Wednesday - May 14

Williamston, Mich. - The 2025 Diamond Classic field was announced yesterday afternoon and one team in particular has been waiting for their chance to get back into it. The Williamston Hornets are one of the ten teams in the Classic this year and they have a very clear understanding of what they want. They made it to the Classic Championship last year falling just short, and this year they know who they are, what they are capable of. They want to win it all.  

“We are doing our best to try and stay balanced and take it one game at a time. I would say that at this point in the year to be where we are, in the league tied for first, to already be over twenty wins it says a lot about our kids; not only in the talent that we have but the work ethic and the consistency to be able to show up day in and day out and play good baseball.” Hornets head coach Ryn Orr said of his team and their aspirations.  “It’s not easy, we are going to run into good pitching, and plenty of other good teams in the Lansing area. For us it’s about playing our brand of baseball and figuring it out one game at a time.”

For the Hornets, taking it one game at a time has proven that once again they are one of the area’s very best baseball teams. With a 22-4 record overall, and quality wins throughout the schedule, Williamston has what it takes to win and will do it the Hornets way. 

“For us it’s finding a way to scratch, claw, do whatever it takes to win and I can’t say that it’s always going to be the same things – a lot of times it’s playing really good defense and having pitchers that will throw strikes and come up with a timely strikeout that we needed; and offensively it’s kind of whatever it takes.” Orr commented. “I think we have guys that can hit for extra base power but we also have guys that can play small ball and do the little things right. So for me I would say that our brand of baseball is to beat other teams in a variety of ways and doing whatever it takes to win.”

That brand of baseball is not only entertaining to watch but maddening to play against. Agitation on the basebaths, a constant chatter coming from their dugout and a steady stream of counter measures throughout the game all have contributed to the Hornets winning  ways this year. 

“It can mean a lot of different things. It means to control the controlables, it’s one thing we definitely try to focus on. Coach Orr will preach to us very heavily to control what we can control. We know how to play our brand of baseball – we play hard, we play fast, we hit the ball. We rely on each other heavily. We have had a lot of experience with guys on the team that are ready to win and are ready to make that next step. We just know that we can rely on each other and that’s one of the strengths of this team.” Williamston senior Brayden Johnson explained.  “Our Freshman year we hadn’t won a district game, or a tournament playoff game in quite some time. We won districts the year after that and we’ve been building on that season after season. Last year we made a great run in the Diamond Classic, but just fell short. This year that’s definitely been marked on our checklist. We want to be back there in that Championship game and we want a different outcome this time. We want to win it.”

The Hornets will begin their quest for their first ever Diamond Classic championship when the games kick off next week at MSU. 

2025 Diamond Classic Schedule (All games at MSU McLane Stadium)

5/19 

Charlotte vs. Holt 5pm

DeWitt vs. Lansing Catholic 7pm 

5/20

Mason vs. Portland 5pm

Portland St Pat vs. Grand Ledge 7pm

5/22 

Okemos vs. Char/Holt 5pm

Williamston vs. Dwt/LC 7pm

A first-of-its-kind study from researchers at Michigan State University reveals that individuals who experience the most distress and impairment in daily functioning from social media use are more likely to believe fake news.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Dar Meshi, associate professor of advertising and public relations at MSU, investigates social media use, often focusing on maladaptive, problematic social media use. “Social media are everywhere in our daily lives, and some people display problematic, excessive use of these platforms. We found that this overuse is associated with a greater tendency to believe in and engage with misinformation,” said Dar Meshi, an associate professor and co-author of the study, which published today in the journal PLOS One and was funded by MSU’s Trifecta Initiative.

Meshi and his co-author, Maria D. Molina, both faculty members in the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences, conducted an online experiment in which 189 participants, age 18 to 26, were presented with 20 news stories formatted as social media posts. Ten of the stories were real and ten were false, and the order of delivery was randomized. By assessing participants’ credibility judgment of these news posts; participants intentions to click, comment, like and share posts; and their degree of problematic social media use, Meshi and Molina found that the greater people’s symptoms of problematic social media use, the more likely they were to:

- Believe fake news is true

- Interact with news posts regardless if they were real or fake

- Want to click on fake news posts

Fake or false news falls under two categories: misinformation if it is unintentionally distributed and disinformation if it is intentionally distributed to deceive people.

“False news has become a hotly debated and researched topic because of its availability to be shared and spread over social media. Over 60% of people in the U.S. read content on social media, and research has demonstrated that false news disseminates over social media at a greater rate than real news,” said Molina. The researchers believe their study is the first to look at how problematic social media use is involved with people’s trust in fake news by measuring their intended actions, like clicking, liking and sharing posts. Although the American Psychiatric Association doesn’t recognize problematic social media use as a clinical disorder, Meshi points out that it shares similarities with substance use and other behavioral addictive disorders.

Maria D. Molina, assistant professor of advertising and public relations, studies online persuasion in the context of digital health, fake news, and online privacy. “People who display problematic social media use may feel bad if they can’t access it, and they might even return to it after trying to quit. This kind of behavior has been linked to job loss, poor grades and mental health issues,” Meshi said.

Meshi and Molina hope their findings will help mental health professionals working with people who struggle with social media use, as well as others in the health care field. “Individuals with signs of problematic social media use may also be more susceptible to health-related misinformation, so clinicians specializing in different fields may benefit from awareness of their patients’ degree of social media use,” said Molina.

The study’s findings could also help inform efforts from governmental agencies, organizations and social media companies to combat misinformation and disinformation. By identifying people who are more likely to believe fake news, we can help reduce its spread,” Meshi said. “Researchers could work with social media companies to find ways to help these users and limit their exposure to fake news.”

-courtesy story

LANSING, Mich. – Joshua Kuroda-Grauer forced extra innings with a two-strike, two-out, game-tying, two-run double, and Rodney Green, Jr. lined a game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning, culminating a thrilling 7-6 Lansing Locos (19-15) victory over the South Bend Cubs (9-25) on Tuesday night at Jackson® Field™.

It was Lansing’s third walk-off win of the season and its second straight home walk-off, following a Sahid Valenzuela RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to beat Lake County 1-0 on May 4.

Cole Conn swatted a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Clark Elliott broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth with a solo shot, but South Bend scored two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to bring a 6-4 lead to the bottom of the ninth.

Joe Nahas recorded two quick outs and got ahead of Valenzuela 0-and-2, but the Lugnuts’ third baseman worked the count even and singled to right. Nahas then jumped ahead of pinch-hitter Nate Nankil 0-and-2, but Nankil took a ball before dropping a double into the Bermuda triangle in shallow right, moving Valenzuela to third.

Undeterred, Nahas brought the Cubs within a strike of victory for a third straight better, taking the count to 1-and-2 against Kuroda-Grauer – only to see the Nuts’ shortstop drop a fly ball down the right field line to score both Valenzuela and Nankil, tying the score at 6-6.

Mark Adamiak struck out a pair of Cubs in a 1-2-3 top of the 10th inning, setting the stage for the home half heroics.

Placed runner Clark Elliott moved to third base on a T.J. Schofield-Sam groundout, but Thoresen retired Jared Dickey on a shallow flyout to left. Conn worked a walk from Thoresen, bringing up Green. On a 2-2 pitch, Green lined a slider into center field to score Elliott and ignite a wild celebration on the right side of the infield.

Lansing’s offense collected 10 hits, five walks, and one HBP, and did not strike out in the game.

-courtesy story