MHSAA Division 1 baseball: Northville holds off Brother Rice for first state title

EAST LANSING — Birmingham Brother Rice had runners on first and second with two outs when Northville reliever Caden Besco took over on the mound in the fourth inning in the middle of an at-bat, trailing 2-1.

After finishing that at-bat with a walk to load the bases, Besco shut down Brother Rice from there, ending the inning with a flyout then pitching three more scoreless innings to preserve Northville's 2-1 lead to win the Division 1 baseball state championship for the first time in school history.

"Their lineup is unbelievable but when I get on that mound, I just have the mentality that I'm better than everybody and I'm going to get everybody out," Besco said with a smile after pitching 3⅓ innings, only allowing two runners to reach base from the fifth inning on.

Northville (32-7) struck first in the top of the third inning then held on with strong pitching and defense. Brother Rice had runners on base in the fourth, sixth and seventh inning but couldn't crack Besco on the mound, who replaced starter Evan Beak after 3⅔ innings, to finish the season 44-2.

"They are a band of brothers that grew up playing Little League together since 5 years old," Northville head coach Dan Cimini, who won five state championships as coach at Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, said. "They are best friends, 16 of them, and that means a lot. A 'never say die' attitude, a band of brothers, and they did everything they were supposed to do. Unbelievable run."

After shortstop Carson Eaton led off with a double, catcher Trevor Schueller laid down a sacrifice bunt on the third base line, but the throw to first was wild, allowing Eaton to score and Schueller to reach second. Schueller advanced to third on a groundout, then scored after another errant throw on a grounder to second.

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"Doing the little things," Cimini said. "Little things win you championships."

Brother Rice scored in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by catcher Owen Turner down the third base line, plating Orozco, who reached on a one-out walk. The Warriors threatened in the bottom of the fourth by loading the bases with two outs, drawing a walk, single to chase Northville starter Evan Deak before the top of the order came up for the third time, drawing another walk, but Besco got the final out on a flyout.

"I'm so thankful for Caden Besco, that dude is a complete dawg," Deak said. "He stepped up for us at the right moment and he's been there all season for us. After that half inning, I came back in the dugout and said I got all the faith in the world in you."

Besco set down the Warriors in order in the fifth with a quick flyout then struck out Turner (breaking ball) and Chase Van Ameyde (fastball). In the sixth, Broder Katke represented the tying run after reaching on an error, but Besco "just put my glove up" and turned a double play after snagging a hard-hit line drive back up the middle and catching Katke in no-man's land between bases.

"That was the biggest play of the game honestly," Besco said.

Duhaime pitched six innings, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out four. Van Ameyde struck out two in a perfect seventh, but Brother Rice could only muster one runner on base before Besco struck out the final batter of the game with a high fastball.

"That's what we do," Cimini said. "We scratch, we claw, do whatever you can to win. Get some great pitching, great defense, score a couple and we're going to win and that's what we did."