Rudyard Sends Off Baseball Team to East Lansing

RUDYARD – The Rudyard community held a send off for the high school baseball team as the team heads to compete in the Div. 4 state semifinals in East Lansing.

The send off was complete with a police escort and community members lining the side of the road as the team bus set off for Michigan State.

For the seniors on this year’s team, baseball is the third sport in which they’ve reached the state semifinals during their time at Rudyard.

The group of boys reached the 8-man state semifinals this past fall and the basketball state semifinals in 2021.

Head coach Billy Mitchell said it’s an incredible accomplishment for that group and he’s hoping they can cap it off with their first state championship.

“They’ve worked so hard for this,” he said. “They started when they were kids in every sport, not just this. To have the final piece of the puzzle finally there to make it down to Michigan State for a baseball final four — to go with their basketball and football one — is just amazing. It’s amazing to see the joy they have, the happiness and just how excited they are to go down and play.”

Rudyard will face Riverview Gabriel Richard in the semifinal game at 5:00 on Thursday.

“We have the people and we’ve been training our whole lives. I think it’s all been just for this,” said senior Brett Mayer.