Baseball notes: Warren, Lakes off to fast starts in conference play

The returns continue to be positive for the Warren Township baseball team.

Coach Clint Smothers’ squad started the week 13-3 overall and was off to a 4-1 start in the North Suburban Conference thanks to key efforts on both sides of the baseball. Warren was a half-game back of loop-leader Libertyville after a Tuesday win against Zion.

Ethan Cole is hitting .405 for the Blue Devils with 6 doubles, while junior Braylan McCarthy is hitting .395.

Of equal note has been the work of the Warren pitching staff where McCarthy is 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 20 innings. Junior Payton Balanag is 3-1 with a 1.90 ERA and has 30 strikeouts in 23 innings, while sophomore Mason Palmer is 1-1 with 1 save to go with 21 punchouts in 17 innings.

“Our pitchers have been throwing strikes and keeping us competitive in games,” Smothers noted.

Lakes update: The Eagles (11-4 overall to start the week) sit at a robust 6-1 in Northern Lake County Conference action on the heels of a 3-game sweep of Grayslake North and a triumph over Round Lake that ran their winning streak to 7 in a row.

At the plate, Owen Klosinski (.500) and Zack Raffone (.413) lead the way, while the Lakes pitching staff started the week with a 2.44 ERA. “Overall, we are playing more consistently in all phases of the game,” Eagles coach Chris Hoffman said.

Antioch update: After dropping the first of the series to Wauconda, Antioch came back to win games 2 and 3 and headed into the week 11-5-1 overall and 3-1 in Northern Lake County play.

Hunter Feldkamp (.385 hitting, .432 on-base), Evan Schmidt (.383 hitting, .455 on-base), Mason Willis (.325 hitting, .453 on-base) Nathan Yeager (.419 hitting, .559 hitting) have been offensive cogs for the Sequoits, as have Tyler Johnson, Colby Costello and Alex Nielsen.

“Colby, Hunter, Tyler and Alex have been huge for us offensively,” Antioch coach Frank Fracek said. “They have been carrying our lineup and getting on base regularly.”

Carson Young is off to a 4-0 start on the mound with 41 strikeouts and a 1.83 ERA. Fracek also praised the work of RJ Deguzman and Andrew Olson coming out of the bullpen. “RJ and Andrew have been huge for us in relief,” Fracek said. “They have had to come into some tight ballgames and throw strikes in high-leverage situations to keep us in it.”

Fracek likes the progress his group has made as it enters the halfway point of the season.

“We are starting to turn the page and I still think we are far from our best baseball,” Fracek said. “We have a lot of guys all over our lineup who are contributing and making it tough to write a lineup every day. We have 3 very difficult conference series coming up over the next few weeks against teams already in double digits for total wins. There are no easy outs in our conference and we are going to be tested every night we compete.”

Carmel Catholic update: Corsairs pitchers had struck out 118 batters in 88 1/3 innings to start this week. That total comes against only 52 walks for a 2.27 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Junior Emerson Larson has fanned 34 in 19 innings and has a 1.11 ERA, while freshman Josh Ouimette has a 2.76 ERA in 12 2/3 innings and earned a conference win in a start against St. Viator. He’s also hitting .353 with a .488 on-base percentage while also patrolling right field.

Senior Zach Case leads Carmel (8-6, 2-2 East Suburban Catholic) with a .439 average (.500 on-base, .561 slug) with 18 hits, a homer and 10 RBI. Sophomore Michael Haran is hitting .429, while senior Carson Hubert is hitting .302 and has been identified as a defensive stalwart behind the plate by coach Scott Anderson.

Grant update: The Bulldogs are off to a 3-1 start in Northern Lake County action (lost to Antioch Tuesday) and were 10-5 overall to start the week, which included a win over Mundelein earlier in the month.

Ryan Dzierzynski has been a dual threat for Grant Community, hitting .457 (.545 on-base) with 4 doubles, 3 homers and 17 RBI, while posting a 3-0 mark on the mound. Ramzi Abdelhak has 7 hits and 7 runs scored during a recent 5-game stretch. Coach Bryan Talbot also hailed the work of senior pitchers Brandon Wolkowitz, Dzierzynski and Cole Sparkman, who combined limited opponents to 3 runs or less in a recent 7-of-8-game span.

Grayslake Central update: The Rams started action this week in first place in the NLCC with a 6-0 mark (13-3 overall).

While seniors Trevor Meathe (College of Lake County, .515 batting, team-high 19 runs and 12 steals), Cal Hanson (Parkland, .500 hitting, team-best 18 RBI, 9 doubles, 2 homers) and Ian McGowan (College of Lake County, .401 hitting, 16 RBI, 6 doubles) are off to torrid starts in the box, coach Troy Whalen noted middle-infield play also has been responsible for the Rams’ hard-charging out of the gates this spring with sophomore Charlie Surowiec and junior Carson Woods limiting themselves to a combined 3 miscues through the first 15 games.

“Our middle infield has been our most consistent,” Whalen said. “It’s always been said if you are great up the middle you will be in most games and that has proven to be the case so far.”

Junior catcher Soren Hansen, Whalen added, also is finding his stride of late, “and has been solid behind the plate,” he said. “His bat is starting to come around as we expected.”

The Rams also have been bolstered by a staff ERA that sits under 2.00. “Our pitchers know they need to elevate their game as we get into a tough stretch in our schedule the next few weeks,” Whalen said. “While our record looks good on paper, we are struggling with consistency and competing pitch for pitch. If our mindset doesn’t change, it will cost us down the road, especially in the postseason.”

Central had 15 different starting lineups in as many games to start the season. “We continue to balance out the lineup on both offense and defense,” Whalen explained. “The good part is kids get more playing time, but the challenge is with different lineups, that can cause some of our inconsistent play. At this time, we are waiting for a few players to separate themselves from the pack.”

Grayslake North update: Senior shortstop Mitchell Hughes (.333 hitting, .429 on-base, 10 RBI, 5 doubles, 1 homer) and junior pitcher Timmy Schaap (2.06 ERA, 23 K in 17 innings) are off to fine starts for the Knights (2-14, 0-7 NLCC). Coach Eric Lopez also cited strong play from senior Braden Kubik, who is hitting .308 with a homer and 4 steals.

Lake Zurich update: Cash Kaczmarek and Carson Hamblin have been leading the way for the Bears (10-6, 4-2 North Suburban), who recorded recent wins over Normal West (17-9) and Marist (5-4 in 10), while sweeping a NSC series from Lake Forest.

Libertyville update: The Wildcats started the week a torrid 17-2 overall and were off to a 5-1 start in North Suburban action after sweeps of Lake Zurich, Stevenson and a split with Mundelein.

Josh Holst (5-0) fanned 14, allowed 5 hits and walked none in the complete-game win against Mundelein, and also contributed a hit and RBI at the plate. He’s hitting .425 with 6 doubles and 20 RBI, while fanning 44 in 27 1/3 innings to go with a 2.30 ERA. His partner in mound crime has been Chase Lockwood, off to a 4-0 start with a 1.02 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) in 20 2/3 innings of work.

Mundelein update: Brandon Marano (.372 hitting, .509 on-base, .581 slug, 7 doubles, 10 RBI, 12 walks), and Nck Szalony (.368 hitting, .529 on-base, .526 slug, 10 RBI, 13 runs) have been notables at the plate for the Mustangs (12-4-2, 4-2 North Suburban, recent splits with Stevenson and league leader Libertyville), while Joey Kafka (2-1, 1 save, 1.45 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 33 K, 4 walks, 19 1/3 innings) and Baris Brua (1-1, 0.78 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 30 K in 18 innings) have starred thus far on the hill for coach Randy Lerner’s squad.

Of late, Jake Junia went 6-for-13 with 3 walks and a .562 on-base percentage during a recent 4-game stretch, while Caden Earing went 5-for-7 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI in a 2-game recent sample size.

Stevenson update: The Patriots recorded their first North Suburban victory recently, an 8-7 walk-off against Mundelein, and stood at 10-10 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

During the month of April, Matteo Nolasco is hitting .400 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI, while Kosuke Sakamoto is hitting .429 with 4 doubles, a homer and 4 RBI and Frank Costabile is at .389 with 2 doubles, a triple, a homer and 4 RBI.

“We have played a tough first 18 games,” Patriots coach Nick Skala said. “We are learning how to put a full game together on defense and offense. Our pitching staff’s ability to limit free bases will be the key to our success.”

Vernon Hills update: Robert Miller started the week with a 2.00 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 21 innings of work for the Cougars (6-12, 2-3 Central Suburban North after a Tuesday win against Maine East).

“Robert is our ace,” coach Pasquale Atteo noted. “He dominates with his fastball and has great offspeed.”

Nate Dugan is hitting .357 (.830 OPS, .438 on-base) with 6 RBI. “Nathan is seeing the baseball well and hits the baseball harder than most on our team,” Atteo has observed.

Atteo sees Vernon Hills as a team with plenty of potential. “We are a team capable of beating others any time, but we can also self-implode at times,” he said.

Wauconda update: Ryan Fostiak (.492, 2 homers), Luke Sickmeier (.467 hitting) and Jackson Rudolph (2 homers) are performing well at the plate for the Bulldogs (9-9, 3-4 NLCC). Pat Shannon has a 1.93 ERA (3 wins, 22 K) to pace the pitching staff.