(New Buffalo, MI) - The New Buffalo High School baseball team came back furiously against River Valley to win the District 4 title. River Valley scored three first-inning runs, but the Bison finished all of the scoring in the bottom of the first and second innings to win 7-3 at Bridgman on Sunday, June 2nd.

 

After a rocky beginning, senior Giovanny Sanchez Perez, with help from his defense, pitched brilliantly the rest of the way for the Bison.

 

“I was feeling it. I was in the zone,” he said.

 

Two of the runs were driven by a second-inning double from Ethan Lijewski, who made several outstanding plays at shortstop.

 

“There are no words to describe how we all feel right now,” he said.

 

The performance of Sanchez Perez from the mound came at the right moment for the Bison, who relied heavily on freshman pitcher Jeffrey Tertel throughout much of the season because of his consistency in the strike zone.

 

Tertel, considered the ace of the pitching staff, went the distance in the 5-4 victory over Michigan Lutheran on Saturday to advance to the finals. He allowed just one earned run. Tertel was ineligible to take the mound in the finals because of a Michigan High School Athletic Association rule that requires three days of rest from pitching after throwing 76 or more pitches in a game. He also drove in what turned out to be the district title-winning run with a double to the left field fence.

 

“That felt really good,” he said.   

 

The Bison play in the regionals Wednesday at Gobles against Kalamazoo Hackett at 4:30 p.m.