By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
Champions!
The Dowagiac Senior Baseball All-Star team played its way into the state tournament, which will be held at Russom Fields beginning with opening ceremonies on Thursday afternoon.
Dowagiac captured the Michigan Little League District 15 Senior Baseball championship Monday night at Russom Field with a 7-5 come-from-behind victory over upset-minded Lawton.
Lawton grabbed a 2-0 lead after a half inning of play, however, Dowagiac stormed back with four runs in the bottom half of the first inning to grab the lead.
Dowagiac, now 30-1-1 on the season, rallied for four runs in the bottom half of the first as Jordan Huey crushed a grand slam home run to give Dowagiac a lead it would never relinquish.
Jake Cox backed that up with a solid pitching performance for Dowagiac.
Cox gave up four earned runs on five hits with eight strike outs and three walks.
Offensively for the All-Stars, Huey was 2-for-3 with four RBIs.
Kyle Prak was 2-for-3 with a double, while Nick File was also 2-for-3 with a double.
Tyler First and Matthew Dodson both added singles.
Dowagiac will now face Southern Baseball in its first game of the District 15 state tournament on Friday at 6 p.m.
Opening ceremonies will be held Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Russom Fields.
Tournament play is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday.
Check out Wednesday's Daily News for a full schedule of the state tournament.
Softball
The Dowagiac 11-year-old All-Stars captured the District 15 championship last Thursday night with a win over Mattawan.
Dowagiac defeated Mattawan in two out of three games, including a 16-11 victory in the title game.
Dowagiac now moves on to the state championship which is being held in Tecumseh beginning on Saturday.
Dowagiac is in Pool A and will compete against the District 5 champion on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
In the opening game of pool play, host Tecumseh will face St. Clair at 11:30 a.m.
On Sunday Dowagiac will face Tecumseh at 1 p.m., while St Clair will take on the District 5 champion at 4 p.m.
On Monday, Aug. 1, Tecumseh will take on the District 5 champion at 3 p.m. and Dowagiac will face St. Clair at 6 p.m.
In Pool B, West Branch is the lone district champion to be placed in the bracket as of this morning.
The remainder of the pool will be made up of champions from District 10, District 2 and District 9.