St. Mary wins 3 straight for title; next up: Regionals at St. Francis

They say 13 is an unlucky number, but that depends whether you root for Glen Lake or St. Mary.

The Lakers earned win No. 13 Saturday morning in the District IV opener – a 12-5 decision over Traverse City Christian – but couldn't overcome the host Eagles in the title contest.

One reason: St. Mary pounded out 13 hits in the 10-7 decision. Glen Lake managed just 8.

"You've got to give St. Mary a ton of credit," said Glen Lake coach Kris Herman. "They won the District the hard way. They beat St. Francis in the pre-district, then came in and took care of business against Leland (12-2) and us."

The Eagles didn't look lucky in the first two innings as Glen Lake ran up a 3-0 lead. But four runs in the third inning and five more in the fourth game winning pitcher Ray Platts all the offense he needed.

Platts struck out 6 and walked just 3 batters, helping to explain why Glen Lake didn't produce more runs.

Matt Pasch upped his team-leading average to .413 with three singles and a double, driving home two runs. Colin Korson knocked in one run in the third with a single, and drove home two more in the fourth with a triple.

Also collecting two hits for St. Mary were Michael Kalchik, Joe Rexroat and Jordan Peplinski.

Weston Buchan led Glen Lake with a pair of singles and a double, scoring two runs. Josh Jacklin and Josh Scarborough had two hits each, while Kyle Klumpp slammed a two-run homer and Joey Galla knocked in a pair of runs.

Plamondon is hoping St. Mary's luck doesn't run out when it takes on Holton Saturday at the St. Francis field in the second game of the Regional. Mesick and Bear Lake will square off in the first game, which will begin at 10 a.m.

Holton will likely send Ben Halbower to the mount with his 8-1 record and 1.52 earned run average.

"I'm sure we'll see him," Plamondon said of the hard-throwing senior.

"My guess is that they'll go right at us."

He has yet to decide which of several pitching options to throw against Holton, but figures St. Mary's bats will have to be lively to advance.

"We know they'll put the ball in play, so we have to do the same and make them play defense," said Plamondon.

Holton is gaining quite a reputation in state baseball circles, having lost 3-2 in the state final in 2006 to tradition-rich Homer. Holton, located southeast of Muskegon, is 20-4 after District play.

St. Mary, 26-6, won the Cherryland Conference and had to knock off favored St. Francis in a pre-district game on its way to its first District crown since 2004.

ST. MARY coach Steve Plamondon with Jordan Peplinski, whose hitting helped lift the Eagles to a District championship Saturday.