Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Ursuline’s Andrew Kirila fires a pitch against Austintown Fitch on April 8. Kirila has been a key piece of Ursuline’s run to the regional semifinals as the team’s ace.

YOUNGSTOWN — Andrew Kirila feels at home on the mound. It’s a place that a pitcher makes their own each time they step on it.

The mound has been a safe haven this season for the Ursuline junior, and the Irish have benefited from it. Kirila has been Ursuline’s ace this season and in the eight games he’s started, he has a 7-1 record with an ERA of 1.67 in helping the Irish reach Thursday’s Division III regional semifinal.

“He’s our guy — just his approach and how he handles himself when he’s throwing is tremendous,” said head coach Paul Kempe. “He put in all this work and all this time in the offseason and I’m not shocked at all. He’s a guy we’ve had to rely on and we’ve won some battles. He’s thrown some high-scoring ones and some low-scoring ones, but we’re going to need his best effort on Thursday.”

Growing up in Brookfield, Kirila first started playing baseball when he was about 9-10 years old, and since then, it has developed into a labor of love.

“I just put in the time and effort because it’s something I love,” Kirila said. “I love pitching and it’s really paying off this year and I’m just excited I get another year to do it.”

When Kirila steps onto the mound at any given point, he keeps things simple.

If something is working early, he’s going to stick to it, whether it’s a slider, curveball or fastball strike.

“I really don’t think a lot when I’m on the mound,” Kirila said. “I’m just hoping to do my job and get out. On certain counts, I know what to throw because I’m used to it and I know what my coach thinks — we both think the same.”

However, this past summer, heading into his junior season, Kirila was looking for an edge, and he stumbled upon a post on Twitter promoting Grady’s Pitching School in North Canton.

He was skeptical of what he saw, but he figured he’d give it a try.

“I never really knew anything about it,” he said. “I really didn’t even want to try it, but I’m so glad I did. They just developed me — not even throwing harder, just as a better pitcher and a better thinker.”

When Kirila watches back the video footage from when he first arrived at the camp and compares it to the video of him at the end of the camp, he doesn’t even recognize what he saw in the “before” video.

“The difference in my back leg was just incredible — I was staying back on it more,” Kirila said. “In the first video, I was collapsing and everything was just off point.”

Kirila said he still watches that “before” video to try to fix and tweak little things that he notices, and he’ll continue to do that going into travel ball season this summer to continue to refine his craft in preparation for his senior season next year.

“I still try to perfect things, even though I might be good at this one thing, I look at another thing and I realize I have to be better at that,” Kirila said. “So going into the offseason, I’m just picking up the small stuff and going from there.”

After Ursuline’s season is over, Kirila will play travel ball this summer, hoping to draw the eyes of college coaches, before then returning to Grady’s Pitching School this fall for additional instruction before the start of his senior season.

Playing college baseball has always been a goal for Kirila, and right now, he’s just “trusting the process” to get to where he wants to be.

“I’ve been talking with some coaches, just staying connected with them,” Kirila said. “It’s all falling into place right now, so I’m just letting it play out.”

But first, Apple Creek Waynedale stands in front of Kirila and the Irish in Thursday’s regional semifinal at 5 p.m. at Massillon Washington.

“I knew the talent we had coming in and it was just a challenge of getting them to believe in themselves,” Kempe said. “Winning districts was our first goal, but these guys aren’t satisfied. They want more — they want to get to that highest level, and obviously we have a great opportunity on Thursday. I’m fully confident these guys are going to be ready to go.

“The big thing was getting Ursuline baseball back and we’ve done a decent job of that, but we’re not done yet.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com