Once again, Vernon Hills comes through

Trends come and go.

But seeing his team win North Suburban Conference Prairie Division championships is one trend that Vernon Hills baseball coach Jay Czarnecki hopes doesn't fade quickly.

The Cougars recently earned their second consecutive division title and their fourth in the school's eight years of existence. As of Wednesday, they were also making plans to bring home their second straight North Suburban Conference championship in Thursday's title game.

"When you look at the best programs in the state, regardless of how many great kids they lose from the year before, they're always still good," Czarnecki said. "They don't just rebuild, they reload. They've built a tradition of winning.

"We're trying to do that exact same thing."

Czarnecki says the process starts long before his players reach him.

"It's got to start with the young kids," Czarnecki said. "You've got to get them excited about your program by winning consistently. We've started to do that and I'm starting to see an excitement and a sense of community pride in our youth leagues and when those young kids come to our summer camps."

Speaking of the summer, Vernon Hills had a good one last year.

The Cougars followed up their North Suburban Conference title with a solid showing in the summer state baseball tournament.

"I don't want this to come off as arrogant because it's not meant that way at all, but I think we've walked onto the field this year expecting to win," Czarnecki said. "I think it's all about the confidence that comes with having had some success.

"Our kids now believe they can win and they expect to win and believe it or not, kids have to learn that. It doesn't come naturally. It comes with actually winning and getting that confidence."

The other guys: Sure, it's easy to chalk up much of Vernon Hills' success this season to pitchers Brad Schnitzer and Zack Schwartz.

Together, the two have accounted for 9 of the Cougars' 17 wins as well as 2 saves.

But Vernon Hills is far from a two-man show on the mound.

Recently, Joey Nichols and Nick Mazza combined to no-hit Round Lake. Senior Keith Kamman has been solid all season and juniors Jon Rathod and Jamie Manhard have closed a lot of games.

Meanwhile, recent call-up Scott Kempel, just a sophomore, gave up just 1 hit to Lake Forest recently in four innings of service.

"One of the biggest reasons we won the Prairie this year is that we've got two mainstays on the mound in Brad and Zack. We know that they can both get the job done against anyone," Vernon Hills coach Jay Czarnecki said. "But there are a lot of other reasons we've had the year we've had. We've had a lot of guys rise to the occasion, especially on our pitching staff."

Surprise party: Every time Mundelein coach Todd Parola looks at catcher Brad Medina, he feels like he just uncovered his eyes and found a horde of people in his living room yelling, "Surprise!"

"This is one that I really didn't see coming," Parola said. "In my 14 years, Brad has got to be one of the better stories I've had since I've been the head coach here."

It was just two years ago that reality nearly crushed Medina's hopes of a high school baseball career.

He was a sophomore at Carmel and was cut from the baseball program. His parents immediately called Parola and asked if Brad would have even a chance to play at Mundelein.

Parola knew he couldn't guarantee anything but welcomed Medina to try out. So Medina transferred immediately to Mundelein.

But the family soon found out that per IHSA transfer rules Medina would be ineligible to play that entire spring.

"He just kind of had to sit and watch," Parola said. "I know that was tough for him."

Medina finally became eligible last year, his junior year, but was playing behind starters Nick Morrissey and Kyle Preuss, which meant he didn't get much time behind the plate.

Morrissey graduated last year and Preuss was again slated to catch this year, which again put Medina in a support role.

But then Preuss got hurt and opportunity knocked at Medina's door. So far, he's answered the call -- and then some.

Not only has Medina been tough behind the plate, he's also become one of Mundelein's top hitters. He's batting .367 and has had several key hits, including a game-winning home run last week against Stevenson.

"We've got pitchers who love to throw a lot of curve balls in the dirt and Brad just sucks them up," Parola said. "He's been doing a great job behind the plate for us. And he's hitting well, too.

"It's just a great story. If I were a betting man, I probably wouldn't have bet that Brad would have had the kind of year he's had. But he's worked hard and it's just been such a nice surprise."

Terrific tandem: Star pitchers never seem to be in short supply at Mundelein.

From Kyle Zaleski to Brian Lueders to Steve Plucinski to Clay Kovac, the Mustangs have benefited from some amazing arms over the years.

But perhaps never before has Mundelein had two dominating pitchers in its arsenal in the same season, as is the case this year with Eric Rohe and Justin Piasecki.

The two have combined for an 18-0 record and are a big reason Mundelein earned a share of the North Suburban Conference Lake Division title with an otherwise very inexperienced team.

Rohe has been particularly dominant. He's got an 11-0 record with a stunning 94 strikeouts against just 22 walks in 66 innings. His earned run average is an impressive 1.04.

Meanwhile, Piasecki, who has admirably bounced back almost seamlessly from an early season knee injury, is 7-0.

"The one thing we knew for sure heading into this season was that we had two very solid senior pitches in Eric and Justin," Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. "Other than that, we had a lot of question marks. And then, even our pitching came into question when Justin got hurt.

"But as the season has gone one, our (original outlook) has proven true. Those guys have carried us."

And they'll go down in the record books for it -- both statistically and anecdotally.

"We've had some good pitchers over the years," Parola said. "But I'm not sure we've ever had two this good at the same time."

Parola thinks Rohe should be a shoo-in for all-state honors.

"In terms of production, it's tough to match his numbers," Parola said. "At least I'm not aware of anyone else with those numbers. Eric could be the most productive pitcher in the state this year."

Serious schedule: There was no rest for Carmel's weary last week.

Like many teams, the Corsairs have spent recent weeks cramming in make-up games due to all the games that were cancelled because of bad weather earlier in the season.

But last week was even more jam-packed than usual.

Carmel played every day but Sunday last week and also fit in a doubleheader on Saturday. That's seven games in six days.

Actually, there was a bit more than that. Last Thursday, the Corsairs finished the last three innings of a game against Libertyville that had gotten suspended earlier in the season and then played a full game after that.

So really, Carmel played seven-plus games last week.

"It was like a major league schedule," Carmel coach Chuck Gandolfi said. "Actually, the kids were even commenting about that, wondering how the major leaguers do it when they've got 29 or 30 games in 31 days. Our guys got a taste of that and I think they were a little tired."

Carmel went 5-3 over the stretch and got solid performances out of Joe Pudlo, Jordan Sivertsen, Donald Stopka and Brian Siedlecki, among others.

Funny stuff: It's been an up and down year for the Grant baseball team, which has hovered around the .500 mark for much of the season.

And yet, the Bulldogs have not been feeling sorry for themselves.

Then again, that's probably because they've been too busy laughing at themselves.

Seems that outfielder and leadoff batter Chris Utes has a way with video production and his computer. And he's taken it upon himself to play up all the funny little things that happen during the course of the season on YouTube.

"He made this dancing skit thing where a lot of the guys are acting like they're in a dance club and he made some mini movies, that are all pretty funny," Grant coach Mike Mizwicki said. "(Utes) is probably going to be an actor someday. He's got the guys going to meetings to figure out what they're going to do for YouTube. It's kept us laughing this year."

Youth factor: Youth has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Grayslake Central this season.

On the one hand, three young guns have played a huge role in the Rams' 17 wins.

Junior pitchers Kevin O'Rourke and Aaron Snyder and sophomore pitcher Kevin DeRue each have 4 wins, accounting for more than 70 percent of the team's victories.

"Our pitching has been there all year," Grayslake coach Troy Whalen said.

Meanwhile, the youth factor has had the opposite effect at the plate, where the Rams have been inconsistent and have often showed their inexperience in tough situations.

"Our hitting, especially in key situations, has not been all that great this season," Whalen said. "It's not from a lack of effort, we just don't get the key hits when we need them. In one game last week against Huntley, we scored only 2 runs on 11 hits. We've had games where we've got a guy on third and no one out and we can't get him in.

"I think everyone is trying too hard. But I think that comes with a lack of experience. We don't focus every game like we should. We've got a really young team this year."

Somehow, pitching has been immune. Whalen says that O'Rourke, Snyder and DeRue all have sub-2.00 earned run averages and have looked increasingly sharp as the season has gone on.

O'Rourke is a powerful pitcher, Snyder throws all four of his pitches for strikes and DeRue locates the best.

"All three of those guys are unique in their own way. They all bring something to the table," Whalen said. "I would put them up against anyone's top pitchers."