Pulliam, big second inning lead Stevenson to bounce-back win over Ford

Stevenson baseball head coach Joe Emanuele is officially 1-0 since his induction into the Macomb County Coaches Hall of Fame on Thursday last week. The Titans welcomed and defeated the Ford Falcons, 6-0, on Monday, May 5 in a Macomb Area Conference Red game. “I talked to, a long time ago, a guy that I respect a lot, (former Stevenson football coach Rick) Bye, and he talked about standing the test of time,” Emanuele said.

“If your program can stay on top, or stay, you know, one of the top teams in the county for a long period of time, that’s something that you’re proud of, and I am proud of that. The fact that me and this staff have been able to do that, players we’ve had. So it is an honor to be inducted in the Hall of Fame and proud of the fact that we’ve built a program that’s competitive in the county year in, year out.



” It’s played like Wyatt Pulliam who have kept Stevenson (14-4, 6-4 MAC Red) at or near the top of Macomb County during Emanuele’s tenure. Pulliam held the Falcons (10-9, 2-8 Red) to just three hits while spinning a complete game shutout while throwing just 65 pitches. “I was feeling good,” Pulliam said.

“Consistent. I was trying to just get some ground balls for my team and throw strikes.” And ground balls he got.

Pulliam retired 10 Falcons on groundouts, the last of which was a 4-6-3 double play to put a pin in the win. “(It) feels amazing,” Pulliam said. “Being accountable for the team, you know, doing a big part feels good.

” They needed it after dropping three-straight games via run rule to Dakota last week. “We needed to get on his (Pulliam’s) back,” Emanuele said. “And he didn’t pitch bad last week.

He came out early and they hit him a little bit, but he needed to bounce back. And he really did a nice job. Pitched very well today.

So I’m very pleased. He was the reason why we won today. “Obviously, we had that big inning, and that helped, but Wyatt’s the one that was the star tonight, for sure.

” That big inning was the second and was sparked by first baseman Alex Pierce’s leadoff home run. Carson Sweet and Scott Leonard followed with singles, then Alex Rincon’s bunt set up an RBI groundout by Ethan Pulliam. John Lonsway singled to score another.

Jake Leonard walked, then his cousin, Brett Leonard, added two more runs with a double. Jake Leonard then scored when Pierce returned to the plate, hitting a sacrifice fly to complete a six-run frame. /*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.

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postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); “We went through the lineup, and we strung together some pretty good at bats in that inning,” Emanuele said. “Starting, and then – it didn't end with Pierce, but the guy after Pierce – but his two at bats were big. And Scott Leonard had a big at bat, and Carson Sweet.

So, you know, we needed that.” Ford starter Josh Huot was credited with all six runs. He then gave way to Brennan Filie – a senior who hasn’t gotten much league action on the mound this season – who went on to hold the Titans without a hit for the next 4.

2 innings. “Brennan hasn't had a ton of action, especially in the league, but he pounds the strike zone,” said Ford head coach Dan Tallant. “He throws easily firm.

He's got a nice breaking ball. And then, yeah, you were able to see, like, it's not super complicated. You get ahead of guys, you attack the strike zone, like, you can get D1 hitters out.

It’s baseball, man. So yeah, we're really happy for Brennan, proud of him. He served a big role for us today.

” Ford and Stevenson were drawn to meet in the first round of the district tournament, leading Emanuele and Tallant to hold back on throwing their No. 1 pitchers to keep a level of mysticism for when the season is on the line. The teams, who played in the shadow of their shared football stadium, Runkel Field, on the campus of Stevenson, will meet two more times this week – Tuesday at Ford, then back to Stevenson on Thursday.

From there, it’s a countdown until they meet one more time. “To us, the season is still early,” Tallant said. “We still got a whole month here, and it's kind of that slow, steady building to districts.

”.