Michigan high school baseball: Evan Parks' dominance leads GR Forest Hills Eastern in Division 2
EAST LANSING — Evan Parks did it all in his final game at Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern.
The senior Butler commit pitched a complete game shutout and went 3-for-3 with an RBI and run to help the Hawks (39-4) beat Grand Rapids Christian 3-0 in the Division 2 state finals Saturday at McLane Stadium on the campus of Michigan State.
The 6-foot-3, 179-pound right-hander struck out nine and walked three while allowing only one hit to Eagles (27-9) batters and taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
"The thing is, that's Evan Parks," FHE coach Ian Hearn said. "So what you saw today is what he's been doing for four years offensively (and) pitching wise. You didn't get a chance to see him play defense today, but that's just the way Evan plays. He always puts us in position to win. We're very fortunate to have him."
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After striking out a pair through two scoreless innings on the mound, Parks smoked a two-out opposite field double off the right field wall to score Caleb Kuiper.
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead into the third, where Parks worked around an error to strand a runner at second. A diving catch by center fielder Collin Fridsma helped maintain the lead.
Parks received additional support in the top of the fourth. With one out, Mac DenBraber singled and Brian Messing doubled. That set up an RBI groundout by freshman Max Ferrick to put FHE up 2-0.
The lead grew to 3-0 after Parks started a two-out rally with a single up the middle, and scored on a single to right field by Leo Hearn, son of the Eagles' coach.
"That's a big hit," Parks said. "You need runs to win games, and if you've got extra runs that always helps. It makes (you) more confident on the mound. You can kind of work behind in counts, maybe (roll the) dice a bit up late in the count. But that helps pitching a lot better with staying confident."
Back on the mound, Parks showed the confidence the extra run provided. He struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth and pumped his fist as he jaunted off the field six outs away from history.
"You gotta get outs to win this game, and when you strike out the side it kind of locks up the other team, especially when you have runs before that," he said. "And it kind of shuts down the other team, and you just keep pumping strikes, makes it a lot harder to come back."
He surrendered his first hit in the bottom of the sixth on a swinging bunt single by the Eagles' Nathan Hedlund, but rebounded to induce a groundout and strikeout.
"Brian Messing made a great play on it," Parks said of the Eagles' lone hit. "Tough that he couldn't get it, but (I was) just staying dialed in to just throwing strikes."
A 6-4-3 double play in the bottom of the seventh inning handed Forest Hills Eastern its first state title in its first finals appearance. Hearn, who completed his seventh season with the Hawks, picked up his second state championship.
For Grand Rapids Christian, junior right-hander Camden Seth took the loss on the mound, surrendering 10 hits in seven innings. The Eagles also made two errors to the Hawks' one.
With Parks headed to Indianapolis to become a Bulldog next season, FHE will miss its dugout-leading senior, but Hearn expressed optimism about his program's future.
"We are we are graduating some outstanding seniors, phenomenal baseball players, and we do believe that we have some amazing outstanding returners," Hearn said. "And as far as I know, we're really thick with talent all the way down through fifth grade. So we're really excited, so the plan is to reload."
Contact Mason Young: MEYoung@freepress.com Follow him on Twitter: @Mason_Young_0.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Evan Parks' dominance leads Forest Eastern Hills to D2 baseball title
