By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Goodrich —Martian pitcher Gavin Dunn held the Cavaliers to just one hit over seven innings, striking out 14 batters with Martian Catcher Carson Raether getting three hits as Goodrich shutout Corunna 7-0 in the first game of two at Goodrich.
In the nightcap, Martian Cross Darby pitched seven scoreless innings giving up just four hits and fanning 12 Cavaliers in an 8-1 win for Goodrich.
“Great wins against an outstanding Corunna team,” said Head Coach Ben Almasy. “We maximized our opportunities to score and the pitchers threw strikes. Very proud of the boys and the way they are working in practice every day. Good start to a long league season.”
The Martians improved to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the Flint Metro League. The Cavaliers dropped to 3-3 and 0-2 in the Flint Metro League.
The win moved Almasy over the 600 win plateau as a high school baseball coach.
“I’m glad the 600 (win) stuff is over,” said Almasy, who as of Wednesday was at 600-166-4. “A year and a half ago I did not think I’d be living. We are through it and a lot of good things are happening now. I’m in a good place.”
Almasy, 49, a 2021 Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee who tallied the 600 wins over almost three decades, stepped in as the Martian skipper following the retirement of long time coach Bob Foreback at the end of the 2023 season.
In 2022 Almasy was diagnosed with NASH, a nonalcoholic fatty liver steatohepatitis. On Jan. 9, 2023, he underwent liver transplant surgery and by June he was back at baseball practice.
Almasy played baseball at Mt. Morris spent one season there as an assistant before getting the head coaching job at Hamady High School. After leading the Hamady Hawks for a year, he stepped in at Flint Southwestern coaching for the 1998-99 season.
“I was at Hamady when we defeated Genesee High School 4-2, the first win of my career,” he said.
Almasy worked for about five years in collegiate baseball along with travel teams before heading back to the high school ranks at Mt. Morris from 2005-2015. He then coached at New Lothrop High School from 2016 until 2022 and took the Hornets to the Division 3 state championship game before losing to Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett.
Almasy brings 11 league, 10 district, four regional titles and one state championship final to Goodrich.