The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Hornet bats hold key to district title chances
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 31, 2007
The Saline baseball team might have narrowly missed out on a share of the Southeastern Conference title. But that doesn't mean the Hornets will go without a championship in 2007 if they can get hot for two games in Monroe this Saturday.
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The Trojans will be playing host to the four-team Division 1, District 28 tournament and facing Saline in one semifinal, while Adrian and Bedford square off in the other. Hornet head coach Scott Theisen feels it's a bracket in which his team has as good a chance as any other.
"We beat Bedford once, we beat Adrian. We're not sure what we'll run into against Monroe, but we know they'll give us a good effort," Theisen said. "But we're not going to go in concerned about our opponents. We're telling our guys, let's play well and give a good effort, and that's all we can control."
Last season, the Hornets fell 1-0 to Bedford in the tournament's opening round. To avoid a repeat of that early exit - and to repeat instead the team's 2005 district title — Theisen says his team will have to produce at the plate.
"You expect that we'll be able to make some plays defensively, and that our pitchers will continue to be effective," Theisen said. "But we've got to score some runs. If we can play from ahead, gets some runs early, we'll be able to relax and play our game."
Saline missed a chance to build some forward momentum entering the postseason Tuesday, May 22, suffering a double-header sweep on the road at Detroit Catholic Central.
In Game 1, Saline overturned an early 2-1 deficit with a four-run top of the third. Back-to-back singles from Derek Fairchild and Casey Dishman allowed Jeff Baublit to tie the game with a sacrifice fly, followed by an RBI single by Brad Guenther. Walks to Nick Poloni and Josh Burd loaded the bases before an RBI ground-out by Spencer Didion and a bases-loaded walk by Steven Breneman gave Saline a 5-2 lead.
The RBI was one of the three in the game for Breneman as Saline would stretch the lead to 7-2 entering the bottom of the fifth. But the Hornets would give up one run in the fifth, two in the sixth, and three more in the seventh to see the game slip away 8-7. Aaron Nagy took the loss after entering the game in the seventh in relief of starter Josh Burd.
Starter Jeff Baublit and relief pitcher Dylan Holden combined to hold the Shamrocks to three runs over six innings in Game 2, but the Hornet bats went cold, collecting only three hits in the contest, and Saline dropped to 21-11 overall with a 3-1 loss.
"We were up 7-2, had a couple of chances to make it an even bigger lead than that, and didn't take advantage," Theisen said of Game 1. "Hopefully we learned that we can't just sit on a lead."
The Hornets looked to get back on track with a tune-up double-header against Ypsilanti Wednesday. On Saturday, Theisen said, sophomore Josh Burd would likely receive the start against Monroe with the starter in the potential championship game yet to be determined.
What's certain is that plenty will be on the line when Saline takes to the field Saturday.
"It's a little different depending on the player. For our sophomores and juniors, if you play well, that's a building block, a step towards next year," he said. "For our seniors, this is their final chance."
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