BY DENNIS CHASE
dchase@record-eagle.com
TRAVERSE CITY — Down to its last three outs, Frankfort rallied Tuesday to advance to its third consecutive Division 4 baseball Final Four.
The Panthers scored three runs in the top of the seventh to edge Rogers City 6-4 in a quarterfinal at Traverse City West.
"This was the toughest of the three (quarterfinals)," Panthers junior Kyle Zimmerman said. "They're (Rogers City) a good team. We fought hard and got it done."
Frankfort, 31-8, will face defending state champion Beal City on Friday afternoon at Battle Creek's Bailey Park. The Aggies beat the Panthers 2-0 in last year's semifinals.
"We're just happy to be there," Frankfort coach Mike Zimmerman said. "Beal's a very good team. They're the measuring stick in Class D for everybody. They have a program that's second to none. They're one of the top teams in the state in any class. We're kind of the Cinderella. Nobody expected us to get back (to the Final Four) after losing almost all our starters.
"They're definitely going to be the favorite. They have a veteran squad that's been there and proven they can do it. We have a lot of young kids that hopefully will step up to the challenge."
Those young kids did Tuesday.
Frankfort pushed across three runs in the seventh without the benefit of a hit.
The frame started when Kyle Zimmerman was hit by a pitch. Talon Bigley then put down a bunt. Hurons pitcher Tyler Szumila fielded the ball cleanly, but threw it away, allowing Zimmerman to reach third and Bigley second. Cam MacArthur was intentionally walked to fill the bases. Zimmerman came in to tie it when Szumila committed a balk. Nick Tondu was then walked to reload the bases. Following an infield pop out, Brennan Flynn was hit by a pitch to force in Bigley with the winning run. Kody Chilcott followed with a sacrifice fly to right.
"We were just trying to tie the game up," Mike Zimmerman said. "They made mistake, we were able to tie it on that, and it put us in the driver's seat. Our kids have been overachievers all year. It's kind of nice to have it all pay off for them that way."
Rogers City manager Howard Madsen said his team just didn't get it done, especially in the seventh.
"That's baseball," he said. "When you don't throw strikes, you don't throw it over the plate, you don't make plays behind your pitcher, you don't get key hits, you lose games.
"It would have been nice to get them. I thought we had them with three outs to go out. But you have to throw strikes and we didn't,"
Rogers City, which finished 24-11, threatened in the seventh off MacArthur, the third Panthers pitcher. With two out, Alex Jozwiak doubled to right-center, sending Matt Mertz, who had walked earlier in the inning, to third. But MacArthur retired Erik Meharg on a grounder to Flynn at third to end the game.
"I just needed to calm down, get the ball down," MacArthur said. "I was leaving it up the last couple batters and they were putting the bat on the ball. I kept it down, got a ground ball and Brennan made a great play and got the last out."
The game was tied at 3-3 in the fourth when rain forced a lengthy delay. Kyle Zimmerman didn't pitch after the delay, and the Hurons snapped the tie in the fifth on a Ben Tulgestke home run. After a double, the Panthers brought in MacArthur. He threw a wild pitch to advance the runner to third with no outs, but then eluded trouble without surrendering another run.
"We didn't put the ball in play," Madsen said. "A ground ball scores a run. A fly ball scores a run. We get two strikeouts back to back. Those were big plays."
Zimmerman and MacArthur finished with two hits apiece for Frankfort. Tim Stieve drove in two runs.
"Rogers City is a very good team," Mike Zimmerman said. "Howard's a great coach. We feel lucky to have had an opportunity to go up against a team like that. Then when you can squeak one out at the end — with some luck — it's even better."
