Brother Rice Finishes Off West Bloomfield in Baseball Pre-Districts

BEVERLY HILLS – The boys baseball team looked good early Tuesday after Ryan Bilkovic scored a run and Eric Steele got out of a bases loaded, no outs jam in the first inning against Bloomfield Brother Rice High. Then senior pitcher Andrew Sohn took over for the Rice Warriors.

In the first game Sohn started all season, and after a lost season his junior year due to a broken leg, Sohn found redemption by throwing 13 strikeouts in five innings of a 7-1 win in the pre-district round of the playoffs.

“All I wanted to do was throw strikes using my fastball,” said Sohn, who only allowed two hits and one walk in addition to going 2-4 at the plate with an RBI double. “It hurt in the first inning, they got a run, because my off-speed wasn’t working. The off-speed allowed a lot of strikeouts.”

Brother Rice head coach Bob Riker called the win “the highlight of the season” for him and said he hoped his Warriors felt the same way. Sohn, who usually plays at shortstop early in games before filling in late as a relief pitcher, got the call from Riker on account of his experience.

“Not that the other starters haven’t done a good job, but tournament time is different. He’s a senior and he’s a competitor and it’s one of things where you want the younger guys to see him and feed off of him,” said Riker, whose team improved to 24-7 with Tuesday's victory. “After the Catholic Leagues, now you’re winning games that count and the scoreboard doesn’t lie. We’re a good team.”

Brother Rice scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning off of a line-drive double by junior infielder Travis Ferguson knocked in Sohn and senior outfielder Jimmy Pickens. They broke it open in the fourth inning after the senior pitcher Steele allowed bases loaded walks to freshman Sammy Stevens and freshman Ty Kiafoulis to bring the score to 4-1, then, Josh Birnberg muffed a ground ball at second base, which scored two runs. The Warriors ended the inning with the six-run lead and never looked back.

West Bloomfield head coach Eric Pierce said he chose to leave in Steele, who he called his “best pitcher,” because he felt Steele had command of his pitches.

“(Brother Rice) really weren’t hitting the ball hard,” said Pierce, the Lakers' first-year head coach. “We had a couple of ground balls that could have been double plays and we ended up only getting one. When you leave outs like that and give extra outs to a good team, they’re going to hurt you. I didn’t think he was struggling with his command.”

Steele finished the inning with five hits, four walks and one strikeout for the day before being moved to first base in favor of junior Tyler Grafmiller, who threw a shutout the rest of the game.

For the West Bloomfield Lakers, the loss at Birmingham Groves High School on Tuesday meant a lesson in growing up and an end to a season that saw an improvement over last year’s 13-12 finish to 16-12 this year. “I told them we need to get stronger and tougher in the offseason. We need to make sure we understand we can play with anyone. It’s a talented group, we just need to put everything together,” Pierce said.

West Bloomfield will continue on to the district semi-finals again Birmingham Seaholm High School at 10 a.m. Saturday, according to Riker.

Correction: We updated the story to correct the name of Josh Birnberg.