Wild, wacky and winning

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

Brother Rice baseball earns second straight regional title

If someone would have told Bob Riker that his Birmingham Brother Rice baseball team would face a Northville High team with a 31-2 overall record in the regional semifinal and commit seven defensive errors, he would’ve had to assume his season would come to an end.

“You sure as heck don’t plan on winning games like that,” Riker laughed a day after his team did in fact win a game like that.

 “This was a weird one, but we found a way. I’m not sure how, but we found a way.”

Winning is all the Warriors seem to know these days, no matter the fashion.

The defending Division 1 state champs earned their second straight regional crown June 6, getting past Northville 11-4 in the semis before ousting Canton High 4-1 in the final at Novi High.

“This is pretty special, because we’re on course to do something we’ve been focused on all season,” Riker said. “The guys can’t help but enjoy this.”

Brother Rice traveled to Chelsea High to face Saline High in the quarterfinals in a game played after press time.

“I’ve always believed that if you throw strikes, catch the ball and throw the ball, you’ll be successful this time of season,” Riker added. “For whatever reason, we made more mistakes in this game than we have all year. It was a very weird day for us.”

Rice was trailing Canton 1-0 in the sixth inning before scoring four unanswered runs.

“All we can do now is take things one day at a time,” Riker explained. “We’re enjoying the ride as much as we can. This isn’t something that happens every year, and I’m stressing that to the young guys. Nothing will be easy from here on out.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1038.