Cardinal Mooney baseball is ready to achieve 'something special' this season

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Now two years removed from a state runner-up finish, the Cardinal Mooney baseball team is ready to make another deep run.

But in order to follow through, the Cardinals know they'll need everyone's best.

"Working as a team is huge in this game," sophomore pitcher Quinn Addis said. "You can't have one person dominate the game and win it all. I think we're a special team. Seriously. We're all connecting and we're all friends. It's a small group, but it's a really good group. The coaching staff is amazing and I feel like, together, we can do something special this year."

Cardinal Mooney, the third-ranked team in the state in Division 4, is on the right track. At 13-5, the Cardinals have already clinched the Catholic League AA Division title. It's no small feat considering they were in a weaker league last season.

"Without our team effort, we wouldn't be here," sophomore second baseman Cam Spezia said. "Without that hard work and dedication, we wouldn't be here."

"We have great senior leadership," Cardinal Mooney coach Mike Rice said. "They help train and they help work (with the younger players). They've shown these guys over the past couple years of how to be a Cardinal Mooney Cardinal — play the right way, we're a defensive-minded team first. And they take it seriously."

Added Rice: "Again, the seniors this year were in the state championship as sophomores. So they've been in quarterfinals and state championships and have had opportunities to make runs. These young guys coming up have seen it, they've been watching it and they've been around it."

Addis and Spezia aren't watching anymore. Instead, they're contributing in their first full season on varsity.

"Quinn Addis is super calm, cool and collected," Rice said. "I went out to visit him in the seventh inning (of Monday's 2-1 win over Divine Child) and he politely told me to 'get the hell out of here.' He's like, 'This is my game, please walk away.' I did, and he did finish it indeed."

"When I played travel ball, I was used to being 'the guy' on the team," Addis said. "I come here, I'm not that guy anymore. And I realized that it takes a team to win it all. I feel like teamwork is where I've grown the most and working with other people to win those games. That's how (I've improved)."

Meanwhile, Spezia has found a home at second base. It's become his favorite position.

"I like playing the infield and hitting too — everything, honestly," Spezia said. "It's just (the result of) heart, dedication and hard work in the offseason, which helped me prepare for this year on varsity."

"Holy cow, he can swing the bat," Rice said of Spezia, who's ranks first on the team in hits (20) and third in batting average (.357).

"It's a combination of everything," Addis said about the team's strength. "We have great pitching. Blake Lutzky, George Szep — they've pitched awesome games. And you can't (win) without the hitting either. The fielding is great too. We have Ty Boedeker at shortstop, Cam Spezia at second — it's almost like a dream team."

All that's left to do now is turn 2023 into a dream season.

"They're not concerned with their individual stats whatsoever," Rice said. "Our team gets more excited when somebody bunts somebody over ... our bench erupts when that stuff happens. Sacrifice bunting, stealing bases, all the little things. They get more pumped than that about anything."

What Mooney is concerned with is winning a state championship. The Cardinals aren't hiding that.

"With the team that we have and our effort that we have, I think we can go all the way," Spezia said. "We can play with the big guys."

After Monday's win over Divine Child, Rice was asked to identify one goal for the rest of the season.

"That's a dumb question," Rice said with a grin. "You know what it is, I'm not even answering it."

Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Cardinal Mooney baseball is ready to achieve 'something special'