Warriors coming off strong summer campaign.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
While the summer high-school baseball team doesn’t carry huge weight, success during that timeframe does tend to give a look into the proverbial crystal ball that is the spring season.
On that note, the Willowbrook baseball team advanced to a summer regional championship game last year on the heels of winning 19 games and finishing in third place in the West Suburban Conference Gold Division with 10 wins last spring.
“We lost to Oak Park in extra innings in the summer regional championship game,” noted Willowbrook coach Vic Wisner. “The summer doesn’t mean a lot. We’re going to be young with a lot of sophomore pitchers who did a great job for us.”
In terms of veteran returners, the Warriors welcome back three-year starter Kyle Ferguson at 2B, MJ Ranieri at shortstop and Jon Kelso in center field. All three started last season.
Other key returners include Ben Espinoza (LF), Trevor Jaloszynski (RF), Dan Gusel (C) and Alec Michaelson (P). Jaloszynski logged time at the varsity level last year as a freshman. Gusel split time behind the plate last year while Michaelson went 5-0 in the summer and projects as the team’s No. 1 pitcher.
Also back is senior reliever Will Hines.
Those three sophomore pitchers Wisner spoke of are Ryan Mintz, Jack Nilles and Jack Hines.
“We have a lot of young pitchers that stepped up in the summer,” said Wisner. “The summer is a little more relaxed. We will see what happens when the full pressure is on. The big thing is you wouldn’t know these guys are sophomores when they practice with how well they carry themselves and how well they play. Our pitching always has been very good. This is the youngest staff I’ve had, but these three sophomore guys could be Division I college quality as they continue to grow.”
But Wisner added the Warriors will need contributions throughout its pitching staff, especially with the new IHSA rules regarding pitch-count limitations this spring.
“Lots of guys are going to have to throw with the pitch count,” he said. “We’re going to need help from guys like Scott Kohrt and Vince Ruchala. It’s going to be a total staff effort. If our guys throw the ball well we are going to be in good shape.”
Wisner’s squad once again will get after it in the intangibles department at the plate.
“They play small ball and do the little things like moving runners along,” he said. “They work hard and they are super competitive. These guys got on a roll in the summer and they expected to win. That’s a big strength when they go out there. They feel like they have a chance every game. We don’t have anybody that is going to hit the ball out of the park on a consistent basis. We have guys that can put the ball in play and run the bases well. We are good at manufacturing runs.”
Wisner likes how the team shapes up defensively, particularly up the middle.
“We will be strong up the middle” the coach said, “Kyle Ferguson at second, MJ at short and Jon Kelso in center will help. Jon can run with anybody and will go get every ball. We’re excited about our potential on defense. We’re putting a big focus on defense. We are tracking errors every day.”
The coach stressed the WSC Gold will be competitive as always.
“Addison Trail has some young juniors who were really good and they are good on defense,” said Wisner. “Hinsdale South is always good. Paul (Hinsdale South coach Hoel) always has them going. One of the teams I would watch out for is Morton. They had only one senior playing last year and I thought they were really good when we played them.”
The WSC Gold baseball schedule has changed this year, eliminating the Saturday doubleheader and replacing it with a Monday-Tuesday-Thursday three-game series.
“You play one game and then you have to regroup and come right back and play another,” said Wisner. “We’re looking forward to the new schedule.”
