Hackett Catholic, Cardinal Mooney Carry Big Bats into Finale
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 18, 2021
EAST LANSING – A big opening inning produced two positive results for the Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep baseball team Friday.
Seven early runs helped propel the Irish to an 11-1 six-inning win over Marlette in a Division 4 Semifinal at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
The opening surge also provided the opportunity to have starter Sam Shea pitch in Saturday’s 5 p.m. Final against Marine City Cardinal Mooney.
Shea threw only 23 pitches in the first inning, as he was quickly replaced by Alex Blasen.
“It did work out for us,” first-year Hackett coach Smiley Verduzco said. “The whole idea as we talked about before was that first inning. If we get close to 10 (runs) then you have a chance, and without that you don’t have a chance to do that because you have to win the game. There is no tomorrow.
“Sam was pitching fantastic, and then Alex came in and just shut them down. He did a great job.”
Blasen allowed only one run on two hits over the final five innings. He struck out four and walked four.
The fifth-ranked Irish (30-9) tallied those seven early runs on only two hits. They were aided by an error and walks.
After a leadoff triple by Steven Widger, who had a game-high three hits, and a pair of walks, Brenden Collins drove in a pair of runs with a single.
“We like to score a lot of runs, and when we came out and got that seven it was huge for momentum,” Collins said. “We knew it was crucial to get them down early so that we could roll over them and get to the win.”
Said Verduzco: “Did you see the energy (after the triple)? It just pumps the kids up, and let’s go. Then things started to happen. It was pretty fun to watch, and they have earned it. They’ve worked hard all year, and to get a win against a good team, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Marlette’s starter didn't get out of the first inning after walking four and hitting a batter.
“The first inning was a killer; that was very disappointing,” said Marlette coach Dave Hayden, whose team was making its first appearance in the Semifinals.
“We knew after that first inning that it would be very difficult to come back on them. I thought we settled down after that, but the first inning kind of did us in.”
The Irish added two more runs in the third inning. Widger ripped an RBI single and then scored on a wild pitch.
The Red Raiders scored in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Bower. He brought home Cody Hayden, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.
Hackett ended the game in the sixth after a pair of singles and a ground out scored a pair of runs.
The Irish, who are averaging 10 runs a game in the postseason, will attempt to win their first Finals title in their first trip.
“We worked hard to get our school here for the first time, and now everyone is watching you,” Collins said. “It’s kind of cool that we can put our school on the map like that.”
Marine City Cardinal Mooney 12, Maple City Glen Lake 2
Cardinal Mooney continued its impressive postseason run with another lopsided affair.
The Cardinals scored in bunches early en route to a 12-2 five-inning victory over Maple City Glen Lake in the second Division 4 Semifinal.
Mooney (28-6), which will face Hackett in the Final, has outscored its six postseason opponents by a combined 71-8.
“It’s let's get out in front and never let go,” said Cardinals sophomore Blake Lutzky, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI and a run scored. “Never let off the gas.”
Mooney jumped out to a comfortable lead by scoring four runs in the second inning and adding another three in the following inning.
That was just the cushion starting pitcher Thomas Gill needed as he went the distance and scattered five hits while recording five strikeouts.
“When Tommy Gill, our senior pitcher, gets a run or two, it seems like seven runs,” Mooney coach Mike Rice said. “And in these types of games, I want to get seven or eight runs, but when he’s on the mound and throws first-pitch strikes and with our defense, it makes us unstoppable.”
Rice has been pleased with his team’s approach at the plate, as well as its ability to produce timely hitting.
Mooney totaled 12 hits and walked 10 times.
“We’re hitting, and we’re focusing on hitting strikes and not swinging at bad pitches,” Rice said. “The pitcher’s goal is to throw the ball over the plate, and when he does we’re raking it.”
The early deficit was too much for eighth-ranked Glen Lake (27-8) to overcome.
“You can't fall behind against a team like that because they are too good,” Glen Lake coach Kris Herman said. “They are ranked No. 2 in the state for a reason. If you dig yourself in a hole like that, then you have to fight your way out of it.
“I was proud of our fight. I thought they kept grinding, and we just ran into a better team.”
Glen Lake’s fight came in the fifth when they trimmed the deficit to 7-2.
However, in the bottom of the inning, Mooney countered with five runs of its own to end the game.
“We let go a little bit, and we thought we had the game in the bag,” Lutzky said. “But they scored two, and we just put them back on the board. There’s a lot of positive energy on this team, and we’re ready to play all the time.”
Trent Rice, Rocco Comito and Julian Iodice also had two hits each for Mooney.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Hackett Catholic Prep hitter keeps his eyes on a drive during Friday’s Semifinal win. (Middle) Cardinal Mooney’s Julian Iodice eludes a tag to score at McLane Stadium.
Novi Ace Set to Close Prep Career Among Wildcats' All-Time Greats
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
May 1, 2025
NOVI — Ironically, what’s likely to go down as one of the most accomplished baseball careers in Novi High School history began during football season.
During a fall ball session back in 2021, Novi baseball coach Rick Green was summoned to watch a bullpen session of then-freshman left-hander Uli Fernsler, a player he and others on the coaching staff figured was pegged for a spot on the junior varsity roster.
“My pitching coach at the time said to ‘come down to the bullpen, you need to see this kid,’” Green said. “He was just so poised when he threw, especially with me there. He didn’t throw hard at the time, but he had good location.”
Come the following spring, Fernsler added some velocity and couldn’t be left off the varsity team. Since then, the Novi community has come to find out why he’ll soon graduate as one of the school’s all-time athletic greats.
So far this year, Fernsler has 55 strikeouts, four walks and just two earned runs allowed. It’s no wonder pro scouts have flocked to his starts, with Hometown Life reporting more than 20 showed up to watch him pitch against Canton in March.
Signed to play collegiately for Texas Christian, Fernsler has a shot to establish Novi school records for strikeouts and earned-run average depending on how the rest of the season unfolds.
However, his biggest claim to fame is that he was the winning pitcher for the Wildcats in both the 2023 Division 1 championship game and also Novi’s Semifinal win at McLane Stadium, something that has become rare since pitch-count limits were instituted in 2017.
In an 8-3 championship game win over Woodhaven, Fernsler tossed a complete game, striking out eight, walking none and allowing two earned runs.
However, his under-the-radar performance in the Semifinal was arguably more important.
In that game, Novi tied Mattawan 1-1 with two outs in the top of the seventh on an RBI single, and then starter Andrew Abler pitched a scoreless seventh to force extra innings.
From there Fernsler took over, pitching three scoreless innings of relief under immense pressure. Novi didn’t score in the eighth and ninth innings, so Fernsler couldn’t afford to even let in one run or else the Wildcats’ dream would be over.
Fernsler held firm, and then after being staked to a three-run lead in the top of the 10th, shut the door in the bottom half to preserve a 4-1 Novi win. He allowed just one hit over his three innings of relief, and more importantly, did so efficiently enough to stay under the 49-pitch limit that would’ve prevented him from taking the mound in the championship game.
Fernsler recalls warming up in the bullpen with Novi still down 1-0, thinking that all he wanted was a chance to pitch on a college mound at Michigan State.
“I was just really hoping we would score a run, which we did,” he said. “There was definitely some nerves. But it wasn’t too bad. I had some confidence I could do what I was able to do.”
All in all, Fernsler allowed just nine hits, two earned runs and struck out 10 in 10 innings of work on the state’s biggest stage as a sophomore.
He also had an excellent junior year, but Novi’s hopes of repeating were derailed in a 3-1 loss to rival and eventual Division 1 champion Northville in a District Final.
He’s been dazzling so far as a senior, helped by a new pitch Green recommended he try after last season to complement his fastball, slider and changeup.
“I told him to try and throw a curveball to get another pitch to get hitters off-balance in addition to the changeup,” Green said. “We worked on it all summer, and he’s really done a nice job with it this year.”
Fernsler said coaches at TCU have come to see him throw a couple of times this season, but haven’t really offered advice or instructions and have pretty much let him do his thing.
Eventually, Fernsler hopes further doing his thing will result in leading Novi to another appearance at Michigan State for another Finals weekend, although the 2023 run is not familiar to the majority of Novi’s current roster.
“It’s kind of a new team,” Fernsler said. “I don’t think we are carrying momentum from that. We are just trying to figure out what we can do to get back.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Novi pitcher Uli Fernsler makes his move toward the plate this season. (Middle) Fernsler follows through on a pitch during the 2023 Division 1 Final. (Top photo courtesy of the Novi athletic department.)