From the Grand Haven Tribune
The Grand Haven baseball team is one win away from playing for a Division 1 state championship.
The Bucs continued their storybook postseason run with a 2-0 win over No. 12 ranked Saginaw Heritage in the state quarterfinals at Central Michigan University on Tuesday.
Grand Haven will now face Northville in the state semifinals on Thursday at 9 a.m. at Michigan State University. The winner will advance to Saturday’s state final against the winner of the Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett-Saline semifinal.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Grand Haven third baseman Joey Zelenka, who started the game-ending double-play in a tense seventh inning to seal the victory for the Bucs. “We just get to play more baseball.”
Jarrett Prins and Jake Hansen scored runs for Grand Haven in the fifth inning.
The game became tense in the bottom of the seventh inning when Heritage loaded the bases with one out, following with a pair of singles and an intentional walk.
That led to a ground ball to Zelenka, who fielded it cleanly, stepped on third base for a quick force out, then threw to first to complete the double play and end the game.
“I knew (Grand Haven pitcher Max Schweikert) was just going to throw strikes and we should be ready to make a play,” Zelenka said of the bases-loaded situation. “It happened so fast. It was just a groundball to me and I threw it over to first, that’s just the game.”
Schweikert pitched a complete game, allowing just four hits against a team with three highly-touted college recruits.
