It’s hard to celebrate after your team just lost a very big game.

But the Fruitport baseball team definitely had a lot to celebrate on Saturday, based on what it accomplished earlier in the day on Saturday.

The Trojans opened the very busy day with a big 4-0 victory over Frankenmuth in a Division 2 regional championship game.

The win gave the Trojans the first regional title in Fruitport baseball history. It also gave them their third trophy of the season, to go along with a GMAA county tournament title and a Division 2 district championship.

Unfortunately, due to the odd setup of the state tournament, the Trojans didn’t have much time to enjoy their latest title, because they had to turn around and play Standish-Sterling in the state quarterfinal round, just a half hour after beating Frankenmuth.

That game didn’t go as well, and the Trojans fell 7-1 to the Panthers, the No. 2 ranked team in the state.

That ended the season for the Trojans, but what a season it was.

They finished with an incredible 29-6 record, which was the best in school history, eclipsing the previous  record of 25 wins.

The Trojans started out the season  with an 11-game winning streak, then after losing one game won another 13 in a row. Besides their three championships, they had a night to remember on May 16, in front of a huge crowd at Muskegon’s Marsh Field, when they rallied to beat archrival and state-ranked Spring Lake.

“This season was one for the record books, and will leave a lot of memories and a new standard of excellence for future teams to shoot for,” said Fruitport head coach Nick Reed.

Reed was particularly proud of the regional championship his team won on Saturday.

It represented a big comeback for the Trojans, who stumbled at the end of the regular season, losing four of five games and squandering a chance to win a conference title.

But they turned things back on when the state tournament began, posting wins over Oakridge and Whitehall in districts and Sparta and Frankenmuth in regionals, and had the best postseason run in Fruitport baseball history.

“Three trophies, and we won a couple that we had never won before,” Reed said. “It’s been great. We would have loved to have the conference title, absolutely, but I think that was a wakeup call for the boys to lock right back in and realize they could still be champions. They really came back and fought to get to where they needed to be.”

The regional championship game gave one final opportunity for Fruitport ace pitcher Ryan Bosch to show off his talents to the Trojan faithful.

Bosch was masterful once again, throwing a complete-game four-hitter with 14 strikeouts and only one walk. He struck out the side in both the third inning and fifth inning.

“That wasn’t an easy team – Frankenmuth battled – but he was just locked in and really at his best when the pressure was on,” Reed said about Bosch. “He has grown up and matured a lot, not just as a player but as a person. There’s been a lot of growth there.”

Bosch’s dominance on the mound allowed the Fruitport offense to do just enough to gain the win and the regional trophy.

The Trojans got on the scoreboard in the first inning when Jax Flynn and Bosch singled, then Hudson Hazekamp drove Flynn home with an RBI groundout.

Fruitport added two more runs in the third inning when Satchel Norwood singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, then eventually scored on a pitch that got past the Frankenmuth catcher.

Bosch also scored in the inning after walking then coming home on an RBI single by Trevor Rusnak, giving the Trojans a 3-0 lead.

Fruitport added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Norwood reached base on an error, took second on a groundout, then scored on an RBI single by Flynn.

The Trojan defense helped Bosch keep Frankenmuth off the scoreboard by turning a double play in the fourth inning. The Vikings’ sixth inning ended when Fruitport catcher Avery Lambers picked a runover off first base.

Fruitport totaled six hits int the game. Flynn led the way with two hits and one RBI.

As soon as they finished off Frankenmuth, the Trojans had to turn their attention to Standish-Sterling.

They fell behind early when the Panthers scored two runs in the bottom of the first, then added one in the second, one in the fourth and three in the sixth.

The Trojans had a few opportunities throughout the game. They had two runners on with two outs in the second inning but failed to score.

They hit three straight singles with two out in the third inning, but the inning ended when a Fruitport runner was thrown out at the plate.

Fruitport had two runners on with one out in the fifth inning, but the threat ended on a double play.

The Trojans finally scored in the top of the seventh when Braxton Ward doubled and came home on a sacrifice fly by Bosch.

Bosch led the offense with three hits.

Rusnak pitched for Fruitport, allowing eight hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

“We had opportunities, but we didn’t get many baserunners until we had two outs,” Reed said. “I think we only got one leadoff hitter on the whole game. Their pitcher did a nice job. He kept us off balance and made his pitches when he had to.”

The quarterfinal game represented the end of varsity baseball for the Trojans’ four seniors – Bosch, Ward, Flynn and Tommy Anderson.

“There’s only one thing we ask of the seniors every year, to leave the program a little bit better than it was when they got it, and they definitely did that,” Reed said.