Lakers Baseball Bow Out in Regional

Grand Rapids, MI - For the fifth consecutive season, the Mid Michigan College baseball team will be able to say it played postseason baseball.

The Lakers punched their ticket to the regional tournament in dramatic fashion by sweeping Delta College on the final day of the regular season in a must-win series, extending one of the most successful stretches in program history.

Entering the regional tournament as the No. 8 seed, Mid Michigan drew a familiar — and difficult — opponent in fourth-seeded Grand Rapids Community College, a team the Lakers had already gone 0-5 against during the regular season.

Game one proved to be another uphill battle as the Raiders rolled to an 8-0 victory. Mid Michigan managed just four hits over nine innings, including two from catcher Nic Stimac. Ethan Wetzel took the loss on the mound after throwing four innings and allowing six earned runs while striking out three.

Facing elimination in game two, the Lakers showed the fight that defined much of their 2026 campaign.

Grand Rapids jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning behind two homeruns and a double off Mid ace Donovan Heugh. But the Lakers quickly answered in the third.

Payton Piaz singled and later scored on a Ty Schultz sacrifice fly before Rylan Rosso doubled and crossed the plate on a Chris Williams ground out. With two outs and the bases empty, Heugh helped his own cause by blasting a solo homerun to right field — his 12th of the season — to knot the game at 3-3.

The Raiders regained control with two unearned runs before Mid cut the deficit to one in the fifth thanks to back-to-back doubles from Schultz and Williams.

After Grand Rapids pushed its lead to 7-4 in the sixth inning, the Lakers again refused to fade quietly. Stimac launched a solo homerun, his ninth of the year, to trim the lead to 7-5.

Mid Michigan threatened to swing momentum fully in its favor during the seventh inning. Trailing 7-6, the Lakers loaded the bases with a chance to take the lead, but Grand Rapids escaped the jam and preserved the advantage.

The Raiders appeared to put the game out of reach by scoring two runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth to build a 12-6 cushion heading into the bottom of the final frame.

But even then, the Lakers continued to battle.

Ty Schultz was hit by a pitch to begin the inning before Chris Williams followed with a single. Heugh then ripped an RBI double to score Schultz, and Stimac lined a two-run single to suddenly cut the deficit to 12-9 with nobody out and more life left in the Mid Michigan dugout.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, three straight fly outs ended the rally — and the season.

Heugh suffered just his second loss of the year against seven victories. Mid Michigan pounded out 14 hits in the contest, led by three-hit performances from Heugh and Stimac while Schultz and Williams added two hits apiece.

The Lakers close the 2026 season with a 26-21 overall record. Their schedule featured several high-level opponents, including seven losses to Grand Rapids, two defeats against No. 3 nationally ranked Kirkwood Community College and another against No. 22 ranked Macomb Community College.

Despite the season-ending loss, the 2026 campaign will be remembered as one of the best offensive years in school history.

Mid Michigan hit .316 as a team while smashing 43 homeruns, just one shy of tying the school record. The Lakers also established new program marks in runs scored per game (8.9), total hits (396), walks (249) and on-base percentage (.448), among several other offensive categories.

The Lakers will now face the challenge of replacing a large core of graduating sophomores heading into 2027. Departing players include starting pitchers Donovan Heugh and David Wheeler along with reliever Dillon Croff. Middle infielders Trey Boven and Ty Schultz, catcher Nic Stimac and outfielders Chris Williams and Amir Orr also conclude their Mid Michigan careers.

Offensively, four of the team's top six hitters will need to be replaced.

Still, the program momentum remains strong under head coach Danny Smith, who will enter his third season with the Lakers in 2027 and his 11th overall season at the junior college level. Smith also enters next year just nine wins shy of reaching 300 career victories and has over 900 wins at the junior college, high school, American Legion and amateur levels.