Seaholm Baseball Opens Division Play With Win Over City-Rival Groves

Johnny Mullin hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the varsity baseball team an 8-7 win over city-rival Groves in a wild home opener on Tuesday.

Mullin felt some butterflies stepping into the batter’s box, but the junior outfielder came through with a clutch hit off reliever Morris Fabbri to score Max Cormier from second base.

“I started off pretty nervous," Mullin said. "I started off (the game) 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and a walk. That’s not the confidence I wanted, but I found my inside pitch and took it to left.”

After allowing the Falcons to erase a 5-0 deficit in the top half of the inning, Seaholm (1-5; 1-0 Oakland Activities Association White) needed a three-run sixth to take the lead.

Josh Leitman walked to lead off the inning. He moved to third on a double from Michael Doney. Hunter Green hit a two-run double off to tie the game at 7-7.

Groves (0-2; 0-1 OAA White) didn’t do itself any favors in the inning with some sloppy play in the field. It misplayed three of Seaholm’s four hits in the sixth, allowing runners to advance an extra base all three times.

“Too many errors,” Falcons coach Jim Crosby said. “That’s two games in a row, we are fine in practice and come out in the game and don’t catch the ball. I have to find a couple kids that aren’t going to make so many mistakes. We aren’t playing well under pressure (in the field).”

Drapal’s team had to come back after starter Conor Bowers and reliever Brenden Keyes allowed seven runs, four earned, in the sixth.

Bowers allowed two hits in the first five innings and Groves only managed to get one ball even out of the infield. In the sixth, Bowers couldn’t find the plate with anything but his fastball. He walked four batters and hit two others.

Keyes also hit a batter and gave up a walk before getting Ryan Williams to fly out to end the inning.

“I think the way (our guys) responded, to say this is our game, that was phenomenal,” Maples coach Dan Drapal said.

The loss could be a costly one for the Falcons. Starting pitcher Jake Balikci went down with a calf injury in the fourth inning pitching to Daniel Hackert.

Balicki was trying to work his way out of a jam with runners on first and third. On an RBI single from Hackert, Balicki appeared to land awkwardly on his right leg after the pitch, immediately falling to the ground.

“He landed funny,” Crosby said. “It was tight all ball game and bothering him. We just have to wait and see what the doctor says at this point.”

A stiff calf muscle explains why he didn’t have his best stuff on Tuesday. He struck out six, but gave up five hits and two walks. Seaholm picked up two early runs on Balicki in the first inning. Steven Palmeri hit a two-run double to put the Maples up 2-0.

“You hear all about Balicki and it makes you kind of leery about him,” Mullin said of the senior’s talent. “Once we got a few hits, our confidence got up and we started hitting.”

An extended absence would leave a big hole in Groves’ lineup. Not only is Balicki the team’s top pitcher, he’s also one of the better hitters in Oakland County.