With Pre-Regionals all wrapped up we welcome in the big dogs who earned a bye with their regular season play and a few of these WM teams have a serious chance to win the whole thing. The opening round went pretty much as we predicted for you last week with the Lowell and Spring Lake affair being a very close match-up that propelled the Red Arrows towards a showdown with top seeded and host school Forest Hills Central. We break down the Regional round below as games face-off on Wednesday.

D1 Region 1

Second seeded Rockford will play host to Hartland on Wednesday after Hartland rolled past Zeeland’s Co-Op team 17-2. The Rams will prove to be a much tougher foe for Hartland and we fully expect the Rams to advance to next weeks Regional Semis.

Grand Haven put up 19 goals in their opening round game against Vicksburg and now draws South Lyon who is seeded 3rd in this region. It will be a long drive for the Bucs tomorrow so the game plan should be rock solid and it will come down to execution for GH to advance. South Lyon doesn’t exactly light up many scoreboards but does often come up with just enough offense to win the game for their solid defense. The Bucs will need to get balls into the net to pull the upset and after the Vicksburg game many players have to be feeling good about their game.

Forest Hills Northern/Eastern is the 4 seed and will face West Ottawa after the Panthers dismantled Kalamazoo Central 17-1. These two squared off back on the 8th of May and FHN/E took home a 20-9 victory on the Panthers home field. Look for much of the same here as the disparity between these two teams is far too wide.

D2 Region 5

Top seeded Forest Hills Central is hosting this Region and will open with Lowell tomorrow at 7pm. FHC has it’s sights much deeper into this bracket and will just need to focus on the task at hand and should fend off the Arrow attack. Rangers advance.

A very intriguing game happens below FHC as Holland Christian will host Grand Rapids Christian on Thursday after their 17-3 drubbing of Battle Creek Lakeview. Christian got here via a 12-5 win over Portage Northern last Thursday. These conference foes know each other well after the May 3rd meeting that was a back and forth affair that the Maroons took in the 4th quarter with a 5-1 advantage to grab a 11-9 victory. That game was also at Holland Christian and the Eagles will be seeking revenge when it really counts.

At the bottom of the bracket we have a 3 vs 6 match-up between Mattawan and Grand Rapids Catholic Central. Mattawan is a very good and aggressive team, Catholic Central will have their hands full and I would be pretty surprised if they could pull off the upset here. Look for Mattawan to show down with Portage Central in the Regional Semis.

D2 Region 6

Top seeded East Grand Rapids draws Lapeer West and should advance easily onto the next round. East will outmatch Lapeer and maybe even Okemos in the next round.

Despite our recent absence WMA has kept and eye on the heartbeat of the High School Sports scene and we are pumped for the Boys Lacrosse Playoffs! Many local teams have high hopes and legitimate chances of bringing home some real hardware come early June. Forest Hills Central has already captured the Tier 1 crown with big wins over Forest Hills Northern/Eastern and East Grand Rapids on Friday(5-11) and Tuesday(5-15) respectively. Below is a link to the Regionals featuring WM teams with the participating teams listed below.

Division 1

Region 1 Hosted by Holt

2 Seed: Rockford, 4 Seed: FHN/E, 5 Seed: West Ottawa, 6 Seed: Grand Haven, 10 Seed: Zeeland.

Zeeland will be in action tonight against Hartland, the 7 Seed. Grand Haven draws Vicksburg on Saturday with the rest of the opening round games set for Monday (We will preview those games Monday). Look for Grand Haven to advance while Zeeland will need to jump out ahead early to gain an edge on Hartland.

Division 2

Region 5 Hosted by Forest Hills Central

1 Seed: FHC, 4 Seed: Holland Christian, 5 Seed: GR Christian, 6 Seed: GR Catholic Central, 8 Seed: Lowell, 9 Seed: Spring Lake 10 Seed: Northview, 11 Seed: Caledionia.

In this Region in early action we’re taking Lowell, GR Christian, Battle Creek Pennfield and GR Catholic Central. Yes they are all the higher seed and for valid reason. BC Penn is going to be too tough and physical for Northview. Spring Lake and Lowell will be a very nice battle to keep an eye on with Lowell taking the regular season meeting 9-5, SL will be looking for revenge.

Region 6 Hosted by Haslett

1 Seed: East Grand Rapids.

Check back on Monday for previews of those games as we welcome in the top seeds next week.

Despite being out-hit 11-4, the Northview Wildcats scrapped their way to a 4-2 victory in the opening game of Saturday’s double header with the visiting Kenowa Hills Knights.

A leadoff walk by Ian Mikowski set up a run-scoring single by Kody Alber with two outs, giving Northview an early lead that they would never relinquish.  Kenowa Hills was constantly threatening, getting at least one man on base every inning, but tough defense by Northview would get the outs when they were most needed.

Lefty Bower Snedeker earned the victory for the Wildcats, pitching six strong innings.  Snedeker scattered ten hits, allowing one earned run, while striking out three and giving one free pass.  Getting the save was Brian Killinger, with one strikeout and walk, and allowing one unearned run.

Dominic Cintorino took the loss for the Knights, with six innings of strong work.  Cintorino allowed four runs (two unearned) as he struck out eight, while walking two and allowing four hits.

Northview’s Kody Alber led the way on offense, going 2-3 at the dish, while knocking in two runs. Max Carpenter chalked up an RBI of his own with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning.  Right fielder Ian Mikowski scored two runs in the win.

Cameron Malkewitz was a perfect 2-2 for Kenowa Hills, with a single, RBI double and a walk.  Chad Makarewicz, Cody Ritsema and Matthew Brown all had 2-4 games.

Matt Philpott Photography was happy to bring you coverage of today’s baseball action.  Please contact him for details on how you can purchase prints of any of the photos featured here!  Matt does more than just cover sports for West Michigan All Star!  Be sure to visit his website to check out examples of other photography services he offers, including senior portraits!

Thanks to a four run first, which was capped off by a towering three run Nathan Krikke homer, the Huskies of Forest Hills Northern defeated the Byron Center Bulldogs 5-2, in first-round action at East Kentwood High School’s Jeff Bosma Tournament.

Starting on the mound for Byron Center was Zachary VanTuinen.   VanTuinen found his groove after giving up the Krikke home run, setting down eight straight batters at one point during his five innings of work.  All five Forest Hills runs scored in VanTuinen’s five innings on the mound, as the junior allowed five hits, one walk, while striking out three.  Jacob Tetreault pitched two innings in relief for the Bulldogs, surrendering no hits, walking one and catching two Huskies looking.

Ty Millard got the nod for Forest Hills Northern, the junior was nearly un-hittable through his first six innings of work, allowing just two hits.  Byron Center cracked the armor slightly in the seventh, however, touching up Millard for three hits and scoring their only two runs of the contest.  Millard got the complete-game victory for the Huskies, allowing two runs on five hits, walking four and striking out two.

Forest Hill’s Nathan Krikke and Manny Campbell led the charge on offense.  Krikke was 1-3 at the dish, with the big first inning blast.  Campbell was also 1-3, with a single, drawing a walk and scoring two runs.

The Bulldogs’ offense was led by Jacob Tetreault and Blaine Wierzbicki.  Both were 1-3 with a single and a run scored.

Matt Philpott Photography was happy to bring you coverage of today’s baseball action.  Please contact him for details on how you can purchase prints of any of the photos featured here!  Matt does more than just cover sports for West Michigan All Star!  Be sure to visit his website to check out examples of other photography services he offers, including senior portraits!

Rockford won its second one goal game in as many days beating Forest Hills Central 7 – 6.  Friday night Rockford beat the other Forest Hills team, Northern / Eastern, by one goal.  Saturday’s game saw Rockford jump to an early lead, relinquish it, and come back and win the game.  The game was tied at 5 at the end of the third period. Rockford has now beaten perennial local powers, East Grand Rapids, Forest Hills Northern / Eastern and Forest Hills Central this year.

The game was part of the Lax versus Cancer lacrosse day at Rockford which started with age group competition between the two schools and continued through the evening with GVSU/Ferris competing.  The day raised $11,909.14 to help fight cancer. All photos courtesy of Lou Murray Photography, to even more check out his slideshow!

Down by five coming into the home half of the seventh inning, things appeared bleak for the Kelloggsville Rockets.  However, following a couple singles here, and a walk there, the Rockets found that they had put Wyoming Park on the ropes, and only needed one more blow to finish their comeback victory.  That blow came in the form of a Nathan Kies single with two outs, giving Kelloggsville a thrilling 10-9 win, in their opening game of the 2012 Jim Muuse Memorial Tournament, at Wyoming’s Lamar Park.

Wyoming Park had the hot start in today’s action, quickly tacking three runs on Kelloggsville’s starter, Kasey Kole, and causing the junior to throw a number of pitches.  Chris Jimenez, starting on the mound for the Vikings, also threw a number of pitches in the first inning, allowing a walk and a single, but managed to escape without allowing a run, netting all three outs of the inning via the K.  Jimenez wound up striking out five batters in a no-decision.

After a scoreless second, the Vikings extended their 3-0 lead, thanks in part to Dustin Ebenstein and Zac Bleyerveld scoring on singles by Hunter Halas and Lewi Vargas.  Kelloggsville now first showed the fight they would exhibit throughout the rest of the day, answering Wyoming Park’s two runs with two of their own.  Trent Videan got things going, eventually scoring after a one out single, and Austin Stone scored a run, managing to reach base with one of his two walks in the contest.

Already up 5-2 after three, Wyoming Park tacked on two more runs in the fourth.  Again Kelloggsville answered, scoring one, putting the score at 7-3 at the end of four.  Both teams traded a run in the fifth, and the Vikings added an additional run in the sixth.

Coming into the seventh, Wyoming Park had a comfortable 9-4 lead.  Vikings coach Shawn Veenstra and his staff urged the Park players to finish the game strong, warning the team to play hard through the final six outs of baseball.  Wyoming Park batters managed to put bat on ball in their half of the final inning, but aside from a Tyler Davis one-out single, everything else landed harmlessly in a Kelloggsville fielder’s glove.  Trailing by five, the Rockets came to bat, hoping to string together some baserunners and maybe make a game of things.

Nathan Kies led off with a single.  John Evans followed with another single.  Kasey Kole and DJ Boeske walked.  The Vikings made a pitching change, and in a frightening moment, Jeff Deschaine was hit in the head on the first pitch thrown by Mac Matthews.  Kelloggsville’s first six batters managed to reach base before Wyoming Park could record the first out of the inning, by way of a strikeout pitched by Matthews.  By that point, however, five of those had batters have scored, knotting things up in a 9-9 tie.  And so it was, with two outs Nathan Kies stepped to the plate for the second time in the inning.  Kies took a hack at a pitch in on his hands, hitting a slow roller toward first.  Wyoming Park first basemen Dustin Ebenstein hesitated just a moment, allowing the ball to take a hop off the bag.  Second baseman Caleb Jones came racing over to make a play on the ball, as Ebenstein now hurried to cover first, but the barehanded attempt by Jones was mishandled, as Kelloggsville’s  Jimmy Boice raced around third, scoring the game-winning run.

Matt Philpott Photography was happy to bring you coverage of today’s baseball action.  Please contact him for details on how you can purchase prints of any of the photos featured here!  Matt does more than just cover sports for West Michigan All Star!  Be sure to visit his website to check out examples of other photography services he offers, including senior portraits!

Each week a local alum of West Michigan High School sports will be featured in our ‘Where Are They Now?’ piece. All of these students have moved on to continue their athletic careers at Davenport University as the Panthers continue to find success athletically in nearly every sport they participate in. For more information about Davenport and what they can offer you check out their homepage!

Name: Brandon Bongard

Height: 5’9

Weight: 185

Year: Senior

Major: Business

Hometown: Grand Rapids, Mich.

High School: Kenowa Hills

Number: 2

Position: Outfield

Bats/Throws: L/L

Previous School: Muskegon CC

2011 Highlights: Hit .296 with 40 hits and 13 RBI in 43 games played…Named to the Academic All-WHAC  Team.

Community College Highlights: Earned All-Conference Honorable Mention Honors at MCC in 2009.

High School Highlights: Voted All-Conference all four years while at Kenowa and was named 1^st Team All-State in 2008.

Why did you choose to go to Davenport?

I wanted to be apart of a winning team and I heard good things about Davenport being a good baseball team. Davenport is also closer home then other colleges. I toured this campus two times in my high school years and loved the food and the dorms.

What is your degree?

Marketing Management

What is your favorite class?

Professional Ethics

What has been your favorite memory of Davenport so far?

Going to Florida for a week for spring break

What is your dream job that you wish to do after graduation?

Get an entry-level job and work my way up to be a manager

How has DU helped you in transitioning your game from the high

school level to the collegiate level and who/what has had the biggest impact in helping you with the transition?

Players and coaches made me feel like part of the team and the batting cages being available

Who is your biggest conference rival?

Madonna

What do you enjoy most about this rivalry?

Davenport baseball takes this rivalry serious and wants to always come off the field victorious against Madonna

Playing for DU, do you ever play against former high school competitors? If so, do you feel the old high school rivalry continue?

I have played against a few athletes that I played against in high school. It does make me think back to earlier years.

What has been your favorite part of going to DU outside of your sport/team?

The dorms are very nice and the dining hall is delicious. The classes are small and I get a lot of one on one time with the teacher.

Would you recommend DU to friends or other student athletes you know are searching for a place to continue their education? Why?

Since I signed I always would recommend Davenport to others. Although not many from my high school choose Davenport, I still says great things about Davenport to make them come here.

In a closely contested game Rockford prevailed over EGR Tuesday night 5 – 4.  The first quarter was scoreless.  In the second quarter Rockford pulled ahead never to relinquish their lead.  EGR continued to come back, getting as close as one goal, but could never get even.  The game featured both solid defense and superior goal tending by Connor Flynn of Rockford and Gabe Avis. To see even more action from Lou Murray and this game check out his slideshow!

Each week a local alum of West Michigan High School sports will be featured in our ‘Where Are They Now?’ piece. All of these students have moved on to continue their athletic careers at Davenport University as the Panthers continue to find success athletically in nearly every sport they participate in. For more information about Davenport and what they can offer you check out their homepage!

Name: Kristi Kuzdal

Height: 5’2

Class: Freshman

Major: Business

Hometown: Grandville, Mich.

High School: Grandville

2010-2011 Highlights: Posted a 10-8 record in #4 singles and was 1-4 in #5 singles…Teamed with Kelly Todd to post a 7-13 record in #3 doubles.

High School Highlights: Was runner-up in OK Red at #1 singles…Won championship flight at East Kentwood Tournament in 2008.

Personal Information: Parents: Jim and Debbie…Birthday: 12/28/1991.

Why did you choose to go to Davenport?

I felt like God was leading me to go to Davenport and I’m so glad I followed. The fact that He threw in my scholarship and my awesome tennis team has truly been confirmation that this is where I’m supposed to be.

What is your degree?

Nursing

What is your favorite class?

Currently, I would have to say Anatomy & Physiology 1 but I also enjoyed Presentation Techniques immensely.

What has been your favorite memory of Davenport so far?

Spring Break in Florida with the team and beating Webber University this year are my favorite memories. We suffered a hard loss to Webber last year but it only served to fire us up this year and helped us to pull out a win.

What is your dream job that you wish to do after graduation?

I would love to be a pediatric nurse; I absolutely adore kids and I tend to consider myself a big kid myself. I want to go into this field to make a difference and get on a child’s level when they aren’t doing their best. My goal is to make their life a little bit happier no matter where they are.

How has DU helped you in transitioning your game from the high school level to the collegiate level and who/what has had the biggest impact in helping you with that transition? 
DU has helped me with the transition from high school to college level tennis by providing me with the best coaches money can buy. I would have to give all of my credit to them and my parents for helping me with the transition and for having the biggest impact on me so far in my college experience. These are the people who have pushed me, drilled me, and have made me want to be better. My parents have prayed for me and my dad has coached me since I was little. My coaches are absolutely amazing in all aspects of life and especially so when it comes to tennis. I feel simply blessed that I have been able to learn under their guidance and encouragement.

Who is your biggest conference rival?

Northwestern Ohio

What do you enjoy most about this rivalry?

This team keeps us on our toes and is one of the key teams that stand in the way between us and nationals. Each time we’ve played, the scores have gone different each time but with the same result. They have always pulled away and won by a close margin but I’m confident this year we’ll rise to the challenge.

Playing for DU, do you ever play against former high school competitors?  If so, do you feel the old high school rivalry continue?
Yes, I have played against people I’ve played in high school but not any rival competitors. I think that’s another reason I love college tennis because it is a whole new ball game. It’s a fresh new start with new teammates, new partners, and new coaches.

What has been your favorite part about going to DU outside of your sport/team?
I love practically everything about Davenport; the professors who know you by name, the smaller campus, the events and the many opportunities that Davenport offers to help everyone succeed.

Would you recommend DU to friends or other student athletes you know are searching for a place to continue their education? Why?

Definitely! Davenport is not only a great place for sports but also a great place to receive an education. The people, teachers, coaches, and the overall atmosphere of Davenport has truly made my college experience wonderful.

Each week a local alum of West Michigan High School sports will be featured in our ‘Where Are They Now?’ piece. All of these students have moved on to continue their athletic careers at Davenport University as the Panthers continue to find success athletically in nearly every sport they participate in. For more information about Davenport and what they can offer you check out their homepage!

Personal Information: Parents: Cheryl Harms and Richard Prins…Birthday: 07/11/1992

Why did you choose to go to Davenport?

I was recruited to play lacrosse at Davenport.

What is your degree?

Medical Information Management.

What is your favorite class?

Health Care Law and Ethics.

What has been your favorite memory of Davenport so far?

Spring break with my team – we played four games down in Tennessee and Georgia against the teams in our conference (National Women’s Lacrosse League).

What is your dream job that you wish to do after graduation?

Health Information manager or medical secretary.

How has DU helped you in transitioning your game from the high school level to the collegiate level and who/what has had the biggest impact in helping you with that transition? 

There is way more conditioning in college but it helps to build team bonding. Ut can be rough sometimes but you keep pushing yourself. My grandfather has been my biggest push to keep trying.

Who is your biggest conference rival?  

Indiana Tech and Aquinas.

What do you enjoy most about this rivalry?

I grew up in Caledonia so Aquinas is close to home and they are a great team.  I enjoy playing people who I feel challenge our team.

Playing for DU, do you ever play against former high school competitors?  If so, do you feel the old high school rivalry continue? (Some variation of this)

Surprisingly not yet…Most of my team members play at Grand Valley State, Michigan State or Central Michigan.  It would be a blast to get the chance to play them.

What has been your favorite part about going to DU outside of your sport/team?
Having a lot of the same professors and students in most of my classes.

Would you recommend DU to friends or other student athletes you know are searching for a place to continue their education? Why?

Yes because it provides you with some great opportunities that most people do not get to experience. Playing a college sport is a blessing and DU is a great school with good teachers who all have real life experience in what they are teaching.