EAST LANSING — A move up in state classification can’t keep Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett baseball from reaching the state championship game.
Liggett scored all seven of its runs in the first four innings to beat Reese, 7-1, in the Division 3 semifinals at Michigan State. The win advances Liggett to tomorrow’s state championship game against Decatur at 5 p.m.
A year ago, Liggett (24-8) was the Division 4 state champion, and had appeared in each D4 title game since 2011, coincidentally losing to Decatur in 2012, 4-1.
Six different players had an RBI for Liggett, with Adam Fiema being the one to pick up two of them. Fiema hit an RBI single in the top of the second to make the score 3-0 and then got his second RBI the easy way with a bases-loaded walk in the third inning.
On the mound, sophomore pitcher Matt Gushee went the distance for Liggett, giving up just four hits and a walk to Reese (28-8-1) but only striking out two along the way.
“My defense behind me was helping out,” Gushee said. “When I throw pitches and they put it in play, (my defense) was there to back me up.”
Despite racking up the runs early, Liggett left the bases loaded twice in the fourth and fifth innings, leaving a total of 12 on base.
Reese pitcher Matt Sahr struggled to locate to start the game for the Rockets, walking six batter in 2.2 innings of work. Cody Peyok came in for relief and gave up no earned runs in the final 4.1 innings.
Reese scored its only run in the second inning as Peyok stole home to score as teammate Alex Duke was caught in a pickle between second and third. Liggett eventually made the out on Duke after Peyok scored to make it 3-1.
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