Seniors lead charge into Saturday?s home playoff tourney against Atlanta

Rogers City senior Judd Vekaryasz hit a two-run homer, knocked in three runs, and earned a shutout win as Rogers City advanced in the Michigan High School Athletic Association baseball tournament Tuesday with an 8-0 win over Posen. Vekaryasz gave the Hurons all the runs his team needed in Rogers City?s pre-district qualifying game on Steven Schalk Memorial Field, when he ripped his first homer of the season over the left field fence in the second inning, scoring Adam LaLonde, who had singled ahead of him.

?Judd Vekaryasz had a monster day,? said head coach Howard Madsen, whose Hurons improved to 22-11. ?He threw the ball well and hit the ball extremely hard.? In Vekaryasz?s next at bat in the third inning, he laced an RBI single, knocking in catcher Tim Cercone, who blooped a single to left to get on base. The rally would continue as centerfielder Chris Rhode and Vekaryasz would score, padding the Rogers City lead to five. ?All the seniors stepped it up today,? said Madsen.

NATHAN ?FRITZ? DARGA, Cercone, LaLonde, and Vekaryasz had eight of the nine hits from the seniors. Vekaryasz took the win on the mound, while fellow senior Jesse Romel from Posen was tagged with the loss. ?Jesse Romel, I thought, threw a great ball game,? said Madsen. ?He kept us off balance as much as he could. We hit the ball really well.? ?We got beat by a better ball club,? said Viking coach Pat Kowalski. ?I was real proud of our boys. They came out and played hard and gave 100 percent. I saw dirty uniforms, people diving for the ball. Rogers City earned it.? The Vikings end their season with a record of 19-14. ?After getting beat three times by Rogers City during the season, those kids could have just folded up and said the heck with it. They came back and gave 100 percent,? said Kowalski.

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Posen had a threat going in the bottom of the third inning when Matt Szczerowski reached base on an infield hit and Tony Swan got on board after an error. Runners were at the corners, but a pop-up got Rogers City out of the inning. Vekaryasz would then set down the next 11 batters. Matt Ponik ended the streak with a base hit in the sixth inning.

Rhode, a lefthanded batter, hit a single into the hole on the left side, scoring two, which was part of a three-run rally in the top of the sixth. ?They (Hurons) were ready to play from the first pitch to the last pitch,? said Madsen.

ROGERS CITY will play Atlanta in Saturday?s tournament game. Madsen believes with a tournament game already played, his boys have an advantage. ?We are in pretty good shape,? said Madsen. ?We?ve got the pre-tournament jitters out of the way. We?ve got one game under our belt.? On the other side of the bracket are Hillman and Onaway. The winners of the two games will play each other for the district championship and the chance to return to Rogers City June 12 for the regional tournament.

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