Chas Evans: Lake County baseball captain

Now that school's out, Chas Evans is about to start his summer job.

He'll be working in the shoe department of a major sporting goods store.

Kind of ironic because his baseball coaches at Lake Zurich will also have shoes on their minds this summer. Like how to fill Evans' shoes.

It won't be easy.

Evans, a senior who will be graduating from Lake Zurich on Saturday, came out of practically nowhere this spring to become one of the best pitchers in the area.

In fact, combine his pitching numbers with his impressive offensive statistics and his stellar play in the field at third base and Evans had the kind of year that is player-of-the-year worthy.

Beating out a field of elite candidates who helped make baseball in this area as competitive as it ever has been, Evans has been named captain of the Daily Herald's Lake County All-Area Baseball Team.

"It's incredible what Chas has done on an individual level this season," Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon said. "But on top of it, he's a team player. The guys on our team really look up to him."

And what's not to admire about an 8-0 record on the mound, a no-hit shutout (against Zion-Benton in April), 75 strikeouts, a 1.56 earned run average? Ditto for Ryan's offensive stats: a team-leading 7 home runs, a .364 batting average, 23 RBI, 39 hits, including 8 doubles, and 17 stolen bases.

"It's been a lot of fun," said Evans, who hit better than .400 for a majority of the season until a mini late-season slump dropped his average a bit. "But the goal was never to go 8-0 or bat .400.

"It's nice to be able to do that, and it's fulfilling. But it's not what I was thinking about at all. When I pictured my senior year, I didn't picture that at all."

Evans centered his thoughts around a North Suburban Conference title, which the Bears won, and an extended run through the state tournament, which got off on the right track last weekend when Lake Zurich won a regional title on its own field.

A team-first mentality is all Evans knows. It's been preached to him ever since his dad started coaching his basketball teams in first grade.

"My dad always taught me 'Pass first and team first,'" Evans said. "And that personal stats don't matter."

Then again, Evans' 3-run homer late in the regional championship game against Mundelein mattered a tiny bit.

But what mattered to Evans even more was that he was in a position to hit it in the first place.

He wasn't just a couple of years ago.

Evans missed his entire freshman season when he tore up his knee. After completing rehab, lightning somehow struck again when he tore the same knee a week into his comeback.

Then, shortly thereafter, he tore up his other knee.

By the time he got his knees back to normal and reached the varsity as a junior last season, he was still a relatively unknown commodity. The fact that he then became stuck behind some very talented seniors didn't change his fortunes either.

Evans felt like his baseball career was slowly slipping away.

"That's a lot to have to deal with," Simon said. "But Chas always has a great attitude. You have to if you're going to be able to come back from all that."

Evans says that his short, but sweet career started gaining steam when he threw his no-hit shutout against Zion-Benton. Suddenly, people knew his name.

Even college coaches.

Now Evans might actually get the opportunity to play college baseball. He had made plans to attend the University of Illinois anyway, but after the breakout season he's had, the coaches there seem interested in having him try to walk on to the team.

"When you're younger, you always read the newspaper and see the kids in high school who are having great years and you always look up to those kids," Evans said. "I still don't think it's hit me that people might be reading about me now."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>All-Area Teams</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Cook County</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=298406"><B>Softball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298405">Softball captain: Nikki Goranson</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298398"><B>Baseball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298397">Baseball captain: Jon Carlson</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298403"><B>Girls soccer</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298402">Soccer captains: Laura Mayer, Mary Kubiuk</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298401"><B>Boys volleyball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298400">Volleyball captain: Chris Falknor</a></li> </ul> <h2>DuPage County</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=298388"><B>Softball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298392">Softball captain: Hannah Santora</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298388"><B>Baseball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298582">Baseball captain: Jack DeAno</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298391"><B>Girls soccer</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298394">Soccer captain: Leah Fortune</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298390"><B>Boys volleyball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298393">Volleyball captain: Joe Kelly</a></li> </ul> <h2>Fox Valley</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=298676"><B>Softball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298362">Softball captain: Kimberly Pierce</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298660"><B>Baseball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298356">Baseball co-captain: Brian Brauer</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298355">Baseball co-captain: Craig Lipp</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298658"><B>Girls soccer</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298361">Soccer captain: Cori Wronski</a></li> </ul> <h2>Lake County</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=298410"><B>Softball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298408">Softball captain: Olivia Duehr</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298407"><B>Baseball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298396">Baseball captain: Chas Evans</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298404"><B>Girls soccer</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298409">Soccer captain: Courtney Levy</a></li> </ul> <h2>Tri-Cities</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=298385"><B>Softball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298379">Softball captain:Stephanie Becker</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298383"><B>Baseball</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298380">Baseball captain: Matt Milroy</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298382"><B>Girls soccer</B></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=298378">Soccer captain: Emily Hinchman</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>