The FHC varsity baseball team went 3-1 over the weekend, sweeping its doubleheader against Grand Haven on Friday along with going 1-1 against West Ottawa on Saturday. Senior Joey Wise led the way in both games on Friday, while junior Joe Seurynck gave the team an additional boost on Saturday. All in all, the team’s performances on Saturday gave the players a lot of momentum to ride on into the gauntlet of their schedule.

After beating a really good Grand Rapids Christian team the previous Wednesday, the Rangers were looking to keep the ball rolling with some great outings against the only lakeshore teams on their schedule.

On Friday night, the Rangers hosted Grand Haven in an offensive gauntlet for game one. Junior Joe Robertson walked to start off the game and right after him, Joey put one over the fence in right field to give him the first home run of the season. The Buccaneers answered, as they scored four runs in the third and added two in the fourth inning. Yet again, FHC would answer, as it put up a seven-spot in the bottom frame of the fifth inning. It was a series of errors by the Grand Haven defense, but eventually, senior Logan VanLente hit a double that trickled into center field. Joe Robertson ended game one on the mound by only giving up 3 runs in a 10-9 win to start off the weekend.

The second game on Friday saw senior Brady Price make his return to the diamond, as he pitched three innings on the bump for the Rangers. He only gave up two runs, as the Rangers came out hot yet again. After a series of hits, a couple of sacrifice grounders got two runs home in the first inning, but scoring was scarce in this game. Grand Haven put up two runs to tie up the game in the second inning; it would last for a while. It quickly faded away, as FHC put up four runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Nathan Sigg and Joe Robertson would each tally an RBI and give the Rangers a 6-2 cushion for the last two innings of work. Junior Kaeden Palmitier got his call to the mound and secured the win for himself and for FHC, as the team swept Grand Haven with a final score of 6-2 in game two.

Just about 15 hours later, the Rangers were back in action. This time, they traveled to West Ottawa for an early-morning doubleheader. In game one, junior Beau Coughlin got the start at pitcher for FHC. He gave up eight runs in his two innings of work in a not-so-great start to the day for the Rangers. In the batter’s box, the Rangers were not getting anything going early. Senior Sean MacLeod and junior Joe Seurynck both drove in a run. The Rangers would quickly get blown out by West Ottawa with a 10-4 final score.

It was a complete opposite script in game two for the Rangers, as Sean got the start for FHC and would pitch a complete game while only giving up a run. On the offensive side of the ball, the bats were hot in this game. Led by Joe Seurynck and Joey Wise, the two combined to drive in seven of the team’s 20 runs in this game. FHC had its biggest innings of the game in the second and the fifth, with each inning posting a seven spot on the scoreboard. At one point, there were three doubles hit in a row by the Rangers with Joe, Nathan, and junior Josh Smith all driving one into the outfield; they combined for 5 RBI’s in three at-bats in a row. It was a runaway for FHC, as the team picked up a feel-good win by a score of 20-1.

As the Rangers walk away from a fantastic weekend, the team will face a cross-town rival in the East Grand Rapids Pioneers on Monday, May 3rd at 4:15 PM on the FHC baseball diamond.