CLUTCH’VILLE’: Mustangs oust Novi in thrilling district title game
Members of Northville’s baseball team pose with their district championship trophy Saturday afternoon.
One day before their high school graduation ceremony, Northville seniors Evan Deak and Joey Broughton delivered a pair of actions-are-louder-than-words commencement-esque messages Saturday afternoon on the Novi High School baseball diamond.
Deak’s message to his peers: Trust yourself!
Broughton’s inspiring lesson to anyone dealing with a setback: When your primary road to success temporarily closes, make the best of the detour.
A week shy of the one-year anniversary of the Mustangs getting sidelined from the post-season by eventual state champion Novi, Northville earned a slice of redemption, defeating the Wildcats, 3-1, in Saturday’s dramatic district final.
Northville advanced to the championship game with a thrilling 3-2 comeback win against Detroit Catholic Central in the day’s 10 a.m. match-up. Novi handled Farmington, 5-0, in the second semifinal.
Deak’s peak performance
Now 27-7, Northville will continue its quest for a state title Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. against host Lakeland in an MHSAA Division 1 regional semifinal match-up.
Deak, who entered the season as the Mustangs’ No. 4 or 5 pitcher — but has embraced a bigger role in the wake of his team’s multiple mound injuries — out-dueled Novi ace Uli Fernsler with a bulldog-ish performance that won’t soon be forgotten by the program’s legion of fans.
The righty, who was throwing as hard as 87 miles per hour during stretches of the contest, yielded just two hits to the Wildcats’ potent lineup before being relieved by closer Caden Besco with one out and a runner on first base in the bottom of the seventh inning.
After Novi’s Jonathan Aurilia singled to put two runners on with two outs, Besco earned a save when he got Caleb Walker to ground out, igniting a joyful eruption in the winners’ dugout.
“When I found out I’d be pitching the second game today, I was so excited,” said Deak, his cheeks covered in eye black. “To get to pitch against our rivals — the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year — was a feeling that can’t be beat.”
Ramped-up focus
Deak admitted his competitiveness shifts into a higher gear against the Wildcats.
“One-hundred percent,” he said. “You can say, ‘It’s just another game, it’s just another game’, but it’s not for us — not in football, baseball or basketball.
“(Novi players) were getting on me a little bit from their dugout , but I love that; it fuels me.”
Deak said his stellar effort came down to two words.
“Trust myself,” he said. “If I deviate from my plan, that’s when I go off the rails.
“I couldn’t be more happy for me and my teammates, especially the (16) seniors. I’m so happy for this group of guys.”
Disney potential
Broughton’s contributions against Novi were straight out of a Disney movie.
The flame-throwing left-handed pitcher, who has signed to pitch for the University of Pittsburgh, was sidelined by an arm injury for the Mustangs’ first 25 games or so. While he still isn’t quite ready to pitch, he’s healthy enough to play first base — and hit.
And, boy, did he hit Saturday.
After Fernsler limited the Mustangs to an infield single by Deak over the first two-and-two-thirds innings, Broughton followed Dante’ Nori’s two-out single with a towering home run over the left-center field fence to give his team a 2-0 lead it would never relinquish.
“This feels awesome because I’ve worked super hard to be able to get back on the field and to contribute, even though it’s not pitching,” Broughton said. “A lot of hard work paid off and I’m so happy to be back.”
Broughton worked the count against Fernsler to 3-0 before taking a strike.
“Once he got behind in the count, I knew he was going to come with strikes,” Broughton said, recounting his game-changing at-bat. “I was sitting on a curveball and I got the pitch I was looking for in the exact position I wanted it.
“Then I just let it fly.”
Confidence grows
With the way Deak was battling on the mound, Broughton said he was confident the 2-0 lead would hold up.
“We all have total confidence in Evan,” Broughton said. “He always competes his tail off.”
Novi cut its deficit in half, 2-1, in the bottom of the fourth without the aid of a hit.
After Deak struck out the lead-off hitter, he hit Trevor Reed with a pitch. Reed advanced to second on a balk and Colin Bennett flied out to Besco in right before Alex Wilson ripped a ground ball that barely eluded a diving Broughton and rolled down the right-field foul line for an RBI double.
Andrew Kummer led off the bottom of the fifth for Novi with a single. Aurilia’s sacrifice bunt moved Kummer to second, but Deak doused the rally by striking out Walker and retiring No. 3 hitter Boden Fernsler with a fly ball to Nori in center.
Valuable insurance
The Mustangs added an insurance run in the top of the sixth when Broughton led off with a walk, moved to second on Deak’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Carter Jurcisin’s RBI single.
With two outs, Connor Vissotski singled, and stole second and third, before Fernsler ended the threat with a strikeout.
Things got a little dicey for the Mustangs in the bottom of the seventh before Besco came in to earn his second save of the day.
“I’m a little choked up right now because I’m so happy for these guys who have worked so hard all season,” said Northville Head Coach Dan Cimini, his voiced tinged with emotion. “This group of seniors have been battling since they learned to crawl, so they’re so deserving of this.
“We’re not done, though. We have goals. We want to get to Michigan State (the site of the MHSAA baseball semifinals and finals), but we couldn’t get there without winning today.
“Evan Deak was unbelievable the way he gutted it out today. I have as much confidence in him as I do anybody on our pitching staff.
“We’re dealing with some injuries, but we’re embracing the next-man-up mentality.”
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
