Heartfelt Wins, Historic Streaks: 5 Takeaways from Michigan High School Baseball State Finals

From a Father’s Day tribute by Hartland brothers to Forest Hills Eastern’s 41-game winning streak, the Michigan state baseball championships delivered unforgettable moments

Catcher Brayden Crowe and his brother Dylan, who plays third-base, led Hartland to a Michigan Division I state championship on Fathers Day weekend. The brothers lost their father to pancreatic cancer last November. / Bill Khan/Livingston Daily / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The high school baseball season in Michigan concluded this past weekend with the state semifinals and finals at Michigan State University. 

Here are five takeaways from the action. 

Brothers help win state title in Dad’s memory on Father’s Day weekend

Two brothers on Hartland’s baseball team, senior catcher Brayden Crowe and sophomore third baseman Dylan Crowe, lost their father to pancreatic cancer in November. 

On Father’s Day weekend, both gave a great posthumous gift to their father by helping lead Hartland to the Division 1 (largest classification of the 4 in Michigan) to the state championship.

The two helped turn a critical double play (more on that below) in extra innings of the championship game, while Dylan drove in all four runs in a 4-2 semifinal win over Grosse Pointe South. 

“I’ve struggled with adversity,” Dylan Crowe said to the Michigan High School Athletic Association website after the semifinal win. “My Dad passed way last November and it’s been tough. But I wouldn’t want to do this with any other team.”

Best game of the weekend

That would be Hartland’s 5-3 win over Macomb Dakota in the Division 1 championship game, which lasted nine innings. Dakota entered ranked No. 1 in the state and held a 2-0 lead after the first inning, but Hartland’s pitching staff shut the Cougars down from there. 

Hartland tied the game with two runs in the third, but blew a couple of glorious scoring opportunities. Hartland had runners on first and third with one out in the sixth and the bases loaded in the seventh, but couldn’t score.

Hartland did score a run in the top of the eighth to go up 3-2, but Dakota answered by tying the game at 3-3 and had the bases loaded with one out. 

But Hartland got out of the jam and saved its season when a ground ball was hit to Dylan Crowe at third base. He threw home to his brother Brayden, who then fired to first for an inning-ending double play to keep the game going.

Hartland then scored two in the top of the ninth to win. 

Incredible streak

The Division 2 championship was won by Ada Forest Hills Eastern, which finished off the season on an incredible run in winning its second state title in four years. 

Forest Hills Eastern closed out this season by winning 41 straight games, the last being a 5-2 win over Standish-Sterling in the championship game. 

Other than Hartland-Dakota, the next-best game might have been Forest Hills Eastern’s 5-4 semifinal win over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, which has multiple future college players. 

Forest Hills Eastern (42-1)  jumped out to a 4-0 lead against St. Mary’s in the first inning, saw St. Mary’s come back to tie the game at 4-4, but ultimately earn a 5-4 win. 

Dominant finish for Division 4 winner

In addition to Forest Hills Eastern, Portland St. Patrick also won a state title with just one loss, doing so in Division 4. St. Patrick earned shutouts in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds, outscoring opponents 26-0 in that span.  

Future college players on display

Here were some notable future college players that were in action over the weekend, with their college team in parenthesis. Players are listed in alphabetical order by last name. 

• Deagan Barr (Jr.), Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, Michigan
• Hudson Brzustewicz (Jr.) Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (Notre Dame)
• Luke Crighton (Jr.), Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (Indiana)
• Luke DeMasse, Macomb Dakota (Ball State)
• Luke LaCpourse (Sr.), Bay City Western (Michigan State)
• Michael Zielinski, Hartland (Wright State)