On Saturday, the Alpena High School baseball team (24-12, 7-3 BNC) experienced heartbreak after falling to Mount Pleasant in the District Playoffs by a final of 4-0.

Though the pitchers’ duel was a stalemate for the majority of the game, a late offensive surge from the Oilers secured Mount Pleasant the momentum and the win.

“I just told my guys that this is not a moment where we hang our heads,” Alpena coach Eric Mackenzie said. “We accomplished a lot this year: we had a 24-win season, we saw development from every player, and we came ready to compete every day. This group of kids was special…and I’m proud of each and every one of them.”

Despite ultimately suffering a 4-0 loss, Alpena’s ace, Kaleb Donajkowski, took to the mound and delivered an unbelievable performance once again.

News Photo by Steve Jakubcin Alpena High School’s baseball team plays Mount Pleasant on Saturday in Alpena. The Wildcats concluded their season in the District Playoffs with a 4-0 loss.

Five shutout innings on the bump against an unstoppable Mount Pleasant offense presented Alpena with the opportunity to compete with one of the best teams in the district.

Still, the Wildcats struggled to gain any offensive momentum, meaning the game remained scoreless from both sides until the sixth inning.

Although it was a scoreless affair, the Wildcats’ best scoring chance came in the bottom of the first, when Alpena loaded the bases.

Donajkowski singled up the middle into centerfield, Hunter Cohoon singled into left, and Jase Kollen was nailed by a pitch to set Caleb McEwen up with a significant momentum-shifting swing.

McEwen unfortunately went down swinging for strike three as the Oilers escaped the jam.

Neither team generated any form of run-scoring capability until Mount Pleasant drew blood in the top of the sixth.

With two outs and two runners on base, Ty Hutchins singled on a soft line drive into left field, scoring both runners to take a 2-0 lead.

Again, in the top of the seventh, the Oilers extended the lead for some insurance going into the final frame.

A leadoff single fell into short-leftfield, where that runner would steal second base and then third to put himself 90 feet from scoring. On the next pitch, the runner took off for home and was called safe for a 3-0 lead.

The last run resulted from even more timely hitting as Logan Borodychuk dropped a single into center to score the fourth run.

Alpena had the opportunity to answer back in the bottom of the seventh, but Borodychuk finalized his complete-game shutout, setting down the final three Wildcat batters.

“That’s a tough way to lose a baseball game,” Mackenzie said. “We struggled to find timely hitting, and they took advantage of a few mistakes that cost us the game. We played great defense, we pitched incredibly, but we couldn’t find the offensive spark that we needed. It’s unfortunate. I’m really going to miss this group of guys, and I really am beyond pleased with how we performed this year.”