Lakeview poised for district run after ‘under the radar’ season

ST. CLAIR SHORES — It was a down year for St. Clair Shores Lakeview baseball in 2022, there’s no debating that.

While holding a 14-13 regular season record and finishing fourth in the Macomb Area Conference Blue after moving up from the MAC Gold, a 9-2 first-round loss to the would-be state runner ups, Grosse Pointe North, left a bad taste on the 2022 season.

“Last year was rough, but this year, there’s been great leadership from both the seniors and the juniors,” Lakeview coach Scott Kuhle said. “They’ve been great showing up to winter workouts and stuff like that.”

The Lakeview veterans not only have the team poised for a district run with a 15-6 record this season, but also a game away from clinching the MAC Blue league title, which would be the squad’s first league title since they were MAC Gold co-champions in 2019 with Madison Heights Lamphere.

Mirrored to a ’90s Atlanta Braves or 2010s San Francisco Giants that captured three World Series titles, Lakeview (15-6) has shown this year why they have one of the strongest pitching staffs in the MAC.

Headlined by juniors Evan Robinson and Bryce Ong, Lakeview’s stable of arms has been a prominent part of their success throughout the season.

While Robinson comes at teams with his elite-level velocity, Ong and junior Jacob Macks are lethal with their pitch mix and speed change. Senior Lucas Kelley, a three-year varsity player, has also provided efficient innings this season as well.

Robinson, who notably struck out 12-straight in a May 8 win against Marysville, said he’s focused on one thing this year on the mound that’s paid off for him.

“I think I attack teams early,” Robinson said. “I come at them early and they don’t know how to speed up to my fastball, and I just attack.”

To coincide with their staff, Lakeview’s offense has been hot when it needed to be this season, courtesy of seniors Easton Demeulenaere (1B), Matthew Ritter (SS), Samuel Chernisky (C), Keegan Tackett (OF), and juniors Cole Donaldson (C), Connor Loiselle (2B), Dylan Schoenherr (RF), Aiden Cholewa (CF) and Macks (3B).

Demeulenaere and Chernisky are both currently committed to further their baseball careers at Lake Michigan College.

Aside from impact at the plate and on the mound, there’s one component Kuhle said he had been waiting to have on the varsity level for Lakeview.

“I knew coming in that the juniors, when they were freshman, had some depth, had some guys that could play and had some arms,” Kuhle said. “I was really looking forward to this season just in terms of depth. Last year, we got stuck playing guys in some positions because we didn’t have guys behind them.”

Having no sophomores on the squad, except for possible late-season call ups, Lakeview’s eight seniors and slew of juniors are eager to start the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 state tournament, and they’re far too familiar with their district opponents.

It’s been either Grosse Pointe North or Grosse Pointe South as a district opponent since the 2019 season, with Lakeview besting South in 2021 before falling to North, and Lakeview falling to North again last season.

Now, it’s Lakeview’s turn once more to face South in the opening round of districts on June 3 at 10 a.m. at Grosse Pointe North. The winner will face the winner of Grosse Pointe North vs. Harper Woods.

Regardless of the opponent in front of them, this is a new Lakeview team with a new set of standards and expectations.

“We’re very under the radar,” Robinson said. “I don’t think people know about how we work and how we come to practice every day and our coach gets us going, and he’s just a leader for us.”