EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Last season, the Olivet baseball team felt like it deserved to be one of the ten teams in the Dean Shippey Capital Diamond Classic.

The Eagles didn’t get in and used it as motivation this season.

With a 33-3 record entering Monday’s Diamond Classic championship game, the Eagles would take down Grand Ledge, 4-3, to win the school’s first-ever Diamond Classic title.

“Coming into high school, we knew it was a big deal. We wanted in it. Covid (in 2020) we didn’t get the chance and two years after we got cheated out of it. So, it feels nice to come in and get a win,” Olivet senior shortstop Ramsey Bousseau said.

While winning a Diamond Classic is new to Olivet, head coach Bill Whitely already knew what it took to win the tournament.

In 2004, Whitely coached Charlotte to a Diamond Classic win, which also came against Grand Ledge.

Over the weekend, Olivet won a district title for the second straight season and Whitely knows which one carries a greater meaning.

“Oh, Diamond Classic is bigger than a district,” Whitely said. “You’re playing with the best schools in Lansing. We’re the smallest school in D2. We’re one student from D3 and you’re playing schools triple your size. This is bigger than a district title to me and I think it is to the kids too.”

The Eagles took down Lansing Catholic, Okemos and Grand Ledge to win the title and senior Cam Frazier was named the Pat O’Keefe MVP of the tournament after driving in the go-ahead run in the semifinals and throwing a complete game in the championship.