‘AWESOME EXPERIENCE’
Royal Oak’s Brady Schrems is MVP as MAC-OAA All-Star Game ends in tie
There weren’t too many familiar faces for Brady Schrems in Tuesday’s MAC/OAA All-Star Game at Jimmy John’s Field.
Aside from his head coach at Royal Oak, Greg Porter, an assistant coach for the OAA squad, about the only player Schrems recognized right off the bat was Sterling Heights’ Austin Golpe, who he’d faced in districts, and again in the eighth inning Tuesday.
But his OAA teammates are certainly going to remember his name and face, after Schrems came up with one of the biggest hits of the day for the Oakland County squad, drilling a basesloaded double to the fence in right-center field in the eightrun,
Online: and giving the OAA a momentary 10-7 lead, before the two teams settled into a 10-10 tie.
“It was great. I mean, it was an awesome experience with you know, I don’t I didn’t know any of these guys before and I’ve heard all about them so it was cool to meet everyone and be in the same team as them all, so it was great,” said Schrems, who narrowly missed a grand slam with the blast.
“There’s lots of fun.
“I didn’t really expect anything like this.
“Sure. But yeah, it was lots of fun.”
The Ravens catcher, who is going on to Jackson College next season, earned MVP honors for the OAA, which fell behind the MAC early on.
The MAC all-stars sent 11 batters to the plate in the first, taking a 6-0 lead on an RBI single by Fraser’s Aiden Manzella, bases-loaded walks by Stevenson’s Dane Richards and L’Anse Creuse North’s Luke Lindsay and a two-run single by Luke Keys.
The OAA got on the board in the second on a two-run triple by Rochester’s Joe Lulgjuraj, but the MAC added another run on Keys’ RBI single in the third, making it a 7-2 lead.
Lulgjuraj led off the OAA’s eight-run fifth inning with a single, scoring on an RBI single by Troy’s Austin Cicerone. Stoney Creek’s Ben Korson and Bloomfield Hills’ Rusty Oddo added RBI singles, then Oxford’s Owen Schihl drew a bases-loaded walk to keep the bases juiced for Schrems, who ripped a shot to the right-center gap to break a 7-7 tie and give the OAA a 10-7 lead.
It would only last to the bottom of the inning, when the MAC re-tied the game with three runs, the last of which came on an RBI single by Marysville’s Trenton Vagi, knotting it at 10-10.
Grosse Pointe North’s Jordan Arseneau, Manzella, Golpe and St. Clair’s Logan Ellis kept the OAA off the board over the final three innings — despite the OAA loading the bases in the ninth — while Rochester Adams’ Colton Jones, Lulgjuraj and Lake Orion’s Casey Robertson did the same for the OAA.