TROY — Could there be a power shift in Catholic League baseball this spring?
Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice is playing like it’s definitely in favor of that concept.
Ranked fourth in the state according to pre-season polls, the Warriors are off to a hot start, winning their first five games. Included in that stretch are doubleheader sweeps over 2023 state semi-finalist Macomb Dakota and Catholic League rival University of Detroit Jesuit, as well as a 13-3 mercy-rule victory over defending Public School League perennial champion Detroit Western.
“I think we can do something special,” said senior captain Tristan Crane. “We’re a tight group, a lot of chemistry. We’ve played together for a while, and of course, we have a lot of talent. We’re looking to win the Catholic League this year, and hopefully, a state championship.”
Crane wasn’t over-exaggerating about the team’s talent level, as the Warriors are one of the few squads capable of putting together an entire batting order of collegiate commits.
Crane is bound for Bryant and Stratton College in Virginia, and he plays alongside senior classmates Ty Fox (Ohio State), Max Orozco (Oakland), Ashton Reidy (Allegheny), Owen Turner (Yale), Ryan Tyranski (Central Michigan) and Chase VanAmeyde (Notre Dame). Junior Blake Ilitch — a transfer from Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett — and freshman Broder Katke have made early commitments to Duke.
Several other players, including senior Evan Kopf, juniors Cash and Cole VanAmeyde, sophomores Cole Duhaime and Tristan Turner, and freshman Aiden Pack, also have an eye on playing collegiately.
“On paper we’re really good, but we’ve got to be really good on the field,” head coach Bob Riker said. “You need a little bit of luck along the way to win a state title, so we’ve just got to keep trying to do things right, play the game the right way, work hard and not get too complacent.”
“The hype’s there for sure, but we try not to look at it too much,” Crane said. “We’ve had good teams over the past couple of years, so that’s where that ranking comes in, and we’re just going to come out every day and work as hard as we can, and try and get as many wins as we can.”
Although Brother Rice hasn’t claimed a Catholic League championship since 2017 — capping off a string of six consecutive titles — the Warriors know there is plenty of good competition throughout the Bishop Division.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s has won the Catholic League the last four years — and along the way, collected state championship crowns in 2019, 2021 and 2022 (the 2020 season was cancelled because of COVID-19) and set a state record 84-game winning streak that ended last May. But the Eaglets are adapting to a coaching change and have started the year 1-2 in a home-and-away series March 26-27 against Novi Detroit Catholic Central.
“You’ve got to go against CC, you’ve got to go against Orchard Lake, you’ve got to go against (Warren) De La Salle, U of D, and Liggett, and we’ve added the three Catholic schools (from Toledo),” Riker said. “Those teams, any one can beat you at any time. We beat up on each other all year long and no one is anyone to look past. You’ve got to be ready to go, and you’ve got to be ready to play.”
“The Catholic League’s always tough,” Crane said. “I’ve been playing varsity for four years, and CC’s always tough, St. Mary’s is tough, U of D’s tough, so we’re just going to come out in those games and win those series, and hope for the best when the Catholic League playoffs roll around.”
Catholic Central mounted a huge comeback to bounce Brother Rice in last year’s Catholic League semi-finals, 11-10, and the Warriors’ season later ended in the district final, 4-3, at the hands of Birmingham Seaholm, and those two outcomes weigh heavy on the senior-dominated team.
“They’ve worked hard since we got beat in the last district game, so they’ve got something to prove to themselves,” Riker said. “Last year we won a lot of games (28), but never really won a game that was of any importance. We’re 5-0 (this spring) and none of these games really matter too much, either. We’re just trying to figure out who’s fitting where and what we’re going to do with our pitching, what we’re going to do with position players. But we’ve got a lot of pieces to work with, so we’re just trying to match them up and do what we can do.”
Monday’s game against the visiting Detroit Western was close much of the way. The Cowboys were threatening to seize control after loading the bases with no one out in the top of the fifth, and tied the game 3-3 when a runner scored from third on a wild pitch.
But Rice got out of the jam. Pack struck out a hitter, and the Warriors turned an inning-ended double play when Cole VanAmeyde caught a fly ball to left field and fired it toward home, where Turner tagged out the Western runner trying to score from third base. In the following inning, Pack struck out the side.
Meanwhile, Rice added three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fifth and tacked on seven more (on only two hits) in the bottom of the sixth to end the game one inning early. Amazingly, each of those 10 runs came when the Warriors had two outs.
In the fifth, Cash VanAmeyde walked and was driven home by Turner’s double. Chase VanAmeyde followed that up with a double to left, plating Turner, and later scored on a wild pitch.
Rice took advantage of Western pitchers’ control problems in the sixth. Tyranski walked with the bases loaded. Two more runs scored on a passed ball. Chase VanAmeyde dropped in another double — his third of the game — to drive in Tyranski. Rice made it 11-3 on another passed ball, and following two more walks to load the bases, Fox drove in the final two runs on a bloop single over the shortstop’s head.
“We hit and we ran the bases really well and played good defense, but they’re a really good team and that score is not indicative of how close the game really was,” Riker said. “Up until that last inning, it felt like we were behind, just from my standpoint.”
Brother Rice will continue tuning up with games against Rochester Adams, Grosse Pointe North, Troy and Grosse Pointe South before returning to Catholic League play, against Catholic Central on April 10. The following week features three games against St. Mary’s.
Riker hopes the early-season games will prepare the Warriors for bigger tests toward the end of the season.
He said, “I just expect them to come out every day and work to get better, and enjoy the camaraderie and play the game to have fun, because that’s what it is. It’s a game, and let the chips fall where they may.”
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