Win over McBain gives Harrison baseball first district title in 24 years

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

A lengthy district championship drought is a thing of the past for the Harrison baseball team. The Hornets topped Lake City 6-3 in the semi-final and host McBain 2-0 in the championship on Saturday, giving themselves the coveted honor of being called district champions for the first time in 24 years.

“For starters, it’s historic,” head coach Nick Halm said of the title. “It was something that we have really been setting as a goal for the last couple of years and when we saw the bracket, we tried to just have the best game plan going in and go win a couple that day. But it is really, really big and it is huge for Harrison. It was an amazing day, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The championship win over McBain was certainly a tense one. In the top of the first inning, Harrison loaded the bases and scored in a unique way; when the opposing pitcher was called for a balk.

The Hornets extended their lead to 2-0 in the middle innings, when Gavin Vanburen, on an 0-2 count, smashed his first home run of the year.

“He didn’t give up on the at bat, and it paid off,” Halm said of the homer. “He hit a curveball and banged it off the scoreboard.”

The Hornets got into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the seventh inning, as McBain got runners on second and third with just one out. Halm called a timeout to settle things down, and Harrison recorded the final two outs to usher in the championship celebration.

“I just told the guys to relax and that we are going to get these outs and we are going to be fine,” Halm said. “We settled right in and we took care of business. It was a very tense time for everybody, especially with these guys never being there before.”

Parker Latunski was brilliant on the mound, as he went all seven innings of shutout ball to get the win, and he gave up just two hits, while striking out 14 and walking two on only 92 pitches.

“That is total dominance, and he's doing it as a freshman,” Halm said. “His brother was behind the plate the whole game, and they were in sync. I think he had the best stuff all day out of the pitchers that were there.”

Other hits for the Hornets in the game came from Kegan Chaskey who had two and Josh O’Day and Evan Umphrey who had one each.

“This was a team effort today,” Halm said. “The guys lifted each other up and made plays when it counted. Every pitch, every inch, every moment, we operated as one. I couldn't be more proud. Today, Harrison was on top.”

The district semi-final win over Lake City was a tough battle too. Matt Latunski was the winning pitcher, as he went five innings and gave up zero earned runs on three hits and nine strikeouts. Kegan Chaskey went the final two frames, giving up one earned run and he fanned three.

“We got up early on them and kind of held them off the rest of the game,” Halm said. “We just needed to play clean ball and limit mistakes. They played us tough, I knew that was their number one (pitcher), but we were ready for it as much as we could be.”

The offense had M. Latunski and Umphrey get two hits apiece, O’Day had one hit and two RBI and Chaskey and P. Latunski had one hit apiece.

Harrison took on Manistee in Manistee on Wednesday in a regional semi-final, with the winner of that advancing to Saturday’s regional championship in Gladstone, against either Hancock or Menominee.

“I really think when you get to this point, all the teams that are there are well-coached and play good baseball,” Halm said. “It’s just about who plays best on that day, who can hold it together and who can keep the most composure.”

See links below for this season's articles about Harrison Varsity Baseball.