Two teams that focus on playing the hardest schedules possible crossed paths on Wednesday.

The No. 20 Lutheran North Mustangs hosted and defeated the Detroit Country Day Yellowjackets, 9-0, in a mutually beneficial baseball battle between Division 2 teams with big dreams.

“I think we played a really good team today,” DCD head coach Steve Lepkowski said of the Mustangs. “You know, (LHN head coach James Lazaris) does a great job. You know, every time we play them, they always come ready to play.”

Lazaris returned the praise thrown his way.

“They’re (Country Day’s) resilient,” he said. “They’re a very good team. And we knew we were going to face a very good team with good pitchers, and it was going to be a battle.”

And a battle it was, especially early as neither team scored in the first three innings.

In fact, Country Day appeared to have the early advantage while Lutheran North starting pitcher Luke Wilczynski struggled through the first two innings, walking four batters, while DCD’s Connor Dienes navigated the Mustangs’ lineup stress-free with six punchouts the first time through the order.

The Yellowjackets had a chance to break through in the second inning as Wilczynski walked the bases loaded, but strong defense — including a fielder’s choice at the plate — maintained the shutout.

With Wilczynski’s shakiness, Lazaris opted to put Landon Boesl on the mound to start the third inning. The strategy was effective, as the junior stabilized the Mustangs by throwing four scoreless innings with two walks and just one hit and four strikeouts.

“(Boesl was) absolutely huge,” Lazaris said. “Because you can’t give any momentum to teams like that. They’ll find ways to score runs and find any openings to, you know, get some momentum on their side. So we shut it down pretty good. We just held it and kept hitting the ball. And it was in our favor today.”

Lutheran North was given momentum in the fourth inning when Lucas Mackenzie dribbled an infield single which was followed by a fielding error. They each moved up one base on a wild pitch, then Nate Nazarko punched a single into left to score both runners.

Andrew Nastasi drove in Nazarko, then both he and Nathan Vani crossed the plate on an Adam Narr two-out, two-run double, putting the Mustangs up 5-0 in the fourth inning.

It was just the first of many big moments for Narr, who is in his second year playing a key role on varsity as only a sophomore. He doubled in another run in the sixth inning, then stranded the bases loaded in the seventh inning to wrap up the shutout.

“With him being a sophomore only, he is a phenomenal player, phenomenal athlete,” Lazaris said. “He’s a very important part of our team. And he has some experience, believe it or not, as a sophomore. And you know, I could put him anywhere and line up anywhere defensively, and he’ll do his job.”

Though Dienes punched out 10 Mustangs, when they were making contact, they made the Yellowjackets work for their outs — hard-hit balls and aggressive base running coerced five DCD errors.

“They just put the ball in play, and that’s kind of baseball,” Lepkowski said. “And when you’re playing a really good team, you can’t afford too many mistakes, and they kept us in check hitting wise. So they put the ball in play more consistently than us.”

Narr and Mackenzie each had two hits, with Mackenzie and Nastasi crossing the plate twice apiece. Narr’s three RBIs were a team-high, and Ty Hoef’s two-run single got him two RBIs.

Country Day’s Cade Wilhelmi and LJ Lanier picked up the Yellowjackets’ only knocks.

Lutheran North was just another stop on the postseason-prep quest for Country Day, whose unaffiliated status gives them the freedom to schedule without the restraints of league play.

Including the Mustangs, they’ve already faced ranked teams in Notre Dame Prep (D2 No. 4) twice, Cardinal Mooney (D4 No. 4), Royal Oak Shrine (D4 No. 10) and Grosse Pointe University Liggett (D3 No. 1) twice. Still to come are battles against Division 1 title contenders Rochester Adams and De La Salle and other ranked teams Troy, Divine Child and Armada.

“I’ve been doing this 10, 11 years, and you know, I would put our regular season schedule against anyone,” Lepkowski said. “We’re just used to it. And we know, if you don’t come to play, what happened today is going to happen on most nights.”

The Yellowjackets (9-5) were without key players Anthony Cartwright, Ryder Novock, Jerry Dixon III and Carson O’Connell against LHN.

The Mustangs, now 9-2, will continue their Catholic League schedule on Saturday, April 26 with a doubleheader against Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard.

“We have some tough games coming up,” Lazaris said. “And, you know, switching to 1-1 count with the Catholic League, you have to be more aggressive, obviously.

“But we know what we have and we know what we’re up against. I’ll put us up there with anybody. We’ll compete with the best and, you know, let the cards fall where they really fall. I mean, we’re playing some good baseball right now and we have for years. And I’m proud of this team and this group.”