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Division 4 Team Of The Week: Week 4 - Cardinal Mooney

MARINE CITY - When Mike Rice arrived at Cardinal Mooney it was a far different program.

“Only eight kids turned out for baseball, we had to find basketball players to play,” reflected the fifth-year head coach. “There was no way PBR would be reaching out to Mooney.”

Times have changed for the Prep Baseball Report Division 4 Team of the Week, with a 16-3 season record coming off a 6-0 week. It started with 5-1 and 11-0 wins over Cranbrook and 12-0 and 15-0 victories over Detroit Cristo Ray before 20-0 and 16-6 blowouts of Greenhills on Saturday.

“Our pitching has stood out,” noted Rice. “This year we have four actual starters and in Division 4 that’s something you don’t see.”

Right-handers Tommy Gill, Nathan Super and Trent Rice along with southpaw Blake Lutzky have been getting the job done on the mound for Mooney, which has already captured the Intersectional Division Catholic League title for the first time since 1999.

Gill, a senior, is 4-0 with one save and a 0.46 ERA fanning 35 in 30 innings while Super, the 72nd-rated junior right-handed pitcher in Michigan, is 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA, striking out 34 in 20 frames. Rice, the nephew of the head coach, has not allowed an earned run in 9.2 innings of work while fellow sophomore Lutzky stands 2-0 with a 0.58 ERA and 36 Ks in 24 innings.

Rice, the 11th-ranked 2023 outfielder in the state, leads the team in most offensive categories, hitting out of the two-hole and playing center field. The speedy sophomore is batting .412 with 17 RBIs and 21 runs scored to go along with six doubles and three triples. 

Anthony DiGiuseppe, one of three seniors on the squad, leads off and is hitting .421 with senior first baseman Rocco Comito, a first-team all-state performer as a sophomore, averaging .404.

Sophomore Ryan Trombley is at .400 with Lutzky, the sixth-ranked 2023 first baseman in the state, .390 and Super .325. Junior Tom Rice, son of the head coach, catches and is also averaging .325.

“He manages the staff,” the Mooney head coach said. “He understands the game and the pitching staff. I haven’t called a pitch this year.

Freshman Ty Boedeker is another making big contributions with a .333 average and playing shortstop.

“The key for us is fundamentals,” Rice said in looking ahead at the rest of the season that starts with a doubleheader against Lutheran Northwest at The Corner. “All these guys played on different high-level summer teams and got taught differently. I don’t change it, maybe just tweak a few things, but I’m a summer coach and I know I’m a different coach in the summer. I’m just working on small ball and getting different players to do some different things. By the time we get to the state playoffs, we’ll look a little different.”

It certainly is a different look than five years ago when Rice entered the picture.

“We’ve changed the culture,” Rice said, pointing to the older brothers of current players Luc Julio (junior second baseman) and Julian Iodice (junior outfielder) as initiating the resurgence when he arrived. “Certain players came here to play and others have followed. It’s been cool to see.

“We started getting local kids my second year,” added Rice. “Now we’re getting flat out talented kids that play travel baseball. We have players that can play and that love to compete.”

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