Oakland Press: Novi beats No. 3 Northville to earn a crack at first regional title since 2000, back on home field
NORTHVILLE — Novi coach Rick Green had four days to think about what could transpire on Wednesday night against rival Northville after his team advanced to the MHSAA Division 1 regional semifinal.
Novi has been playing its best baseball all season, but the No. 3-ranked Mustangs were the highest-ranked D1 team remaining in a dwindling field.“I thought our guys were ready today. I predicted our score to be 5-2. I just thought we’d hit the ball. There aren’t many pitchers that can stop us right now, we’re on a roll,” Green said.
Little did Green know it wasn’t a prediction, but a spoiler of things to come.
The Wildcats’ postseason run continued thanks to a dominating 6-2 win over Northville in the regional semifinals at Northville High School.
Novi will host Hartland on Saturday morning, trying to claim its first regional championship since 2000.
“We just stopped being selfish, honestly. We stopped looking at our own stats. We started bunting a lot more, and we’re catching a lot more barrels. So collectively we’ve been playing for the team, and you’re seeing the result,” Novi starting pitcher Andrew Abler said.
Novi (28-8) threatened in the first, but had to wait until the second inning to cash in runs after leaving the runners stranded.
Northville (32-5) changed pitchers after the six-batter first inning, and it’d change pitchers again after Novi plated three runs in the second. Northville starter Joey Broughton threw 32 pitches to open the game, and his reliever Dominic Minghine pitched 22 before being pulled for closer Caden Besco.
Before Besco came in, the first three hitters for Novi produced runs. A single by Alex Czapski, and a hit batter in Thad Lawler put runners on first and second for Trever Reed, who knew that he had to play small ball and lay down a bunt.
Minghine couldn’t cleanly field the slow roller and rushed the throw to first, scoring Czapski. Then a one-out double down the right field line by Brendon Bennett scored Lawler and Caleb Walker for a 3-0 lead through two innings.
Northville threatened in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded, but Jon Aurilla made a quick stop and threw a dart to first from shortstop to snag Connor Vissotski to end the inning on a bang-bang play.
Another key defensive stop was made by Lawler who tracked a deep fly ball in the third inning, and adjusted for the wind at the last possible second when he desperately reached out his glove. As he caught the ball, the junior did a backward somersault and crashed into the outfield wall, but held on to complete the play.
“Thad was amazing in right field today. He stepped up, and showed out. That catch saved us the game,” Abler said of his teammate.
As Besco was cruising and settling into a grove, the Wildcats finally got to him in the top of the fifth.
Novi earned back-to-back walks from Abler and Andrew Kummer to set up Brett Reed, who laid a soft bunt down the third baseline that drew an errant throw, scoring a run for a 4-0 lead.
Czapski then singled to score Kummer and Reed for a 6-0 lead.
“There’s no excuses today. Novi beat us in every facet of the game. When you give up three in an inning, that’s a big inning. When you do that twice, and walk guys and misplay bunts, and throw balls around, you dig yourself a pretty big hole,” Northville coach John Kostrzewa said.
Abler pitched four innings, and gave up three hits on 47 pitches. He thought his velocity was down, and Green said that if his arm wasn’t bothering him, he would have pitched into the fifth.
“I wasn’t trying to go for strikeouts, like I normally do. I just wanted to pitch in and out. I also didn’t have my velo today. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t. I was looking to induce weak contact, to get outs when we needed them most,” Abler said of his outing.
Novi looked to sophomore Uli Fernsler to finish the game from then out.
Northville got to the young reliever only twice as he was settling into the game. A RBI single by Evan Deak, and a sac fly from Broughton were the only productive at bats for the Mustangs that cut into the Wildcat lead, 6-2.
After playing three games away from home, Novi will now host the regional final and quarterfinal on Saturday at Novi High School. It’s a moment that Coach Green was cherishing after the final out was made.
“It means a lot. Nothing surprises me with these guys. It’s an incredible feeling,” a choked up Green said watching his players celebrate in right field. “We’re going home. This is what I wanted them to feel. I want them to feel like this all year.”
