HIGHLIGHTS
DETROIT, Mich. – Macomb Baseball lost two games by a combined four runs after dropping Saturday's (April 29) opener, 7-4, and game two by a narrow 3-2 final to the host Hawks of Henry Ford College. The Monarchs held the lead late into game two and had the game-tying run on base in the seventh before the Hawks closed the door to win both Saturday afternoon at Detroit's Corner Ballpark.
GAME ONE: Henry Ford 7, Macomb 4
The Hawks started hot and scored five runs in the first two innings of play to make up the difference in the opener. The shorthanded Monarchs trailed by as many as six runs but continued to battle back before eventually falling by the 7-4 final.
Tom Burt (Village of Clinton, Mich./Clinton) went 3-for-4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle after hitting his team-leading fourth home run of the season to go along with a double and a single. With the home run in Saturday's opener, Burt has now hit three of his four home runs this season at the famed corner of Michigan and Trumbull. The 3-for-4 effort led to Burt driving in two of the Monarchs' four runs in game one.
Logan Ramsey (Warren, Mich./Warren Mott) also went deep in game one with a sixth inning solo blast—his second home run of the season.
Griffin Baalaer (Macomb, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North) followed Burt's three-hit game with a 2-for-3 effort. Baalaer connected on a pair of hard hit singles and scored a run, while
Jeremy Pudlik (Waterford, Mich./Waterford Mott) and
Joey Tedesco (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North/Hillsdale) followed with one hit each.
Reese Rinna (Richmond, Mich./Richmond) drove in a run via sac fly to round out the offensive leaders in the opener.
On the mound,
Gary Glaser III (Macomb, Mich./Lutheran North) came on in relief early and went on to strike out three batters across four innings of work, while
Jack Gohlke (Warren, Mich./De La Salle Collegiate) worked a scoreless sixth inning.
GAME TWO: Henry Ford 3, Macomb 2
Logan Rybarczyk (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay) put the Monarchs on top early with a first inning solo shot over the wall in right field. The home run was Rybarczyk's first of the season and the second of his career. The Rybarczyk home run would stand as the difference until the home half of the fifth when the Hawks plated all three of their runs.
Down 3-1 and with six outs remaining, the Monarchs answered in the top of the sixth when
Mason Spezia (China Twp., Mich./St. Clair) singled home a pinch-running
Kaden Kovach (Yale, Mich./Yale). Kovach ran for
Logan Ramsey who walked earlier in the inning.
After
Brendan Bos (Howell, Mich./Howell) held the Hawks scoreless over 1.2 innings of work, the Monarchs were in position to tie or take the lead in the top of the seventh after Rybarczyk recorded a one-out single. Rybarczyk represented the game-tying run, but the Monarchs couldn't bring him around and fell in a nailbiter by the 3-2 final.
Rybarczyk, Spezia and
Josh Medrano (Surprise, Az./Shadow Ridge) led the Monarchs with two hits each. Rybarczyk's first inning home run and a
Reese Rinna double would be the lone extra-base hits in the nightcap for the Monarchs.
NOTEWORTHY: Monday's doubleheader canceled / Sophomore Day scheduled for Thursday's home finale
The Monarchs non-conference doubleheader scheduled for Monday (May 1) at the University of Northwestern Ohio has been canceled and will not be made up. A four-game set against conference counterpart SC4 is all that remains on the 2023 schedule. The Monarchs host SC4 Thursday at 2 p.m. and will travel to Port Huron to battle the Skippers in the season finale Saturday at 1 p.m. Thursday's doubleheader will be Sophomore Day as the program will honor its sophomores moving on with a ceremony between games.
