Pioneer Press takes a look at the Notre Dame, Maine South, Niles West, Ridgewood, Niles North, Maine East and Northridge baseball teams at the start of the season.
Notre Dame
Notre Dame returns five players who will be entering their third seasons as starters, including junior catcher Sam Ferri (Notre Dame commit), senior shortstop Thomas Norton (Illinois-Chicago) and senior second baseman Mike Ferri (Milwaukee).
Notre Dame also has the majority of its pitchers back from a team that won 20 games a year ago. That experience and pitching bodes well for the Dons, but the key in their quest to compete for an East Suburban Catholic title and win the first regional championship in coach Nelson Gord’s tenure will likely be how well they hit top-of-the-line pitching.
“When we go play Joliet Catholic, or we go play Carmel, or whomever, we’re going to see two or three guys each of those weeks that are going to be throwing 90 miles per hour or are professional prospects,” said Gord, who’s been the coach since 2012. Being able to score runs against them “is going to be the difference.”
In addition to Norton and the Ferri brothers, the Dons’ other top hitters will be junior third baseman Matt Segovia, senior pitcher/first baseman Joe Rimac and junior Ranko Stevanovic. Rimac will headline the pitching staff, which includes junior Scott Kutschke, senior Brandon Nowak and senior Adnan Sator.
Maine South
Maine South won 25 games a year ago, but it graduated Bobby Pennington and Gehrig Parker, who combined to win 15 of those games as starting pitchers.
The Hawks’ rotation is anchored by No. 1 starter Hank Schau, a senior. Joining Schau in the rotation will be juniors Kyle Zajdel and Jimmy O’Brien, as well as senior Brandon Ranieri. Senior Caleb deMarigny will get some spot starts and work as the closer, Maine South coach Bill Milano added.
Although the pitching staff is relatively inexperienced, the Hawks have the infrastructure for them to succeed. Senior Zach Parker, who led the team in RBIs a year ago, is back for his second year behind the plate. Maine South is also experienced up the middle, with Schau in center field, deMarigny entering his third season as the starting shortstop and all-Central Suburban South second baseman Stephen Sakowicz also back.
The number of quality players up the middle “is going to help the staff,” Milano said. “They make most of the routine plays. We want to keep teams to three outs an inning, not give them four or five outs in an inning. We should be able to handle that.”
Niles West
The Wolves will look to Tyler Stegich to contribute in a myriad of ways this year. The senior is penciled in as the team’s No. 1 pitcher, its No. 3 hitter and he’ll start in the outfield when he isn’t on the mound.
Stegich will likely be joined in the middle of Niles West’s lineup by sophomore Michael Gunartt — coach Garry Gustafson said he has the tools to be a Division I player — as well as senior Tommy Galanopoulos.
A contributor for the Wolves as a sophomore, Galanopoulos didn’t play baseball last season to focus on football. Galanopoulos — who played quarterback for the Wolves and was the CSL South’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2014 — is back, and provides versatility.
“We’re going to move Tommy around,” Gustafson said. “Tommy could play third. He could play first. He could play short. And he could play all three outfield spots.”
Ridgewood
Joe Uvelli transferred to Ridgewood before his senior year, and the Purdue signee will begin the season as both the Rebels’ ace and No. 3 hitter.
Ridgewood is very familiar with Uvelli from his time at Elmwood Park. Rebels coach Chris Uhle encouraged his batters to be patient and get Uvelli’s pitch count up early in games. That allowed Ridgewood to face the Tigers’ bullpen as quickly as possible.
This year, with a defense that should be strong — especially with junior Michael Ruffolo (Indiana State) at shortstop, junior Keith Kerrigan in center field and junior Vito Iovino catching — Uhle hopes Uvelli’s starts last longer.
“I’m looking for him to let it loose this year,” Uhle said. “I want him to be comfortable. I want him to pitch more to contact, and not look to strike everybody out. That way, he can get deeper in games.”
Uvelli and Kerrigan will be joined on the pitching staff by senior Frank Malicki. Uhle is hopeful that those three give the Rebels the quality starts needed to win a conference title and make a deep run in the postseason.
Niles North
The Vikings were young all over the diamond last year, especially in the infield. They started two sophomores, a freshman and first baseman Tyler Egan, who’s now a senior.
That group — which includes junior third baseman Phil Klafta, junior shortstop Alex Nanut and sophomore second baseman Jovanni Sanchez — is a year older and should be a year better.
“We did have some defensive issues, I would say, last year,” Niles North coach Ed Toledo said. “Some of them were growing pains and [from] the speed of the game. The hope, right now, is that offensively and defensively with a year under their belts, the young guys will be a lot more comfortable and a lot more relaxed when it comes to playing defense and offense.”
Niles North’s infielders will be joined in the lineup by several seniors, including Tony Granato (center field), Anthony Sanchez (catcher), Eric Wheeler (outfield) and Chris Jefferies (second base/outfield). Granato and Wheeler are expected to be the Nos. 1 and 2 pitchers in the Vikings’ rotation, Toledo said.
Maine East
Pitching and defense will be the Blue Demons’ strengths this year, according to coach Ron Clark.
Clark said this year’s pitching staff is the deepest he’s had in his five seasons at Maine East. It’s led by senior Dylan Kuffell, sophomore Ryan Sands and senior Lukas Parker.
Defensively, Maine East is solid up the middle, with Parker at catcher, Kuffell and junior Jose Trujillo both capable of playing either middle infield position, and senior Jake Devitt in center field. All four are entering their third varsity seasons.
“I’m comfortable that if a ball is put in play, we’ll pick it up and make plays,” Clark said. “Our middle infield is tough.”
Northridge
Northridge is in line to begin the season with 11 players on its roster.
Coach Pat Hunt’s plan is to pick a starting nine and keep the players in the same field positions all season. But with a small roster and the need to use different pitchers on different days, Hunt will lean on his son, Patrick Hunt, to fill in where needed.
“He has that ability — he has that mobility — and he’s the most logical one to do that,” Pat Hunt said.
Patrick Hunt will pitch. So too will senior Tommy Kahle, who also plays shortstop, junior catcher Mike McCarthy and freshman third baseman Andrew Deardurff. Patrick Hunt — who was the Knights’ top hitter in 2014 — will likely fill the vacancies left by Kahle, McCarthy and Deardurff when they’re on the mound. Everybody else will stay put.
Eric Van Dril is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @VanDrilSports
