchanan (24-8) was hurt by three errors.

Division 4

Jacob Holt drove in five runs and Muskegon Catholic Central held off a late rally from Centreville to win its first state title, 10-8.

Catholic Central (39-1-1) took command with a three-run fourth inning, which was helped by Holt's RBI single as well as one of Centreville's four errors in the game, to build an 8-3 lead.

Catholic Central took a 10-5 lead into the top of the seventh, but had to hold on as Centreville rallied for three runs on five hits — including a two-run single from Coletin Gascho — before closing out the title.

Centreville (29-2) out-hit Catholic Central, 17-10, getting four hits from lead-off hitter Jalen Brown (three runs scored), and three apiece from Gascho and Michael Kool (two RBIs). Collin Schlabach drove in two runs.

Jacob Holt and Nicholas Holt had three hits apiece, with Nicholas Holt also scoring three runs and driving in two others, for Catholic Central. Six of Catholic Central's 10 runs were unearned.

Geoff Robinson is a freelance writer; Detroit News staff contributed