After a fantastic shutout against the rival St. Edward Eagles, the Wildcats wanted to keep the tide rolling against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s from Michigan.

The Wildcats played very well against one of Michigan’s best teams, and one of the country’s best pitchers, but could not earn a victory.

Andrew Mulhern started for the Wildcats on the mound. His day started out a little shaky. Mulhern walked No. 3 hitter Harrison Poeszat with two outs, and Poeszat stole two bases. The next batter was then hit by a Mulhern fastball, placing a man on first and third. But Mulhern was able to get out of this predicament when Jack Crighton of St. Mary’s grounded out to second baseman Jack Whelan.

The first inning at the plate went well for the Wildcats. AJ Gaich was walked in his first at bat of the game and as usual, stole second almost immediately. Soon after, Austin Jones was hit by a pitch with one out. Jake Lang entered the game a courtesy runner for Jones, and immediately attempted to steal second to put two runners in scoring position.

Lang ran into a pickle on his way to second base. While he was trying not to get tagged, Gaich saw an opportunity to score. Without anyone from St. Mary’s looking, Gaich took off for home, and scored the only run of the day for the Wildcats.

Lang was thrown out on the pickle and Matt Geraci struck out to end the bizarre inning.

Mulhern got into a groove starting in the top of the second inning. He struck out four batters and allowed no runs in the next three innings.

Mulhern’s only mistake came in the top of the sixth. In the first at bat of the inning, St. Mary’s slugger Alex Mooney smashed a home run over the fence in left-center field. His huge hit brought the score to 1-1. His would be the last run scored in the entire game.

Mulhern stayed pitching until the end of regulation, only allowing one run while striking out nine batters and giving up only four hits across seven innings. Mulhern threw a total of 76 pitches in an impressive outing.

As for the Saint Ignatius hitting, the team only tallied one hit in the first seven innings of play. This came from an AJ Gaich line drive single into centerfield. St. Mary’s starter Logan Wood looked stellar after the tough start. A junior at St. Mary’s, Wood has committed to the University of Michigan. Wood may be the best pitcher the Wildcats face all season. Wood’s fastball reaches the high 80’s, and his offspeed stuff looked deadly. Wood is a bonafide prospect to watch.

Matt Ferritto was on the mound to start the extra innings. He only allowed one runner to get into scoring position in his three innings pitched.

The Wildcats failed to score with a runner in scoring position in the eighth when Jake Lang was on second base with two outs. This was the last significant scoring opportunity of the night for the Wildcats.

Fortunately, the Wildcats’ defense was stellar in extra innings. The host let no one cross home plate and only committed one error.

Matt Geraci pitched in the eleventh inning and walked only one batter.

Unfortunately, this game ended up in a tie. Fisher Field does not have lights on it and eventually, it got too dark to play baseball. The coaches and umpires called it based on the disappearing sunlight.

The next game for the Wildcats is on Friday at Progressive Field against Benedictine. The first pitch is at 5:30 and the game can be seen and heard on the SIBN.