LAKE ORION >> Brother Rice baseball coach Bob Riker said he is used to having teams that could pitch and play defense. This Warriors team can hit a little too and it makes a difference.
Brother Rice won the MHSAA Region 7 baseball title on a rainy Saturday at Lake Orion High School.
The Warriors (30-8) defeated Utica Eisenhower, 6-4, in the early game and then won the regional championship with an 8-0 victory over Waterford Mott.
PHOTOS FROM BASEBALL REGIONAL ACTION
They will play at Wayne State in the state quarterfinals on Tuesday against the winner between White Lake Lakeland and Hartland.
“I have a good group of seniors here, that’s really our strong point. When you ask what’s our strength it’s our leadership with our older guys. They’re really good,” Riker said.
Brother Rice won the state championship in 2008 and Riker said they’ve only won one or two regional titles since.
“Each year is a new year, each year is a new team. The whole dynamic is different, the chemistry is different,” Riker said. “The best team doesn’t always win the game, it’s the team that can play together, lean on each other, pick each other up.”
The second inning was key in both games.
“If we can get a lead it’s a lot easier to play, it takes the pressure off our pitching,” Riker said. “The first inning Eisenhower came out and punched us right in the face, scoring four off five hits and they hit the ball really well and we made an error and another error that wasn’t counted as an error but it was a ball that should’ve been caught,” Riker said. “It makes it hard to come back. We came back right after that with six.”
They went into a brief rain delay to get the field in better shape. The rest of the game was scoreless.
“Actually wish we would’ve kept playing in the rain we kind of had the momentum. They scored 4, we came back to score 6 and they were kind of hanging on to their rear end a little bit, but it’s fine it gave our guys a chance to reset from that point on we were able to catch the ball, throw strikes and do a good job,” Riker said.
In the clinching game, the Warriors scored seven runs in the second inning.
“One through five, we’ve been pretty steady the whole time, the first four guys are Division 1 players,” Riker said. “…. They’re kind of gelling together. The nice thing is we have a group of older guys but they’ve created an atmosphere where everybody feels a part of it and they’re having fun.
“It’s a game. That’s what we try to tell you. It’s a game and a game is supposed to be fun. Win or lose. Again, winning makes it fun don’t kid yourself but again you’re not going to win every game either,” Riker said. “You’ve got to enjoy wanting to play so it’s been good, now you’re down to the final 8 and anything goes.”
Waterford Mott had defeated Troy, 4-1, in their early game for the chance to play for their first regional title since 1996.
“Rice they’re always there, they’re always competitive,” Mott coach Collin McGrann said. “We had one bad inning, we had the same amount of hits as they did. That’s the way baseball works, you make a mistake and a good team takes advantage.”
