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PBR Michigan Division 4 Team Of The Week - Gaylord St. Mary

GAYLORD - For three straight seasons, Gaylord St. Mary has made it to the state semifinals only to be eliminated one game before the finals.

The Michigan Prep Baseball Report Division 4 Team of the Week is looking to get over that hump in 2019 and 15th-year head coach Matt Nowicki sees it as a possibility.

“When we’re good, we’re really good,” Nowicki said.

A prime example was a recent win over top-ranked Portland St. Patrick, a program that knocked St. Mary out of the 2016 state tournament. Hudson and Beal City have done the same the past two years, with Beal City going on to win a state title in 2018.

“The past three years our pitching has been really good,” Nowicki explained. “Maybe a little more timely hitting or mixing up our pitches more will help.”

There is more that the Gaylord St. Mary coach is looking for out of his team.

“We just have to have that confidence,” Nowicki said. “Even though we’ve been there three years in a row, it’s almost surreal to the team. It’s good going to the state semifinals ... but it would be great to go to the state championship game.”

What will it take to make that happen?

“We’ve talked about what to do different as coaches and what can we do differently as a team,” Nowicki noted. “ Success is great, but we can’t just rest on it, we’ve got to get better to take the next step. I’m not sure we’ve done that.”

A junior-heavy team with just two seniors, neither starting, St. Mary is currently 22-6 overall after winning its fourth consecutive Ski Valley Conference championship on Tuesday.

“We started a bit rough, but northern Michigan baseball can be rough with the field conditions and 35-degree weather,” Nowicki pointed out. “But we’re playing solid defense right now and our pitching has been good of late.”

Drew Koenig, an all-state pitcher who was 12-1 last year, has lost four games in 2019, but two were to Division 2 teams and another to a D-3 team and headlines the rotation. Joseph Moeggenberg is another pitcher for the Snowbirds.

Both are also among the top players in the field. Koenig, a catcher when not pitching, leads the team in most offensive categories while Moeggenberg, who has played second base, center field and third base, is “that kid whose pants are always dirty, whose jersey is full of sand. You’d love to have nine of those kids,” Nowicki said.

Junior shortstop Steven Koscienliak, “a vacuum on defense” according to Nowicki, and center fielder Brady Hunter are major contributors up the middle. Corner infielders Alex Pudvan at first base and Andrew Zelinski at third, who Nowicki says is “an all-state candidate” are other key performers for St. Mary.

Districts begin on Saturday with the Snowbirds playing host. Wolverine is the opening opponent for St. Mary, which has made it to the state finals twice in school history - that coming in back-to-back years in 1988-89, just after Nowicki graduated in 1986.

“We need a little confidence,” Nowicki said. “We’re a Catholic school and at the end of the day baseball is just a game … my job is to turn out respectful human beings. But a little swagger would be okay.

“We’ve got to be consistent, that’s going to be a key,” Nowicki continued. “Anybody can beat anybody every day. That’s been proven. Since I’ve been here, the number one team in the state has never won it. Consistent baseball is what rules the day.”