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Taylor North two wins away from bringing Michigan its first LLWS title since 1959
Taylor North will need wins against Hawaii and the winner of the Ohio vs. South Dakota semifinal to become Little League World Series champions. (Credit: Little League, Channel 19/YouTube/MGN)

Taylor North two wins away from bringing Michigan its first LLWS title since 1959

TAYLOR, Mich. (BVM) — The state of Michigan has not seen a Little League World Series (LLWS) champion since the Hamtramck squad of 1959. In fact, only 13 teams from Michigan have ever made the series. But over 60 years later, the Taylor North team representing the state in the 2021 LLWS is just two wins away from a title.

The Taylor North squad is competing in its first-ever postseason after combining the North Central, Northeast and Northwest programs into one. After winning district and state titles, manager Rick Thorning’s guys went on to dominate at the Great Lakes Regional. 

They opened regional play with a 10-0 victory over Wisconsin, and also beat Illinois by the same margin two games later. In between was a 9-1 victory over Indiana which was also followed up by a win of the same score over the Hamilton, Ohio team — who also advanced to the world series — punching Taylor North’s ticket to the 16-team national bracket.

Since competing in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, it has been a wild ride for Michigan. The team began with a dominant 8-0 win over Florida, staying true to its dominance throughout the postseason. After the win, Taylor North had outscored its opponents by an astounding 170-10 margin through postseason play.

Earlier this week, however, came a tough contest against Texas. Down 5-0 early on in the game, Taylor North needed to find a way to climb back. A second-inning grand slam by catcher Cameron Thorning allowed them to do just that, closing the gap to 5-4.

By the fifth inning, Taylor North took the lead with runs by Jackson Surma and Jakob Furkas. But the real dominance was on the mound, as Gavin Ulin came in to pitch four-plus innings of scoreless baseball against the Abilene Wylie team.

The close call kept Michigan undefeated in the double-elimination bracket. However, they would not be as lucky on Wednesday against a tough Hawaii squad. In a dominant one-hit shutout performance by Ryan Keanu, Hawaii earned a 2-0 win, handing Michigan its first postseason loss.

As a result, Taylor North’s backs were up against the wall Thursday in a do-or-die game versus Texas. Success and resiliency have been two themes for this team throughout the tournament thus far, and both were on full display in a 15-6 win. The 15 runs for Michigan came on 14 hits by nine different players, and were the most runs scored in this year’s world series.

The strong victory earns Michigan a trip to the Hank Aaron bracket final. There, they will get the chance at a rematch with the Honolulu, Hawaii squad Saturday afternoon on ABC.

If Taylor North is to advance, the team will play in the championship game and face off against the winner of the Tom Seaver bracket. There is a potential that Michigan could face off once again against regional foe Ohio, who has gone an impressive 4-0 so far in the LLWS and will do battle Saturday with star Gavin Weir and South Dakota.

Taylor North ace Van Belle is likely to take the mound for the team on Saturday. Behind his arm and strong bats throughout the lineup like Thorning’s, Michigan seems poised to pull out another win. But whatever happens between now and the end of the weekend, this Taylor North team has given fans an exciting ride and a summer to remember for quite some time.