St. Francis rolls into Division 3 state title game after semifinal win

St. Francis turned a state semifinal into a short afternoon at Michigan State, pounding Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest 13-3 in five innings to move one win from a rare repeat championship. The victory sent the Gladiators back to the Division 3 final and kept one of Grand Traverse County’s most accomplished spring programs on the edge of local history.

At McLane Stadium in East Lansing, the Gladiators used pressure on the bases and a mistake-filled opponent to end the game early under the mercy rule. St. Francis entered the semifinal at 33-5 and took advantage of eight Lutheran Northwest errors while stealing 10 bases, a formula that made the game look less like a tense semifinal and more like a team built for another title run.

Freshman infielder John St. Peter delivered one of the biggest swings of the day with a two-run triple and later added an RBI single. That kind of production helped St. Francis control the pace from the start and avoid the kind of long, draining game that can tax a roster with only two days before the championship round.

The win also reinforced a trend under head coach Tom Passinault. St. Francis is 4-0 in state semifinal games under Passinault, a record that mirrors how composed the program has looked on the MHSAA’s biggest stage. Senior captain Sam Wilfong said the group was more battle-tested after last year’s championship run, and pitcher Lanse Vos said the team had built on that experience after departed seniors urged the current roster to “go run it back this year.”

That mindset now carries into Saturday’s Division 3 final against Kalamazoo Christian at 11:30 a.m. at McLane Stadium. St. Francis will be trying to become the first repeat Division 3 champion in 13 years, a mark that would underscore how firmly the program has settled among the state’s elite.

The stakes are especially high for Traverse City and Grand Traverse County. St. Francis won the 2025 Division 3 title by edging Marine City 5-4, its first baseball state championship since 1990, and another win would give the school back-to-back crowns and one of the strongest championship runs in program history.