Traverse City St. Francis wins another Division 3 state title

Traverse City St. Francis turned last year’s breakthrough into something bigger, a back-to-back championship run that ended with a 9-0 win over Kalamazoo Christian at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium in East Lansing. The Gladiators finished 34-5 and claimed their second straight Division 3 state title, a rare feat in baseball because one hot arm or one bad inning can swing an entire postseason.

The win carried extra weight in Grand Traverse County because it confirmed that 2025 was not a one-season spike. That first title, a 5-4 victory over Marine City, ended a 35-year state championship drought and gave the program its first baseball crown since 1990. One year later, St. Francis was back on the same stage, with the same expectations and a roster built to meet them.

That continuity showed in the final. St. Francis returned both of its best pitchers and a core of eight seniors from the 2025 team, and senior Lanse Vos delivered the kind of performance that defines a championship game. He threw six scoreless innings and drove in four runs, helping St. Francis score nine runs on 10 hits without an error. Vos, Sam Wildfong, Braxton Lesinski, John St. Peter and Evan Belanger all contributed to the offense as the Gladiators pulled away early and never let Kalamazoo Christian settle in.

Head coach Tom Passinault said the group had confidence all season and, once it reached East Lansing, it was “rolling.” That kind of continuity matters in a small school program, where coaching stability, player development and a shared expectation of success can matter as much as raw talent. The result was a team that did not just reach the final, but controlled it from start to finish.

Kalamazoo Christian, making its first appearance in a state championship game, finished 26-9 after the loss. St. Francis had already shown its postseason ceiling by beating Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest 13-3 in five innings in the semifinal, then followed with a shutout in the final two days later.

For St. Francis, the title strengthens a program that has gone from chasing history to setting the standard. For Grand Traverse County, it is another reminder that one of its most visible athletic programs is no longer building toward a title. It is defending one.