Kaneland's Pritchards are sibling sensations

One of the first things Jeff Pritchard did when he learned that he and his wife Karen were expecting twins nearly 18 years ago was purchase a pair of Minnesota Twins jerseys.

While it took Troy and Mike Pritchard awhile to grow into the oversized jerseys, it hasn't taken long for them to develop into key players on the Kaneland baseball team.

Both enjoyed a cup of coffee on the varsity squad as sophomores, and now in their senior seasons, the brothers are two of the key reasons why the Knights with a 14-5 record heading into this week.

As the everyday starting catcher and cleanup hitter in coach Brian Aversa's lineup, Mike's been a vital contributor offensively, defensively and in managing the pitching staff.

That's not to say that Troy's role isn't a significant one. He's one of the leaders of the pitching staff.

Mike, who stroked a game-winning 2-run double in his first career varsity at bat against Romeoville in the Class AA Neuqua Valley regional in 2007, batted .377 with 27 RBI last season, and through Monday, he's hitting .352 with 7 extra base hits, 20 RBI, 10 walks and just 1 strikeout this spring.

"Mike brings a lot of leadership," Aversa said. "Even last year as a junior, he was all-conference at third base. People respect his bat and what he can do defensively. He's our field general and takes control."

Troy, who beat Marmion and was a tough-luck loser to Plainfield South as a sophomore, watched more than he pitched a season ago as he suffered an elbow injury that limited him to only 7 innings of work. This spring, he's already 3-1 with a 3.32 ERA. Opponents haven't taken him deep and he's surrendered only 20 hits in 25 2/3 innings of work while fanning 25.

"He got hurt last year at Rochelle and that was a big blow because we were looking to use him a lot after he helped us out on weekends sophomore year," Aversa said. "This year he has been working his butt off and is a lot faster with his velocity."

Interestingly enough, Troy is a bit more social than Mike, who tends to keep to himself more.

"We're both kind of laid back but we're also a lot different," Mike said. "Troy goes along with the flow more but I tend to be more critical which is probably a bad thing."

Both are competitive, but that tends to differ as well.

"Mike has always been more competitive and even when he was young he'd sit down and watch games on TV and imitate (batting) stances," Jeff said. "Troy wouldn't sit and watch a game with you. He's more laid back but he does have a good competitive edge too."

For instance, when asked about his favorite high school baseball memory, Troy recalled last year's spring trip when he and his teammates cashed in all their winning tickets from Dave & Buster's and acquired a pink pony for assistant coach Jim Smedley. Troy also once delayed a game a minute or two when he was due up to bat but situated in the port-o-john. That's the laid back Troy. When posed with the same question about his brother, Mike recalled the competitive side of Troy.

"I remember an early season game against West Aurora freshman year," Mike said. "Troy was just so dominant that day. I think he struck out 11. He threw a shutout and struck out the first 6 batters and was just overpowering. I just had a great time catching him."

While the two share a lot of the same friends and do a lot of things outside of baseball together, there are times when they need a break from one another. When you've been baseball teammates for more than 10 years and have spent your entire lives living under the same roof, there's going to be a handful of spats as well.

"We'll fight at home and a little on the field. If I'm not throwing strikes he'll come out and yell at me," Troy said. "But we have a good relationship and know each other so well. He's always been there for me."

When the two are conflicting at home, they make sure not to let it carry over onto the field.

"Like any other siblings I'm sure we argue just as much," Mike said. "If it happens when he is going to pitch we just keep it off the field and focus on winning the game. And once you play a game you tend to forget about what happened before."

As for when Mike visits Troy on the mound, you never know what the conversation might entail.

"Sometimes when I'm mad at him I'll put my glove over my mouth so no one can see what I'm saying," Mike said. "Other times I'll just make a joke or say something stupid to get him to relax. Sometimes he can get a little rattled or other times he's so intense that he just needs to calm down and I try to help him."

One doesn't have to look far to find out why the boys first started to fall in love with baseball. Jeff played locally at West Aurora High School and Waubonsee Community College. When his playing career looked to be coming to a close, Jeff was persuaded by a friend to try fastpitch softball. The move paid off greatly as Jeff helped Home Savings & Loan win the 1980 International Softball Congress Championship in Tempe, Arizona. The following year the team spent two weeks competing in Japan.

While Jeff played, Karen usually was usually in the stands with her infant sons. Even on the road. And even on Mother's Day.

"Once on Mother's Day, Karen's sitting out and the boys weren't even a year old," Jeff said. "She moved out into the outfield because there were too many close foul balls and she was afraid of the kids getting hit. As soon as she moved beyond the outfield fence our next hitter hit a homerun that went straight toward the stroller with Troy in it. She was holding Mike at the time and leaned over the stroller and (the ball) hit her square in the back."

Karen took one for the team that day, and she's been along for many of the summer vacations since that have been scheduled with the major league baseball schedule in mind. Traveling all over the country, the family has taken in games throughout all of California, Arizona, Texas and Pennsylvania and watched America's pastime in Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

But it's been Jeff's commitment to his sons' playing careers that's had been the biggest influence on their baseball careers.

Jeff believes he started coaching his sons' youth teams when the boys were as young as 7 years old. When they turned 13, realizing that they needed better competition to prepare for high school, he started a travel team with Elburn and Sugar Grove players, which competed for the following two years leading up to high school. And, he's continued to coach. As recently as last autumn, Aversa invited Jeff to coach many of the Knights on a fall team in Elgin

The Knights entered the week two games behind Batavia in the Western Sun Conference before dropping the first two games of the series. (The Knights are 14-7 overall as of the deadline for this story.) While aiming for a regional title and perhaps more remains optimistic goals for the Knights, both Mike and Troy, as well as their parents, are trying to enjoy each pitch, every at-bat, and all the games. The end of the season will likely be the end of Mike and Troy's playing careers as the two will attend Bradley University in the fall.

Mike plans on studying engineering while Troy remains undecided. Originally Mike had considered a smaller school where he could continue to play baseball. He looked at a private school in Indiana and several local ones, including Aurora University, Elmhurst and Illinois Wesleyan. While college baseball intrigued him, Mike decided that an excellent education was what mattered most for him.

"We visited Bradley together and Mike didn't want to go at first," Troy said. "He had been looking at U of I (University of Illinois) and did a lot better on the ACT than I did but we brought him along and he ended up liking Bradley."

Mike said he'll consider walking on at Bradley. The Braves compete in the Missouri Valley Conference and boast a roster this spring that includes Rob Elliott and Brad Kimball, who played on the 2006 Neuqua Valley IHSA AA state champion team.

"In the end I kind of realized that baseball is really important to me, and I love it, but in the long run it's not what I'm going to do for the rest of my life," Mike said. "I think I can go really far in engineering. As of right now, I will try to walk-on and if I don't make it there's always intramurals and other stuff to play too."

For now the focus is on the final three weeks of the regular season. For Mike and Troy, it's playing their final high school games together. For Jeff and Karen, it's watching and rooting on their sons as teammates for the final time.

"I don't know what we'll do in particular because baseball has been such a big part of our lives," Karen said. "I've kept the scorebook and stats and we have so many photo albums that you just wouldn't believe."

Even harder to believe it's almost over.