Mr. Eddie Dwyer
A History of Wildcats Baseball
By Mr. Eddie Dwyer
While the early years of Saint Ignatius baseball did produce some of the best players ever to put on a pair of spikes in Greater Cleveland, including future professionals Garry Roggenburk, Mike Hegan and Steve Huntz, there is no question that the Wildcats' most impressive streaks on the diamond have come during the 1990s and the new millennium.
THE GOLDEN AGE AND WHAT THERE WAS OF IT
Although the first documentation of baseball at Saint Ignatius was around 1903, the national pastime actually had periods of nonexistence as a varsity sport at Cleveland's Jesuit Preparatory School. One of those periods was from 1927 through 1936.
Saint Ignatius Hall of Fame Coach Lenny Brickman '26 coached baseball in the late 1930s and it has been documented that Coach Brickman had 75 players try out for the team in 1940, 18 of whom made the squad.
After not fielding a team from 1942 through 1944, 1945 saw Saint Ignatius win a sectional championship, but lose to Euclid in the city title game, 6-5. The game went 10 innings and delayed the seniors' graduation ceremony.
SOME BASEBALL-RICH NAMES
Fred George took over the Wildcats' baseball team in 1949 and had a club that included Indians owner Larry Dolan at catcher and a shortstop named Bill Wamby. You might recall that Bill Wamby's dad, Bill, played with the Indians and in 1920 made the only unassisted triple play in World Series and postseason history. The full last name was Wambsganss, but was shortened so the newspapers could print it in the daily box scores.
Coach George's 1950 team won a district championship, but lost to Benedictine in the city championship game.
FIRST STATE APPEARANCE
In 1954, Saint Ignatius won a third consecutive league championship and advanced to the Class A state semifinals, where it lost to eventual state champion Mansfield, 3-1.
It would be nearly four decades before the Wildcats would make another appearance in baseball's state final four.
THE LONG-AWAITED RETURN
Although Saint Ignatius had many outstanding players through the '50s, '60s, '70's and '80s, including Mike Buddie '89, a dominant right-hander for the Wildcats who pitched for the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers, it wasn't until the spring of 1993 that Coach Tom Lauer '77 led the 'Cats back to the final four.
Saint Ignatius would lose to an outstanding Barberton team in the Division I state semifinals at Canton's Thurman Munson Stadium, but 1993 was the start of a run that has seen the Wildcats advance to the state final four 12 times, giving them 13 baseball final fours overall.
In 1995 and '97, Dr. Steve Cooke coached Saint Ignatius to state-semifinal appearances and then came the most successful stretch in the history of the program.
Under Coach Brian Morgan, who was a standout pitcher for the 1993 final four team, the Wildcats were state runners-up in 2000 (the OHSAA lists the wrong coach for that season), won the school's first and only state baseball championship by defeating Milford, 11-10, in 2002 and were state semifinalists in 2004.
Saint Ignatius defeated the tradition-rich program from Archbishop Moeller, 5-4, in the 2000 state semifinals, but in the 2004 semis the Wildcats ran into Archbishop Moeller ace Andrew Brackman and his dreaded knuckle curve. The 6-foot-10 Brackman was a duel-sport athlete (baseball and basketball) at North Carolina State for two years before focusing on baseball and signing a healthy contract with the Yankees.
BRAD GANOR TAKES OVER AS THE NEW SKIPPER
Brad Ganor, an assistant coach/pitching coach for Coach Morgan, replaced his friend as Saint Ignatius' new head coach in 2005. Coach Morgan, who stepped down because of work obligations, highly recommended Brad for the job.
Coach Ganor, who excelled in football and baseball at St. Edward High School and furthered his baseball career at Cleveland State as a pitcher, is also the Wildcats' Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Saint Ignatius' Robert M. Walton '41 Center for Learning.
Coach Ganor has continued the run of success started by Coach Lauer, Coach Cooke and Coach Morgan by developing his 'Cats Men of the Spring into a perennial Division I state contender.
Under Coach Ganor, the Baseball Cats have made six trips to the OHSAA final four, including a school-record three consecutive appearances in 2007, '08 and '09. Coach Ganor's 2008 and 2013 Wildcats finished as state runners-up. Brad has also developed numerous Saint Ignatius players who have gone on to play at the college level and some who have reached Major League status, including current Miami Marlins mainstay Derek Dietrich '07.
After state-semifinal appearances 2015 and 2016, Coach Ganor will enter the 2017 season with a program-best 271 career victories.
ANOTHER HISTORIC ATHLETIC ENCOUNTER WITH THEIR WEST SIDE RIVAL
In 2008, the Baseball Cats finished as the big school state runner-up to St. Edward. Yes, 10 years after the Wildcats and Eagles made history by taking their rivalry to the state-championship level in basketball, they did the same thing in baseball at Cooper Stadium in Columbus.
THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP OF 2002
“Slide those nine state championship football trophies over just a bit. The Saint Ignatius Wildcats have some new hardware to put on display.”
That was the lead to The Plain Dealer's story on the 2002 state championship baseball game between the Wildcats and the Milford Eagles.
Played on a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon in The Ohio State University's Bill Davis Stadium, June 9 to be exact, the game saw the 'Cats start fast and then hold off an impressive comeback by Milford, 11-10.
First baseman Neall French helped fuel Saint Ignatius' offense by going 3-for-4 with four runs batted in. And the Wildcats' baseball faithful will never forget the game-saving, leaping catch by senior shortstop Matt Miller. It was quite a school year for Matt, as he also was a standout record-setting wide receiver for the 'Cats' ninth Division I State Championship football team.
THE BIG LEFTY
Every baseball purist refers to pitching as the “name of the game.”
If you stand by that theory, there is no question which player goes down as the most impressive in Saint Ignatius' baseball history – 6-6 left-hander Greg Moviel '03.
And we're not talking about college, the minors or the majors. It is the player who did the most for the Wildcats' baseball program.
In his four years with the varsity, Greg compiled a Saint Ignatius career-best record of 36-1. That is also one of the top won-lost marks in Ohio high school baseball history. And Greg's preseason preparation was shorter than many of the area's other top pitchers because he also excelled as a post player for Coach Brian Becker's Wildcats basketball teams that went deep in the playoffs.
Like Matt Kata '96, another former Saint Ignatius mound mainstay and a major-league middle infielder, Greg gladly accepted every challenge. That 36-1 record was built by a southpaw who pitched every big game Saint Ignatius encountered during his consecutive 10-0 junior and senior seasons.
This seasoned reporter was privileged to see him pitch many, many times my friends and no matter how strong or how touted the opponent was, Greg Moviel always found a way and a will.
