State runner-up banner, toughest schedule in D2 only motivate Liggett baseball

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — The ranking system tends to be a flawed analysis of where teams are in their respective divisions.

For example, in baseball, the Michigan High School Athletic Association ranked reigning Division 1 champion Novi High School ninth to start the season.

Graduating college talent can move the needle in the opposite direction for a team, which is understandable to a degree, but teams need to be given the opportunity to prove that they belong or that they can continue their success from the previous season.

For Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, a state finals runner-up finish last year placed the Knights 12th in the opening rankings.

Take into account the 2023 seniors who now play Division 1 college baseball, a longtime coach departing, and having the toughest schedule of any Division 2 team, and maybe there’s a case for why Liggett was ranked where it was.

In the eyes of Liggett, this is nothing new, and if anything, it’s only added motivation for a team with five state championships since 2010.

“Every year, we’re counted out and people take us out of the rankings or put us lower in the rankings, and then we go and prove it,” senior first baseman Zachary Hill said. “Even after being a state runner-up, we were outside the top 10 in our division. It’s like, ‘All right, if you’re not going to respect us, then we’ll go out there and show you.’”

In its first season competing in Division 2 in 2023, Liggett acclimated quickly with a trip to the state championship game, losing 2-1 to Grand Rapids Christian.

Without five Division 1 college baseball players and a five-time state champion head coach in Dan Cimini, who led the Knights for 17 seasons before becoming the head coach at Northville High School, the winds of change were moving quicker than anyone could have anticipated in the program.

To counteract all the moving parts, Liggett called upon one of its own to take over the dugout this season in Jay Ricci, a 1994 Liggett graduate who played Division 1 baseball at the University of Dayton. Ricci previously served as the junior varsity baseball head coach at Liggett.

“For me, I’ve put on the uniform and I put on the UL, and I loved every part of it,” Ricci said. “To come back and coach the middle school team, the freshman team, the JV team, and now the varsity team, for me — and my kids go here — I love it. I love the school. I’ll do anything to support the school and try to give anybody that’s a part of it the best experience possible.”

Having someone with the passion for the program that Ricci possesses is infectious for the team, and it needs it now more than ever with new names and faces taking over the everyday lineup.

The mainstays like seniors Preston Barr, a University of Michigan baseball commit, and Nick Greene, who both started in the state championship, provide leadership alongside Hill, a senior captain and Siena Heights University football commit.

Greene (INF) and Barr (P/INF) were everyday guys for the Knights in 2023, so they know what is expected each day at the varsity level.

For guys like Hill, who are new to the lineup after sitting behind seniors, it’s a learning process being the veteran.

“It’s been an adjustment,” Hill said. “Taking a leadership role, you know you got to do things you didn’t have to do last year, like being an example and showing younger guys how it’s supposed to be done, and being another voice for your coaches and putting their words onto the field for your guys.”

Players such as senior Andrew Stalker (P/OF), junior Drew Johnson (C/INF), junior Gary Stacy (OF) and junior Ben Wehrmann (C) are all filling out the batting order as guys looking to come into their own this season.

The pitching staff is where the Knights plan to do damage with Barr, junior Jackson Fetter, junior Mack Phillips, junior Cameron Veitengruber, junior Edwin Narva, sophomore Javion Gray, sophomore Kanaan Taylor, and sophomore Joseph Harris expected to contribute innings.

Ricci has just about everyone on the roster at his disposal to throw on the mound, but he said Fetter and Phillips were guys the team planned to lean on alongside Barr.

“They both (Fetter and Phillips) have what’s considered a stereotypical pitcher physique,” Ricci said. “One is 6-foot-7 and the other is 6-foot-8, so they have those pitcher bodies. They’re not necessarily going-to-blow-you-away-with-the-fastball kind of guys, but we’ve really been working in the offseason on locating their pitches and working that velocity behind it, and getting good secondary pitches to keep these kids off balance. That’s really what they did.”

It’s going to be a community effort across the board for Liggett in 2024 with everyone looking to contribute with the bats and find their footing as everyday starters.

The state runner-up banner is currently hanging on the outfield fence near left-center field, and it serves as a constant reminder to the team of the unfinished business it has to attend to. Johnson said they have the group to do it.

“I think we’re scrappy,” Johnson said. “I think we have a different mentality than years previous. Obviously, losing a bunch of guys is always tough, but I like this group we got. I think we’re close and I think we got a great mentality. We got the same goal. The goal is to win a state championship.”

Currently 5-8 after already going to battle with some of the top teams in the state such as North Branch (D2 No. 12), Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (D1 No. 4), and Detroit U of D Jesuit, Liggett will have its work cut out for it this season in a grueling Catholic High School League consisting of St. Mary’s, Detroit Catholic Central and Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, currently ranked No. 2 in Division 1.

Liggett has the talent to make it back to East Lansing, but Ricci said he wants to emphasize winning the right way.

“I talk to these guys and I tell them that they’re not going to remember April 27 at Catholic Central when we lost 4-2,” Ricci said. “You’re just not. You might remember winning a state championship game, but you’re going to remember the whole experience in its entirety. We want to create that experience for these kids, and there’s going to be ups and downs, and they may wish they got more playing time, but we want to make sure they leave here and they feel like they had such a good time that they want to come back here. That’s important to me. I played here, and I love coming back here. To me, that’s important.”