Staff photo / Dan Hiner Cardinal Mooney pitcher Jacob Gugliotta delivers during the seventh inning of a Division IV regional final against Canton Central Catholic at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton on June 4.

YOUNGSTOWN — The pitchers for the Cardinal Mooney baseball team have been together for the past several years. Each season, they took another step forward.

And when the program needed them the most, they stepped up as juniors and seniors.

The Cardinals’ pitchers took their game to another level in the postseason and have been the driving force behind the team’s run to today’s Division IV state semifinal in Akron against Sundusky Perkins.

Since the start of the playoffs, the Cardinals have only allowed seven runs in five games (33 innings pitched). Four of those came in a 5-4 victory over Canton Central Catholic in their regional final.

“I went 4 1/3 innings or whatever it was (vs. CCC), and knowing that we can trust anyone to come in and close it down like Jacob (Gugliotta) and Andrew (Bushey) did, we just trust in each other,” Ford Stacy said. “All of our pitching staff and our defense, we put trust in each other to get it done.”

The program’s pitching dominance started weeks after last season ended.

The Cardinals were disappointed in how their 2025 season came to a close in the Division V regional round. They thought they should have gotten farther, but Waynedale sent them home.

So, instead of thinking about the past, the pitchers got going early to prepare for the 2026 season.

They started showing up to the Ron Stoops Sr. Baseball and Softball Facility, which sits on the edge of the high school’s campus. They began in the fall, that way they were already prepared for the spring.

“It was somewhere right when football season’s over, somewhere around November,” Gugliotta said. “We got in here, throwing pens as early as possible … getting our arms ready, getting our arms loose.”

Ben Oddis and Stacey have been the top-two pitchers for the rotation. Both haven’t suffered a loss this season, as Oddis enters today with a 7-0 record and Stacey has an 8-0 mark.

They’ve also done their best to limit runs. Oddis and Stacey have ERAs of 0.91 and 2.13, respectively. Oddis has pitched two complete games so far this postseason, and Stacey went the distance once.

“We’re an old-school baseball program, so we rely off our arms,” Oddis said. “Throughout the playoffs, our bats haven’t been (performing) the way we wanted them to, but the good news is the pitching staff’s been able to help the struggling offense get through the games and keep winning.”

Mooney isn’t a two-pitcher program. During their campaign, the Cardinals have also gotten solid outings out of the bullpen, with Bushey and Gugliotta getting plenty of innings on the back end of games.

The pair also had success, with both of them featuring sub-1.00 ERAs. Bushey has the best earned-run average on the team for anyone with multiple appearances with a 0.70, and Gugliotta enters play with a 0.91.

The doesn’t even include Will Petty (1.50 ERA), who has only pitched once this postseason – he had one inning of scoreless relief in the Cardinals’ 14-1 win over Niles to start the tournament.

“I think throwing strikes is the most important thing you can do,” Bushey said. “I’ve been better at that, so give myself a little pat on the back for that at least.”

If the Cardinals want to make it to Sunday’s Division IV state championship, they’ll have to rely on their pitchers. But the team has been doing that for most of the season, and they’ve been working toward this point for years.

“For the state round, we’re just gonna have to keep being great (at) pitching,” Oddis said. “It’s the time of the year where you have to play your best ball, and the pitching’s getting hot at the right time.”