Prep Baseball Report

Division 2 Team Of The Week: Week 1 And 2 - Goodrich


Bruce Hefflinger and Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Michigan Senior Writer and Editor in Chief/Scout

 

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Division 2 Team Of The Week: Week 1 And 2 - Goodrich

GOODRICH - If you don’t allow a run, you can’t get beat. Three shutouts last week has Goodrich 3-0 on the season and accolades as the Prep Baseball Report Division 2 Team of the Week.

An 8-0 victory over Owosso followed up a 14-0, 12-0 sweep of Imlay City for Bob Foreback’s squad, which also is ahead of Owosso 12-2 in a game that was suspended in the third inning and will be finished on Thursday followed by another game with their league rivals.

“This is the deepest team I’ve ever had here,” noted Foreback, who started coaching in 1995. “I never had the quality and depth we have this year. We’ve got guys on the bench who would have started on many other teams.”

It starts on the mound with Noah Keller, the seventh-rated 2022 left-handed pitcher in the state. After throwing a no-hitter with 13 strikeouts in a five-inning win over Imlay City, the Cornell signee fanned 16 and walked one in a four-hitter against Owosso and Jay Tuttle, the 10th-ranked junior right-handed pitcher in Michigan.  

“It was a good matchup of two of the best pitchers in our league,” Foreback reflected. “Tuttle fanned eight of the first nine and Noah seven of the first nine.”

But it was what his squad did after that which impressed Foreback.

“I liked our attitude,” the veteran coach explained. “We were facing a guy that was good, striking out eight of the first nine, but we stayed positive and tried to figure out how to get an edge. We scored our first run on a wild pitch that didn’t get far away from the catcher. There’s just no quit in this team which I like.”

Junior Jack Foreback hit a grand slam against Owosso and has nine RBIs on the season while hitting .455. A utility player seeing time at first, outfield and DH, the son of the head coach is getting plenty of help from teammates like Brady Gouthier, a Delta commit who is averaging .500 and was the winning pitcher in one game against Imlay City. Additionally, senior Joey Belanger, a DH/1B, is batting .333.

“Last year after Covid I had no idea how we’d do with only two back that had played for me,” Foreback said. “How would the JV players transfer to playing in our league? But we went 21-1 and won our league. This year we have a lot back and I told them I expect greatness. We have four guys committed to college which is a lot for a school our size.”

Josh Denton, who will pitch on Thursday, is a Lawrence Tech commit while shortstop Travis Liford is going to Adrian.

“If we can stay focused, it looks like our pitching will be strong,” concluded Foreback, who has six starters back from a year ago. “We just need to make sure we score runs which hasn’t been a problem so far. When we are slumping, we need to find ways to score.”

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