Knights recorded wins against Lisle and Marysville.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The IC Catholic Prep baseball team has been a busy bunch at the start of the 2017 season.
The Knights played nine games in about a two-week stretch, which included a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C.
IC Catholic Prep opened the season with a 7-0 loss to Montini. The Knights also lost 8-4 to Crystal Lake South. John Hoffman had a hit and two RBI, while Griffen Eichhorn had a hit and an RBI. Joey Salvi, Andrew Falduto and Trey Morris pitched.
The Knights also lost 6-5 to Westmont. Salvi, Hoffman and CJ West each had a hit. Hoffman had two RBI. The Knights did draw nine walks. Brendan Russ and West pitched in the game. West struck out six, while Russ had four strikeouts.
In a 13-1 win over Lisle, the Knights amassed 15 hits. Hoffman went 2-for-4 with four RBI. Austin Reed had two hits and scored three runs. Morris had three hits and three RBI. Jack Enright had two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. Amari Reed had two hits and two RBI, while West had three hits and an RBI. Hoffman and Morris each had doubles. Hoffman pitched five innings and struck out three to get the complete-game win.
IC Catholic Prep also lost 10-5 to St. Joe’s. Morris had two hits and an RBI. Enright had a hit and an RBI, while Matt Sutton had a hit and two RBI. West had two hits and an RBI. Russ had a double, while Enright homered. Salvi, Alfonso Cepeda and CJ Slowinski pitched. Slowinski struck out three.
In South Carolina, the Knights played to a 0-0 tie with Lakeview and then scored a 6-2 win over Marysville. The Knights lost 10-2 to Chardon. Sutton had two hits, as did West and Eichhorn. Amari Reed had a hit and an RBI. Salvi, Sutton and Amari Reed each had a double. The Knights also lost 7-0 to St. Francis de Sales.
“We played a lot of schools from Ohio,” said IC Catholic Prep coach Frank DeAngelis from South Carolina last week. “We didn’t do bad. We want to play better baseball. We’re still leaving a lot of guys on base. It wasn’t bad and it was nice to get out of Illinois and play these different schools. Some of these schools have enrollments of 3,000-plus. The competition is good and it’s a good overall experience. It’s good for the kids to experience a baseball trip with the bus rides and the hotel and the team dinners. One of the major goals was to get on one of these trips at the beginning of the season. We want to make sure the kids are having a good experience with baseball on and off the field.”
DeAngelis has seen plenty of progress thus far in the first few weeks of the season. “We’re getting better,” he said. “There still is a lot of baseball ahead of us. We want to make sure we are peaking at the right time. But overall it hasn’t been bad at all. We’re seeing some seniors step up. We have guys playing a lot of different positions. We’ve been mixing things up with positional changes and in the batting order.”
DeAngelis lauded the recent play of Sutton. “Matt started to heat up out here in South Carolina,” he said. “He’s tracking down baseballs in center field and is starting to make solid contact and getting himself deep into counts.”
Morris also has been a key contributor at second base. “Trey has started really well for us,” said DeAngelis. “He caught the last few games in South Carolina so we could give some guys a rest. He’s been brought in to play different positions and has done well.”
Hoffman also drew praise for his start to the season. “John has pitched very well and has logged some innings in the outfield,” said DeAngelis. “He’s a very serviceable outfielder and has been striking the ball really well. He’s one of the guys to watch.”
DeAngelis also cited Austin Reed, Russ and Salvi for their offensive efforts as well as West at third base.
“Our record isn’t where we want it to be,” said DeAngelis. “We know we gave a couple of games away. The scores to some of the games are not indicative of how we play. We’ll have some growing pains, but I’m encouraged by the early returns.”
