Whetstone Braves beat Briggs Bruins to win 15th City League baseball championship
CORRECTION: Due to a reporter's error, Michael Newell-Dimoff's second-inning RBI double was listed as a single in an earlier version of this story.
With two outs in the second inning, the Whetstone baseball team set the tone for its latest City League championship May 23 at Briggs.
A two-run double by catcher Marshall Cotter, an RBI double by right fielder Michael Newell-Dimoff and an RBI single by second baseman Justin Liesinger produced a four-run inning that proved to be more than enough for pitcher Henry Wollerman.
The Braves also scored one run in the first and seventh and beat the Bruins 6-0 to capture their 10th consecutive City title and 15th overall in 33 seasons under coach Tim Broskie.
“The whole season we were a team that could really capitalize on mistakes and were a clutch team,” Newell-Dimoff said. “Every run (in the second) came with two outs. That was a testament to our team and our ability to fight through any kind of disadvantage. We’ve had multiple innings where we’ve scored multiple runs with two outs this season.”
Whetstone finished 15-9 overall, including 10-0 in the City-North Division.
Cotter got things going with a one-out first inning walk. He moved to second on a groundout, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
He also scored the game’s final run after reaching on an error to open the seventh.
“I was so proud of Henry’s pitching, and the defense was phenomenal,” Broskie said. “We want to win 15-0, but you can’t always do that. I’m happy, especially for the (six) seniors.”
Briggs had two baserunners in the fourth and sixth innings, but Wollerman got out of trouble both times. He struck out six and threw 19 first-pitch strikes while going the distance.
“The curve was really working,” Wollerman said. “I didn’t throw the splitter much, but when I got to the bottom of the order, the fastball was hitting the spots every time."
Briggs, which finished 9-8 overall and 9-0 in the City-South, last won a City title in 2008 and has been City runner-up each of the last 13 seasons.
“We just didn’t have timely hitting,” second-year coach Nick Peck said. “We got people on and just came up short.”
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@UlreyThisWeek
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Whetstone beats Briggs to win 15th City League baseball title
