By JAKE SHARFMAN

Special to The Oakland Press

BATTLE CREEK — For Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same.

Two seasons ago, the Eaglets advanced to the Division 2 state finals, only to fall behind big early in the game en route to a defeat.

As St. Mary’s returned to the finals Saturday afternoon, the outcome seemed all too familiar for the Eaglets.

After a sub-par regular season, then getting blazing hot in the state playoffs, the Eaglets fell behind early in the state championship game.

The Eaglets (15-19) gave up four runs in the first inning, and two more in the second as they fell, 6-0, to East Grand Rapids in the Division 2 championship game at C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek.

“It’s devastating,” St. Mary’s junior outfielder Korey Hall said. “We’re a much better team than we showed out here today, but it’s just motivation to work hard and get back here next year.”

The Eaglets’ hot bats suddenly became cold, ice cold.

The execution wasn’t as crisp as the St. Mary’s fans were used to seeing this playoff run, and starting pitcher Devan Ahart had unusual trouble finding the strike zone in the opening two innings.

But what hurt St. Mary’s most of all, it had to face East Grand Rapids junior pitcher Zach Schwenneker all afternoon.

Schwenneker was one out away from pitching a complete game, throwing 62⁄3 innings of two-hit baseball by keeping any and every pitch down in the strike zone, which resulted in 10 ground-ball outs for the Eaglets throughout the duration of the game.

Pioneer head coach Chris LaMange pulled Schwenneker with one out remaining to make way for senior captain Alex Luke to record the final out.

Hall recorded both St. Mary’s hits in the game, singling in the third and the fifth inning.

“My two-seam fastball was really working for me today and it felt real good,” Schwenneker said. “The big lead early on definitely made me a lot more comfortable and confident out there.”

Entering the championship game Saturday, St. Mary’s coach Nick DiPonio wanted his team to continue with the same intensity and execution it displayed throughout its dynamic run to the state finals.

The intensity was there. But the execution, well, that was somewhat of a different story.

In the first inning, after Ahart walked two batters and gave up a single, a bunt by the Pioneers’ Alan Snyder dribbled along the chalk of the first-base line.

Ahart thought the ball was in foul territory and picked it up, while the umpire said it trickled and stayed on the white chalk, calling it a fair ball.

When Ahart picked up the ball, he attempted to tag out Snyder, only to have the ball pop out of his glove, causing everyone to be safe and two runs to score.

A balk to the next batter allowed another run to score and gave the Pioneers a 3-0 lead very quickly.

“They did a very nice job putting the pressure on us early,” DiPonio said. “I thought we were very intense, and at times we executed, but there was a play here and there that hurt us and that can usually be the difference in a game.”

The Pioneers (29-8) were able to take advantage of the St. Mary’s miscues. The ensuing batter, Kyle Wollett, crushed a double in the left-center field gap to score another run.

Ahart threw an astonishing 41 pitches in the first inning.

Three more walks and two wild pitches in the second inning allowed East Grand Rapids to score two more runs.

After two innings, the Pioneers had scored six runs on only three hits.

“Throughout this whole tournament, we have really been jumping on teams in the first couple innings and we were able to do it again today,” LaMange said. “Our guys had really good approaches at the plate.”

Junior Matt Johnson came on to pitch for Ahart with one out in the second inning and did a fantastic job, throwing 52⁄3 scoreless innings allowing just one walk, but the lack of any St. Mary’s offense took away from Johnson’s performance.

One thing is for certain, the Eaglets will certainly have the potential to get back to Battle Creek a year from now.

With an underclass flooding the pages of its lineup card this year, St. Mary will return most of its big guns, all with the experience of knowing what its like to get to Battle Creek.

The loss simply made them hungrier for next season.

“We have to get better and we have to work very hard in the offseason,” Ahart said. “This is not going to happen next year, I can promise you that.”