Niles baseball falls to Three Rivers 2-1 in regional semifinal

Published 10:27 am Thursday, June 5, 2025

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VICKSBURG — Timely hits played a big role in the Niles baseball team’s run to a second straight Wolverine Conference championship this spring. 

But the Vikings’ inability to come up with that crucial hit at clutch times on Tuesday played a critical factor in a 2-1 Division 2 regional semifinal loss to fellow league foe Three Rivers on Vicksburg’s diamond. 

The game was originally set to start at 4 p.m. but was moved up to 10 a.m. due to a threat of rain and thunderstorms.

Thanks to a stellar defensive performance and brilliant showing on the pitcher’s mound by sophomore ace Aidan Williams, Three Rivers won the school’s first-ever regional game. 

Three Rivers (25-14) advances to Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. regional  championship game against the winner of Thursday’s contest between Hopkins and Richland-Gull Lake. The winner will earn a berth in and sticks around afterwards for a state quarterfinals battle at 3 p.m. against the champs from Region 11.   

Niles (26-7) appeared to be favored over Three Rivers after sweeping a league doubleheader on the road 8-1 and 6-1 near the end of the regular season. 

The loss was a disappointing one for a strong Niles senior class that collected two consecutive league and district championships under Vikings’ head coach Jim Brawley.

“The bottom line today was that we just couldn’t come up with that key hit when we needed it. I tip my hat to Three Rivers because they played a very good baseball game. I thought we pitched and played very well defensively,” Brawley said.

“I’m just so proud of all of these kids, especially with our seniors. When they were freshmen we might’ve been 16-15 at best. Now they walk out of here with two league and two district titles, along with a pair of 20-plus win seasons. I love this group because they are the ones who wanted to turn the program around with their work ethic. They took their lumps as sophomores, but they did exactly what we asked of them and responded well to become better baseball players and individuals. All of them are going to go on and be very successful people in life.”

Three Rivers came in poised and determined to extend its season.

Jace Gray walked, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Gray eventually scored with one out on a throwing error at first base by the Vikings to put Three Rivers up 1-0 after the first inning. Gabe Young was credited with Wildcat RBI.

Niles went scoreless until the top of the sixth.

The Vikings had runners on second and third base with two outs in the fifth but weren’t able to squeeze out a run. 

Niles stranded a total of seven base runners on the day. 

Josh McIntyre, the losing pitcher of record, relieved Vikings’ starter Jason Racht to begin the fifth and set the Wildcats’ first three hitters down in order. 

Niles manufactured its lone run in the top of the sixth to even the game up at 1-1. 

Brenden Olsen, the Vikings’ towering 6-foot-6 starting junior first baseman and leading hitter, reached first on a throwing error and went on to second base. Olsen stole third and scored on Dane Ausmus’ RBI double to deep center field. Ausmus tried to score the go-ahead run with two outs, but was tagged out at home plate following a great throw from left-fielder Peyton Hradsky into Wildcats’ sophomore catcher Tate Rohrer.

“We didn’t get a great jump with our runner on that play, but credit their leftfielder with the great throw he made to their  catcher and he made a great tag on our runner. That’s just the way baseball goes sometimes,” Brawley said. 

Three Rivers scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth after turning to a little small-ball to accomplish that task. The Wildcats were successful on back-to-back sacrifice-bunt singles by Brady Penny and Gray. Gray scored the decisive run for the Wildcats on Mason Awe’s RBI single up the middle.

“I’m old school and sometimes when you’re not hitting a pitcher very well you must do things to get into their head and give yourself some confidence. That’s exactly what our kids did in those latter innings,” Muffley said. 

Brawley expected Three Rivers to resort to small-ball.

“We expected them to bunt and we made a successful pick-off attempt at second base on one sequence to keep us in the game. I thought our kids executed and were prepared, but it just came down to not getting enough hits when we needed them,” Brawley said.  

Niles managed to put a pair of runners on base in the seventh. Bryce Zache reached base for the Vikings on an error with one out, but was thrown out at second on a fielder’s choice. Brody Lace reached safely but the Vikings’ next hitter Acie Kirtdoll struck out ending the game.  

“Niles is a great baseball team and we knew we’d see him (Jason Racht) on the mound today. We managed to knock him out of the game and our guys made the huge plays on defense. We didn’t play a perfect game and made a few mistakes, but we got the tough outs when we needed them most,” said Three Rivers head coach Scott Muffley.

Muffley praised the play of Awe, his starting third baseman.

“Mason is a leader on our team as an All-Conference and All-District player. He made some big plays for us over there and Aidan was a huge competitor for us on the mound and our catcher had a big day for a sophomore. We had a lot of young guys starting today and everyone stepped up,” Muffley said.

Williams tossed a complete game in the win for Three Rivers, giving up six hits, one walk with six strikeouts.

McIntyre took the loss allowing three hits, one walk with three strikeouts. Racht struck out five and allowed three hits and one walk in four innings of work. 

“Both Josh and Jason were very effective for us. We have to score more than two runs to win a game like this against a team like Three Rivers,” Brawley said.