Boys’ Baseball Completes Historical Regular Season

By Jacob Tobey, staff reporter

The Sturgis boys’ baseball team finished the 2013 regular season with a 13-3 record, the best record in Sturgis baseball history.

    On Wednesday, May 22, the Storm played their rivals Sturgis West for the third time this season.  After beating them 13-0 in their last game, it shockingly took ten innings to finish this one as East came out with a well-deserved 2-1 win. The game was characterized by an exciting pitcher’s duel between East junior Luke Chevalier and West junior Tom Cunning, both of whom pitched all ten innings, with Chevalier eventually emerging as the victor, recording a season-high 14 strikeouts.

    In the bottom of the seventh inning with a man on third, Tom Cunning hit a RBI single to tie the game up at one to send the game to extra innings. In the top of the tenth inning, sophomore Ryan Havey gave the Storm a 2-1 lead on a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to drive in a run. Then, in the bottom of the tenth, with a runner on second base, Chevalier caught a line drive and threw it to second for the double play, ending the game and giving Sturgis East another impressive victory. Although East’s offense was really contained in this game, both Austin Taubert and Connor Bryant had two singles.

    The boys next played New Testament on Thursday, May 23. They won with the final score of 12-0, with Coach Levine sitting some of his starters, giving Kyle Garvey, Chevalier, and Havey a rest. Sophomore Cooper Gavin got his second start on the mound this season and struck out six. He was on his game against a poor New Testament lineup. With Havey getting the day off, junior Ryan Bracken got the start at second base and went 4-5 with two doubles, and senior first baseman Ben Duncan went 2-4 and scored twice.

    Several milestones were achieved during the 2013 season for the Storm.  Along with having the best record in Sturgis baseball history, another accomplishment was senior Kyle Garvey becoming the winningest pitcher in school history after attaining 8 wins. The third milestone was making the state tournament in back-to back years for the first time in Sturgis baseball history. This goes to show that Sturgis East sports are clearly on the rise and becoming more competitive.