How Rudy Reet, the dog, sparked Mattawan baseball’s second consecutive district title

PORTAGE, MI – In between pitches, before at-bats and most certainly every half inning, a rhythmic echo of chants and barks flood Mattawan baseball's dugout.

The mantra all started courtesy of Colin O’Reilly's 12-year-old goldendoodle, Rudy Reet. It kicks off with O’Reilly and fellow teammate Nathan Murphy shouting Rudy's name, and it ends with a Wildcat team woof.

Rudy, Reet, bark – on repeat.

Rudy's name has ping ponged and culminated its way through the Wildcats’ season and playoff surge, activating a thunderous amount of fun.

It's a Rudy rally cry, and it was heard loud and clear during Mattawan's four-run fifth inning on Saturday. The Wildcats paired that with a trio of stellar pitching performances in ousting Portage Central, 4-1, to win its second consecutive district championship.

Mattawan advances to play Zeeland East in a regional quarterfinal back at Portage Northern on Wednesday.

And they can thank good ole Rudy Reet for that.

FINAL: Mattawan 4, Portage Central 1. Freshman @KadenJominy2026 sits the Mustangs down in order in the 7th, clinching the Wildcats’ 2nd consecutive district championship. @MCSActivities pic.twitter.com/qppW5pkx39

"The guys just like him and we have a chant going with it that helps us out and gets us hype," O’Reilly said. "We just feed off of that and it gets us going. Murphy just kept ripping it in the dugout and we just kept going on with it and now it's like a big thing for us.

"We just rip a Rudy, Reet and then a bark and it's like a 1-2-3," the senior catcher added. "I start it off, and then it goes to Murphy and then the whole team just barks afterwards."

O’Reilly said the whole team has met and pet Rudy Reet this season at least once. That's only added more zest to what's been the new Wildcat culture that includes letting loose, throwing an imaginary, sledgehammer-like dugout boom after a double and most importantly, just having fun.

"For the most part, we as coaches try to stay out of those celebratory things," Mattawan head coach Brett Vaughn said. "Those are all things that they’ve come up with themselves and the dog barking has just culminated throughout the season. We’ve got our celebrations and dances and these are all things that we had in place with last year's team. I allowed our captains to put that together and it's just a part of the culture we created, as long as their appropriate and we’re not negative towards the other team.

"That's how we play," Vaughn added. "We win when we’re able to talk and be excited."

There was plenty of Mattawan chatter during their two games on a sultry Saturday.

But the Wildcats were in the midst of a pitcher's duel through the first four innings of the afternoon title game, as Ball State commit Brendan Garza clashed with Portage Central's Nate Long. Both pitchers danced around early trouble in the first frame, but settled in from there until the fifth inning.

That's when Ian Bouche's base knock kickstarted the Wildcats’ chirping, as the junior advanced to third on an error and later scored on a Long wild pitch for the game's first run. Jaxon Engels's run-scoring single added to the Wildcats’ lead, and Garza reached on another Mustang error, forcing home a third run.

Mattawan breaks the scoreless tie with a 4-run 5th inning thanks to Jaxon Engels’ RBI single and Aiden Warn's RBI double mixed with a pair of Mustang errors. Here's Brendan Garza's RBI on an error in the inning. pic.twitter.com/QAhdfAwGr3

Senior lefty Aiden Warn laced a double into the right centerfield gap, plating Garza all the way around from first – and capping a clutch Wildcat rally with a four-run inning.

"It was one inning with about three errors and a couple of wild pitches and past balls and that's the game," Portage Central coach Cory DeGroote said. "But you have to give Mattawan credit because when they got guys on, they made some big hits. They put the ball in play and forced us to make some plays. We tried to pickoff that runner from first, threw it away and it just kind of snowballed to them getting four on us.

"One through nine, that's a tough lineup to give them seven outs in an inning," DeGroote added. "They just swing it. But Nate threw so good and we just struggled offensively to back him up. I thought we could bunt and move some runners but you have to hand it to their pitchers, they came in and shut us down."

Long pitched four and two thirds innings by allowing six hits, four runs (two earned) and two walks with three strikeouts. The Mustangs would strike for their lone run in the sixth, as a pair of doubles by Peyton Ruthven and Danny Calhoun provided the scoring.

But it was Garza, who completed an impressive feat of pitching in all three district games, that set the tone for what's been a brilliant Wildcat pitching staff. The junior allowed three hits, no runs and three walks with three strikeouts over three and a third innings pitched – he’d finish the district with a total of 13 strikeouts to six walks while allowing seven hits and three runs over 9 and a third innings.

"Of course I want to put my team in a good spot but the bats got hot and they backed me up," Garza said. "I only threw 30 pitches against Northern, so I was good to go the next two games. Against K-Central, I only threw 30 more. I came into this game with the same mentality and came a little short but it feels great to know that our staff is so deep and we can depend on any of them."

Left-hander Josh DeJong pitched two and two thirds innings after Garza exited in the fourth, allowing two hits, one run and one walk with one strikeout. And freshman Kaden Jominy came in with the game on the line and sat down the Mustangs in order in the seventh, earning the save.

"I have full confidence in Jominy coming in, he's a bulldog out there on the mound and he just transforms when he steps out there," Vaughn said. "Even as a freshman, he's got that mentality to go out there and be successful. I have full confidence in my entire pitching staff and that's going to do nothing but continue to help us on this journey as we move forward."

Along for the ride is a dog, a bark, a chant and a mantra that's only given the Wildcats that much more room to celebrate.

"It's always fun with us and we definitely do joke around, but we also know when to just lock in," O’Reilly said. "We all know what we need to do, and it shows in games like this when we come out to play and get hot. When we do that, it's hard to stop us."

Wildcats, Mustangs advance to title game behind more great pitching

A four-run first and third inning kickstarted Mattawan's 10-0 win over Kalamazoo Central in the morning district semifinal.

O’Reilly and Bouche both finished with a pair of hits and Garza and Jominy fused to allow just one hit and no walks while racking up eight strikeouts in five innings.

And after being no-hit through five innings by Kalamazoo Loy Norrix's Isaac Scavarda, Portage Central rallied with a five-run fifth inning to take the lead and eventually win, 7-2.

Taylor Grindall and Easton Hayward combined to allow just six hits, two runs and two walks with seven strikeouts in keeping the Knights at bay over seven innings pitched.

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