Pitchers Provide Offensive Sparks Too as Algonac, Bridgman Advance
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2023
EAST LANSING – For Algonac junior pitcher Josh Kasner, his bat proved to be the perfect medicine for what was ailing him on the mound during a Division 3 Semifinal against Lansing Catholic on Thursday.
Kasner labored through the first three innings of his start, but then new adrenaline on the mound came after what he did at the plate in the bottom of the third inning at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium.
With two outs, two strikes and two men on base, Kasner launched a 3-run home run just to the right of the foul pole.
Kasner settled down on the mound after that, with the home run and his pitching being the difference for Algonac in a 4-1 win over the Cougars that earned the Muskrats their first appearance in a Final at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
“It was a fastball inside,” Kasner said. “To be honest, I was sitting on fastball and adjusting to off-speed. It was my pitch, and I got it inside the foul pole. I knew that once I got that home run, we were up 3-1, I settled in and I was going to be fine.”
Indeed, as Kasner didn’t allow Lansing Catholic much of a threat after he threw 55 pitches, walked three and hit two batters through the first three innings.
Over the last four innings, Kasner didn’t walk anybody and allowed only one Lansing Catholic batter to reach second base.
“I think he was stressed a little bit,” Algonac head coach Scott Thaler said. “You get to this point, I think the zone is where it should be as opposed to sometimes where it is during the season. He got the idea of what a college zone is like, which should help him out in a couple of years.”
After Kasner’s blast, Algonac added another in the fifth inning when junior Matt Rix reached on a bunt single, stole second, took third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a passed ball to give the Muskrats a 4-1 lead.
Lansing Catholic scored first in the top of the third inning, grabbing a 1-0 lead on an RBI single to right with two outs by senior Drew Burlingame. The Cougars later loaded the bases with two outs in the third, but Kasner got out of the jam with a strikeout.
Sophomore Drew Tolfre allowed just four hits in a complete-game effort for Lansing Catholic (23-6.)
“He had two strikes on (Kasner), but he kind of missed his spot a little bit,” Lansing Catholic head coach Randy Farlin said. “But you can’t fault him. He pitched a helluva game. We just didn’t have the bats. One run is not going to do it for us. We just didn’t put it all together today.”
Bridgman 3, Standish-Sterling 2
Bridgman didn’t get a hit until the seventh inning of its Semifinal against Standish-Sterling.
But all Bees (32-9) needed were two hits during that set of at-bats to move on to their first Final since 2011.
With the score tied 2-2 and a runner on second base, freshman Cooper Allwood delivered the game-winning single to left with one out, scoring junior Alec MacMartin to give Bridgman the victory.
MacMartin started the inning with the first hit of the day off of Standish-Sterling sophomore starter Sam Briggs, and then was sacrificed over to second.
“We were just having fun and getting comfortable in the situation,” Allwood said. “Just never giving up. We’ve been in games like this before. Nothing new.”
After neither team collected a hit through the first three innings, Standish-Sterling got something going in the top of the fourth.
Junior Cooper Prout led off with a double, and then sophomore pinch runner Brecken Stokoszynski scored on an RBI single by senior Brayden Schabel.
In the bottom of the fourth, Bridgman put runners on second and third with two outs after an error and a hit batter, but a flyout ended the threat.
In the fifth, Standish-Sterling took a 2-0 lead when a fly ball by Briggs just eluded the Bridgman left fielder down the line, scoring sophomore Brock Bartlett.
The Bees answered in the bottom half of the fifth, tying the game at 2-2 without registering a hit thanks in large part to three infield errors by Standish-Sterling.
An RBI groundout by Allwood made it 2-1, and then Bridgman tied the game at 2-2 following another error with a runner on third and two outs.
The score remained that way until Allwood’s single in the seventh.
“We were just missing that timely hit,” Bridgman head coach Justin Hahaj said. “We finally got it.”
MacMartin got the win on the mound for Bridgman, allowing four hits, walking one and striking out six in a complete-game effort.
Briggs lost for the first time this year, striking out eight for Standish-Sterling (29-15), which fell in the Semifinals for the second-straight season.
Standish-Sterling head coach Ryan Raymond said it was more than just four errors that cost his team.
“We didn’t hit in the right spots either,” Raymond said. “We had some opportunities to get some hits and knock some more runs. It’s a team effort.”
PHOTOS (Top) Algonac’s Josh Kasner rounds third base during his home run in Thursday’s Semifinal win over Lansing Catholic. (Middle) Kasner makes his move toward the plate. (Below) Bridgman’s Alec MacMartin delivers a pitch during the day’s last Semifinal. (Photos by John Castine/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
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.)