Eight players from Oakland County, including two each from Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, were named to this year’s Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Dream Team.

A Division 1 regional finalist, Brother Rice’s Dream Team pair are senior infielder Cole Van Ameyde and sophomore catcher Broder Katke.

Van Ameyde, off to Michigan State in the fall, batted .398 for Rice, led the team with a .547 on-base percentage and had a team-high 10 home runs while tying for the team lead of 40 RBIs.

Katke hit .374 on the year, leading the Warriors in doubles with 17 while driving in 39 runs and swiping 16 bags, all while serving as a fixture behind the plate.

The Eaglets were repped by the tandem of Luke Crighton and Hudson Brzustewicz.

Committed to Indiana, Crighton started his spring with a no-hitter, and finished it nearly just as strong, tossing a complete-game shutout in the Eaglets’ district championship win.

A Notre Dame commit, Brzustewicz was just as integral to the Eaglets’ postseason success. He hit a grand slam in the district semifinal win against Detroit Country Day, drove in a pair of runs in the regional championship against Lake Shore and had four RBIs in the D2 quarterfinal victory over Yale.

Novi southpaw Uli Fernsler (TCU), also in the top-tier of the state’s talented senior pitching crop, drew in scouts thanks to a 0.33 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 42 2/3 IP.

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep Drake Roa was selected as an infielder but also dealt it on the hill for one of the top D2 programs in the state. In addition to batting a team-high .464 average, Roa homered three times, drove in 24 runs and nabbed 30 bags. On the bump, he pitched 19 frames, converting all seven of his save opportunities with just a 0.37 ERA.

An all-LVC, all-district, and all-region pick, senior catcher Kaiden Kapa made the Dream Team from Waterford Kettering. He ended the year with 19 RBIs and posted six three-hit performances over the course of the year for the Captains.

Rochester Adams outfielder Koltyn “Flip” Watters was the lone freshman to make the Dream Team. He led the Highlanders in both batting average (.469) and OBP (.545), along with a handful of doubles, 21 RBIs and 22 stolen bases.

Bay City Western’s Luke LaCourse was selected as the 2025 Mr. Baseball.

Division 1

Joining Van Ameyde and Katke from Brother Rice (both first-team), senior pitcher Blake Ilitch and freshman outfielder Maksim Neshov from the Warriors made the D1 team as second-team selections.

Neshov made an immediate impact, as Katke did last year, with a team-high .417 BA. He accrued eight doubles, homered three times and tied for the team lead in stolen bases with 28.

Ilitch, part of the team’s formidable two-ace staff along with Cole Duhaime, pitched 51 2/3 innings and enjoyed a team-best 1.63 ERA with a 1.03 WHIP. The Ole Miss commit had just a .132 batting average against and struck out 90 on the year.

In addition to Dream Team picks Fernsler, Kapa and Watters, Rochester Adams junior outfielder Matt Toepper was also a first-team selection. He finished with a .436 average, and led the Highlanders in doubles (seven), triples (three), RBIs (25) and stolen bases (30).

West Bloomfield senior Slade Moore and Walled Lake Northern senior infielder Carson Beattie each received second-team nods, also.

When he wasn’t making plays with his glove in center field for the Lakers, Moore, committed to Michigan, made his mark as another of the state’s best left-handers on the mound. He had a pair of five-inning postseason outings in which he struck out eight batters both times and wasn’t charged with any earned runs in either, including West Bloomfield’s 2-0 regional semifinal victory over Lakeland.

Beattie was an on-base machine for the Knights, and along with a slew of walks, he finished with three home runs and 36 RBIs on the season.

Division 2

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s each placed a pair of players — all juniors — on the first-team D2 squad.

From a 29-win Irish team were Roa, also from the Dream Team, and Henry Ewles, selected as a utility player.

Ewles tossed a team-high 65 1/3 innings for Notre Dame Prep and went 7-4 in 11 starts. He had phenomenal metrics with just a 1.29 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, striking out 49 with only 10 walks allowed. At the plate, Ewles batted .420, homering three times while driving in 37 runs, best on the Irish.

Also from the Dream Team for St. Mary’s were Crighton and Brzustewicz.

Division 4

A pair of Novi Christian Academy seniors, infielder Tyler Brown and outfielder Luke Gallagher, were each second-team selections, as well as Royal Oak Shrine senior first baseman Jackson Poulton.

In a sweep of Allen Park Inter-City Baptist, two of the Warriors’ best wins of the season, Gallagher combined to go 5-for-8, while Brown went 5-for-5 with nine RBIs, including a double short of the cycle in a 16-5 victory on April 29.

Poulton singled in the go-ahead run and drove in a pair for the Knights in their 3-1 win over Our Lady of the Lakes for Shrine’s district championship.