‘TEAM OF DESTINY’: Mustangs fulfill childhood dreams with state title

Kids say the darnedest things.

Ten years or so ago, a group of Northville Broncos youth baseball players — many of whom lived in the same neighborhood — talked about winning a high school state championship by the time they graduated from Northville High School in 2024.

“Absolutely we did,” confirmed Caden Besco, one of those Broncos who was among the heroes in Northville’s 2-1 victory over nationally-ranked Birmingham Brother Rice in Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 state championship game. “When we were 7 or 8, we all said we were going to stay together in high school — not go to Brother Rice, Catholic Central or (Orchard Lake) Saint Mary’s — and win a state title for our school.”

As he reflected on the Mustangs’ long journey while making the short walk from the Michigan State University baseball field to the MHSAA awards platform, Besco’s voice cracked with emotion and a few tears welled up in his eyes.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be crying right now,” he said, “but I’ve been playing with most of these guys since I was 7 years old and we just won the final game we’ll ever play together.

“A lot of us will be going our separate ways — some to play baseball, others not — but this group is going to be remembered for making Northville history.”

Whatever it takes

Ranked No. 1 in a pre-season Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association poll, Northville persevered through some pretty serious adversity this spring — the most daunting being the loss of three of its top six pitchers to injury, including flame-throwing ace Joey Broughton.

But they never stopped believing in themselves.

(To check out video highlights from Saturday’s game, click here.)

“Before and after every practice this year, our chant was, ‘Northville! Everything counts! State champs!’,” revealed Mustangs Head Coach Dan Cimini, now a six-time MHSAA baseball state champion. “I am so incredibly proud of this team.

“To have an entire city supporting us and to win it for all the former players and coaches who never quite got here — and every player who worked so hard for this, especially our 16 seniors, it’s just an unbelievable feeling.”

Northville never trailed against the 44-1 Warriors — but the 2-0 lead it constructed in the top of the third inning was tenuous given Rice’s line-up, which Besco described this way: “They have guys who can rake up and down the line-up, from their lead-off guy to their No. 9 hitter.”

The Mustangs looked like they were having fun — something Cimini emphasized throughout their incredible playoff run — from the get-go.

Senior center fielder Dante’ Nori, a favorite to win Michigan’s Mr. Baseball Award, led off the game with a sharp single against Rice southpaw starting pitcher Cole Duhaine.

Broughton, who returned to the line-up a few weeks ago in a hitting/fielding capacity only, followed by lacing a fast-falling shot to right field that Rice’s Tristan Crane secured just before it hit the Kobs Field grass. Duhaine retired the next two hitters to end the threat.

Pivotal pick-off

Rice countered when its lead-off batter, Cash Van Ameyde ripped a single. Northville starting pitcher Evan Deak quickly snuffed out a potential uprising when, two batters later, he picked off Ryan Tyranski, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.

Northville’s game-winning two-run third was kick-started by junior shortstop Carson Eaton, who doubled down the left-field line. He scored seconds later when Duhaine threw away Trevor Schueller’s sacrifice bunt attempt.

Schueller scored the winners’ second run on the Warriors’ second error of the frame with two outs.

Rice cut its deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the third on Owen Turner’s two-out single that plated Max Orozco, who drew a one-out walk.

The Warriors mounted a two-out rally in their half of the fourth, loading the bases, before Besco, who relieved Deak moments earlier, got Van Ameyde to fly out to left field.

Play of the season

The Mustangs’ play of the game — or quite possibly, the season — unfolded in the bottom of the sixth. After Rice’s Broder Katke reached on a lead-off error, Crane whistled a 3-0 fastball right back at Besco, who somehow snagged the missile and fired the ball to first to double up Katke.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting him to swing on a 3-0 count with them trailing by a run,” Besco admitted, “so I kind of grooved a fastball.

“I’d like to say I saw the ball right off the bat, but I think it was self-defense more than anything. It was one of those plays you have to make to win a state championship. If it gets by me and into the outfield, who knows what happens?”

“Once Caden made that play, I knew we were going to win the game,” Cimini said. “That’s when I thought to myself, ‘This is a team of destiny’.”

With the tying run at first and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Besco fired a two-strike fastball past Tyranski to end the game and give Northville High School its first baseball state championship in school history.

Senior third baseman Luke Dieringer said he knew this group of players had what it took way back when they were 12 years old and competing in a national tournament in Cooperstown, New York.

“There were over 100 teams in the tournament and most of them were made up of players who were recruited … they were regional teams, not local teams like we were,” Dieringer recounted.

“We didn’t win it, but we finished seventh out of all those all-star teams, so I knew if we stuck together, this was possible.”

Jurcisin, who along with Dieringer and several other Mustang starters was one of those young Broncos, was asked what advice he’d give a current 8-year-old Bronco in regards to what it takes to win a high school state title down the road.

“I’d tell him to have fun playing baseball every day,” Jurcisin said. “And when you get to high school, don’t skip those 6 a.m. workouts because those are what it takes to get here.”

Kids do the darnedest things.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com