Against his own will, the magnitude of the moment started to creep into the back of the mind of Novi senior left-handed pitcher Uli Fernsler.
Fernsler faced the minimum number of batters in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association battle with defending Division 1 champion Northville through six innings.
“Yeah, I tried to make it not (pop in my head), but it kind of was,” Fernsler said after Novi’s 3-0 victory.
Fernsler had never thrown a perfect game in his baseball career but found himself on the verge of achieving the feat on Monday night in Northville.
But, Fernsler still will have to wait for his first perfect game. To lead off the seventh inning, Northville’s Justin Klepp shot a pitch back up the middle to the right of second base for a single to break up Fernsler’s perfect game.
He remained on the mound after the hit, striking out the final three batters to finish his evening with a complete game shutout while facing just 22 batters in seven innings in Novi’s win. He finished with 13 strikeouts and no walks.
“It felt like some pressure lifted and I just need to get the next three guys,” Fernsler said.
He pitched the gem with a sea of radar guns trained on his every pitch from behind home plate. A handful of MLB scouts, including representatives from the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves, were lasered in on every pitch and Fernsler’s movements on the mound, noting his velocity and taking videos of how his pitches looked.
The professional scouts have been a regular presence at Novi’s games when Fernsler pitches. He is ranked as a top-100 prospect by MLB for the 2025 draft, which takes place July 13-14. Fernsler is committed to TCU, but is on the radar of the big leagues as he finishes up his high school career.
“I’ve kind of gotten used to it,” Fernsler said as he stretched his arms with resistance bands. “Just focusing on the catcher, not really seeing them.
“Might help up the adrenaline a little bit, so it might help me a little bit with the fastball.”
The scouts did not get to see him work much out of the stretch as he calmly navigated Northville’s lineup out of his two-step windup. He had full command of all four of his pitches — fastball, changeup, slider and curveball — and kept the ball from reaching the outfield until a flyout in the third inning.
“We talked about pounding the strike zone and pounding the top part of the strike zone,” said Novi coach Rick Green. “And then mixing the slow stuff up once in a while down below. And it just seemed like it had more balance.”
A key part to success was jumping out in front of Northville hitters. Fernsler frequently found himself in favorable counts by attacking with first-pitch strikes, primarily with his fastball, changeup or slider. The radar guns showed numbers in the low 90s for his fastball, low 80s for his changeup and slider, and high 70s when he broke out the curveball.
“You don’t have to tell him to pound the first-pitch strikes,” Green said. “He knows that. All of our pitchers know that when you execute it. And he does it to perfection.”
Fernsler was a key member of Novi’s Division 1 state championship in 2023 as a sophomore, including throwing a complete game to secure the title. A large chunk of that 2023 team, including Fernsler, were sophomores and have their eyes set on trying to add a second state championship before heading off to college or, in Fernsler’s case, potentially a major league organization.
“If we play our best, we can beat anybody out there,” Fernsler said. “… Just making sure I’m following all of my cues. Just relaxed on the mound but locked in, trying to repeat over and over again.”
Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Prep baseball: Novi LHP Uli Fernsler flirts with perfection in front of MLB scouts
Reporting by Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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