MARQUETTE – After 44 years of waiting, the Marquette Blues baseball team brought home an American Legion state title a week and a half ago and on Wednesday night, the celebration continued.

Marquette Blues players and coaches were recognized by Legion Post 44 with a banquet for their Class A state championship as well as the time and effort they put forth this season.

“Winning the state title means everything to us,” post Commander Tom Ranta said. “It’s a very big deal. The kids work so hard to get to that point, so it means a lot to us to see that satisfaction on their faces.

“One of the pillars that the American Legion was built on is youth and another is Americanism. By wearing that patch on the field, they are supporting the red, white and blue and we will support them as long as we can.”

Blues manager Derek Swajanen has been coaching and managing for almost two decades before he finally broke through with this year’s team.

“It’s been a long time coming and it took me 18 years as a coach to get one,” he said. “We had good pitching, good hitting and good defense this season and everything came together at the same time.

“At the end of every year when people ask me if I’ll coach again, I say I don’t know. Next year, however, I will be back.”

Blues pitcher and outfielder Riley Lynch felt that having some talented high school players was what helped put the Blues over the top.

“After having the high school kids came over to play, we knew that we had a huge chance to win the title,” he said. “We had a great pitching staff and we also did a great job hitting. It’s just a great feeling to finally bring a championship up here.”

Blues pitcher and Class A Hal Newhouser award winner McKinley Larson said that one of the best things about winning the title was finally vanquishing some teams that had beaten them in the past.

“Growing up, we always lost to downstate teams,” he said. “We’d make it to the playoffs and there would be two U.P. teams and eight downstate teams and we would just get massacred. So it feels really good to finally beat some teams from down there and that’s the first time we beat Hudson ever.

“After we won that game, we were so confident going into the rest of them.”

Larson won’t be on next year’s squad as he will be trying out as a walk-on at Central Michigan University, but thinks that the team has a great chance to bring home another title.

“This team has a great chance to repeat,” he said. “I’m excited to watch them play next year and I’ll be there supporting them every game.”

Lynch, on the other hand, will be back with the Blues next summer after playing ball for Calvin College in Grand Rapids during the spring. He also is feeling positive about Marquette’s chances.

“I cannot wait for next summer,” he said. “We only have three kids leaving, so we’ll be powerful again. We’ll definitely be ready for a repeat.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.