Rouleau, Dunigan boost Tecumseh 10-11-12 baseball's state tournament hopes

TECUMSEH –– Kobe Rouleau stood in the shadow of the grandstand with his hands clasped in front of him. He hesitated for a moment before quietly talking about his evening at Mitchell Park Ball Fields. 

“I was just trying to throw strikes, not walk people,” he said. “Wasn’t trying to throw my hardest, just trying to hit spots. Try to aim low and away so they don’t crush it.” 

If Rouleau was a little shy when discussing his performance in the District 16 final, he was far from it on the mound. Tecumseh 10-11-12 baseball broke through in a 4-1 win against Plymouth Canton to claim the District 16 title and advance to the state tournament, in no small part due to Rouleau and closer Karter Dunigan. 

Rouleau was the dominant force for the first five innings, racking up strikeouts and piecing together quick, clean innings with little to no hard contact. To coach Greg Dolson, the qualities he exhibited were more than a little leaguer taking the mound and throwing as hard as possible. 

“He knows why we’re pitching outside. He knows why we’re pitching inside. He knows why we’re throwing a curveball," coach Dolson said. "He’s a really smart pitcher and when you got a kid like that, you got a shot in a lot of games, especially at this level.” 

When Rouleau’s command started to slip and he walked a few batters in the middle innings, Dolson urged him to keep attacking from the dugout. Rouleau hardly looked over from the mound but acknowledged the challenge by striking out batters or inducing groundouts with sharp fastballs and deceiving curveballs. 

“He wasn’t getting the calls he wanted, pushed a couple buttons and he locked right back in,” Dolson said. “I’m just super proud of him. He’s shown a lot of maturity and growth this year and it’s fun to watch him pound the zone.” 

With Plymouth Canton down to their last three outs, Dolson opted to take out Rouleau and bring in Dunigan to close the game in the top of the sixth. 

“I’ve known Karter my whole life,” Dolson said. “He’s kind of my dog. In a dog spot, when you need a kid to go in and grind one out, I felt good about going to Karter and that’s why we did.” 

Dunigan walked the first batter he faced, then gave up a single as the situation suddenly began to tighten on the mound. Even after Jake Zajdel was thrown out on the basepaths for the first out of the inning, the tension was palpable. 

So, Dunigan offered up a pitch to Connor Wood at the plate. Wood smacked it right into Dunigans glove for a lineout. Dunigan turned and threw out Jacob Sanders at first. 

Double play. Tecumseh took the District 16 title in the blink of an eye, with no cheers from the stands until people fully realized what happened. 

Dolson laughed when talking about the scene in the sixth. 

“When stuff hits the fan, you deploy your dependables and I know Karter’s a dependable,” he said. 

Heading into the state tournament, dependability will be an invaluable asset as Tecumseh faces a new level of competition. Dolson said his team has as good a shot as any to make a run with this current pitching staff of Rouleau, Dunigan, Avery Kane, Jeremy Wines and Carson Scholz, so long as they get the right breaks in the schedule. 

“It really depends on when we play,” he said. “If we play every other day, we’re in a good spot because we can keep kids under 35 (pitches) and be able to bring them back on the next day. If we do that, we can pitch our three best kids two innings and we’ll be in a good spot.” 

Of course, the opportunity at hand comes from the arms that got them there-and the paths they took in the first place. 

“This is why we play Little League,” Dolson said. “Most teams will just go play travel. We don’t. We come back and play for this because we feel it’s important to represent our town and our community in something like this.” 

As for Rouleau? He didn’t hesitate when asked about the win. 

“First (district title) in a while, my first one,” he said. “Everyone on the team’s first one. It feels good.”