Vikings fall to No. 3-ranked Holland Christian in quarterfinals

Published 9:32 am Wednesday, June 15, 2016

By Scott Novak

CALEDONIA — With an opportunity to get to No. 3-ranked Holland Christian in the opening inning, the Niles baseball team missed its chance to put the Maroons in an early hole.

After failing to score a run with the bases loaded and just one out, Holland Christian starter Jack Huisman settled down and went on to pitch the Maroons to a 9-5 win in the Division 2 quarterfinals at Davenport University near Grand Rapids Tuesday.

“That’s where we had to seize the momentum and we didn’t,” Niles coach Mike Vota said. “You get the bases loaded with one out and don’t get anything, you just didn’t feel good.”

Huisman threw 26 pitches in the first inning, 16 of which were balls. Yet he somehow worked his way out of the jam and pitched well enough to reach the seventh inning before being replaced by Spencer Brewer.

After recording the game’s first out, Huisman walked Bryce Lake, Jakob Huffman and walked Austin Curran to load the bases.

Huisman struck out Cody Glick and Drew Huffman to end the inning.

The Maroons (34-6) would score four times in the bottom of the second and two more in the bottom of the third to take a 6-0 lead on the Vikings.

Huisman would run into trouble again in the fifth inning.

Niles (22-16) loaded the bases, this time with two outs, but could not push a run across.

Holland Christian tacked on two more runs in the bottom half of the fifth to make it 8-0.

Niles, which had been held hitless by Huisman through the first four innings despite control problems, finally picked up its first base hit in the fifth and got on the scoreboard in the sixth.

The Vikings scored four times in the sixth and once in the seventh before Brewer was able to stem the comeback effort.

“That’s what you’re going to get with these guys,” Vota said. “They never give up. They just battle and that’s kind of our mentality. It’s just the fight these kids have. They’ve worked hard and they give back to a lot of people who have worked with them along the way.”

Niles finished with 10 hits over the final three innings, including a triple by Drew Huffman and a double by Jakob Huffman.

Jacob Hamm started and suffered the loss for Niles. Austin Curran came on in the third and was replaced by Lake in the fifth inning.

Without a senior in its line-up, Vota feels that this could just be the beginning for the Vikings, who won their first regional championship since 1999 and only the school’s second all-time.

Niles does not have a senior on its roster.

“We just built a very strong foundation for the future,” Vota said. “We now know what it takes to get here. Now we know where we have to get better to get past here. If you’ve never poked your toe in the water, you’ll never find out.”

 

Division 2 Quarterfinals

At Caledonia

Niles                000     004     1 – 5 10 1

Christian        042     201     x – 9 11 1

Jacob Hamm (L, 4-4), Austin Curran (3), Bryce Lake (5); Jack Huisman (W, 7-1), Spencer Brewer (7)

2B: Jakob Huffman (N), Brandon Riemersma (H), Chase Dreyer (H)

3B: Drew Huffman (N)

Records: Niles 22-16, Holland Christian 34-6.

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