By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
STEVENSVILLE – It didn't take long to see why the Dowagiac varsity baseball team won the Division 2 District baseball championship on Saturday.
All you had to do was look at the Chieftains' stat line – 23 runs and 28 hits.
Dowagiac rolled past rival Lakeshore in the championship game 12-7 to claim its first championship since 2001.
The Chieftains (30-6) reached the title game with an 11-6 victory over Edwardsburg in the second semifinals. The Lancers advanced to the championship game with a 4-2 win over arch rival St. Joseph.
Dowagiac, which rallied late to defeat the Eddies, continued to pound the ball in the title game against Lakeshore.
The Chieftains scored nine runs in the first three innings to take a 9-2 lead over the team, which had won two out of three games from Dowagiac in the regular season.
Lakeshore was never in the contest as Dowagiac upped its lead to 11-2 by the fifth inning.
Trailing 12-4, the Lancers scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh before reliever Jamie Simpson finally shut the door.
Dowagiac blew the game open with a five-run third inning.
Already leading 4-1 heading into the frame, Dowagiac senior Tim Bartee blasted a three-run home run to deep left field for his first home run as a Chieftain.
Bartee, who left Dowagiac after his freshman season to move to Coloma, returned to the Chieftains last fall. Bartee was playing after being cleared by a doctor on Friday. He has missed the past 10 days due to pink eye.
Bartee's blast all but sealed the victory for Dowagiac, which will now face Comstock on Saturday at 10 a.m. in the Coldwater Regional.
Dowagiac coach Andy Kruger, who earned his first ever district championship, either as a player or a coach said that his team was looking for the bats to come alive for the state tournament.
Jake Cox worked the first six innings for the Chieftains and was in command the whole way.
Cox scattered four hits and allowed three earned runs. The junior hurler struck out one and walked four.
Simpson came on in the seventh and allowed two earned runs on four hits with a strikeout and a walk.
The contributions to the championship are almost too many to list for the Chieftains.
Besides Bartee's two hits, Dowagiac got a 3-for-5 performance from sophomore Tim DeRyder, which included a double.
Senior Nick File doubled and singled, while Kyle Prak, D.J. Edgerly, Fryman and Troy Stover all had two hits.
Dowagiac vs. Edwardsburg
The Chieftains struggled offensively early on against the Eddies, but got hot when it counted.
Dowagiac trailed Edwardsburg (16-12) 3-2 heading into the fifth inning.
From there it was all Dowagiac as the Chieftains scored seven runs over the final three innings to advance to the finals.
Fryman pitched five and a third innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Stover worked the final inning and two-thirds, giving up two earned runs with four walks and a strikeout.
Offensively for the Chieftains, Dodson had two hits and four RBIs. Simpson doubled, singled and drove in two runs, while Kyle Prak had two hits and three RBIs.
Keith Prak added a double for the Chieftains, who also got two hits from both Jake Kling and DeRyder.
Championship Game
Dowagiac 315 020 1 – 12 16 2
Lakeshore 011 002 3 – 7 8 1
WP – Jake Cox (D) 8-3
LP – Zack Wasserman (L)
2B: Tim DeRyder (D), Nick File (D), Brad Anderson (L)
HR: Tim Bartee (D)
Records: Dowagiac 30-6, Lakeshore 25-10
First Semifinal
Lakeshore 004 000 0 – 4 7 3
St. Joseph 000 002 0 – 2 6 2
WP – Justin Gerschoffer (L)
LP – Jarret Bross (SJ)
2B: Zane Metz (L)
HR: John Witt (SJ)
Record: St. Joseph 22-12
Second Semifinal
Dowagiac 110 024 3 – 11 13 2
Edwardsburg 102 001 2 – 6 10 4
WP – Jason Fryman (D) 11-1
LP – Monty Ort (E)
2B: Jamie Simpson (D), Keith Prak (D), Kyle Prak (D), Nick Fedore (E)
Record: Edwardsburg 16-12