ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — After three first inning errors, Portage Central found themselves trailing Portage Northern, 3-0 in Saturday's district semifinal.
However, the Mustangs would rally after a two-run home run from senior and Miami University commit Zach MacDonald and RBI groundout from fellow senior Nick Ford.
The game would remain tied until the fifth inning when the Mustangs would blow it open, in large part due to a grand slam from LSU commit Luke Leto.
On the mound, Tennessee bound left-hand pitcher Gavin Brasosky pitched extremely well throughout with nine strikeouts without giving up an earned run.
It’s a Luke Leto grand slam to break things open in the fifth inning. 👀
— FOX 17 Blitz (@FOX17Blitz) June 5, 2021
Portage Central 11
Portage Northern 3
End of the 5th pic.twitter.com/ToRmIFcHb7
Brasosky would strikeout the side in the seventh inning to finish the complete game, 11-3 the final.
The Mustangs would advance to take on St. Joseph in the district championship with Leto and MacDonald keeping up the outstanding performances.
In fact, both Leto and MacDonald would homer twice in the district championship while Brasosky added a few hits as well to help lead the team to the 17-3 win.
Leto and MacDonald go back to back AGAIN in the 3rd. Each with 3 homers on the day now, Mustangs lead 8-2 in the 3rd. Here’s Zach MacDonald going deep to left field. pic.twitter.com/Ljq2C4C3jT
— PC Mustang Baseball (@MustangsPC) June 5, 2021
"I believe in my kids, I do, there's no other group I would rather have out there right now," said head coach Cory DeGroote, "you have to play through the good and the bad, you have to because you'll have innings like we did in the first."
DeGroote was quick to point out the other players who stepped up with big base hits to extend the innings on Saturday but had to admit that the big three played great.
"Those three stepped up for us, they've been carrying us all year," he added.
Portage Central advances to the regional at Gull Lake.
