Burton steps in for Round Lake

A catcher on a baseball field is kind of like a quarterback on a football field. There is a lot of leading and directing involved in the position.

Perhaps that’s why Round Lake senior Anthony Burton has taken so well to his spot behind the plate. He started at quarterback for the Panthers in the fall.

It certainly can’t be Burton’s experience that is helping him right now.

He started his very first game at catcher this season, leaving the outfield to fill a hole in the Panthers’ lineup. Burton had never before played catcher at the varsity level.

“It’s really amazing what Anthony is doing and he’s improving every day,” Round Lake coach Ed Adamson said. “The kid we expected to catch for us this year transferred so we had a pretty big hole to fill and Anthony came to us and told us that he wanted to try to be our catcher. He had no experience, but he is such a good athlete, we knew he’d do a good job.

“Plus, he has those leadership qualities you need at catcher from being quarterback. So it seemed like a good fit and it has been so far. Anthony is raw and you can tell sometimes that his mechanics aren’t the same as someone who has been catching for a long time. But he makes up for all that with his athleticism and his competitiveness. And he’s so coachable that he’s really easy to work with. Those are qualities that not everyone has.”

Allen, Irving pitch in for Patriots: Pitching is usually never a question mark for Stevenson going into a season. After all, the Patriots usually have multiple Division I recruits anchoring their lineup.

That isn’t quite the case this year, so coach Paul Mazzuca had been curious to see who was going to step out front in the race to be the team’s ace. He may have gotten a partial answer this week in Stevenson’s win over Palatine.

Junior pitcher Matt Allen got the win.

“We had it rough early because we gave (Palatine) 3 runs in the first inning,” Mazzuca said. “And there were a couple of times they had runners on third with less than two outs. But Matt was able to get us out of some really tough situations. He showed the competitiveness that was needed to help us get a good win.”

Allen had 5 strikeouts against Palatine.

Meanwhile, in a win over Crystal Lake Central, Stevenson also got a solid pitching effort from senior Scott Irving.

Sundquist shines: Like a bright, sunny day, pitcher Shawn Sundquist was brilliant in a win over Crystal Lake Central on Tuesday.

The Wauconda senior shined from start to finish as he threw the first no-hitter of his career. He went the distance in the five-inning decision.

“He was so excited,” Wauconda coach Bill Sliker said of Sundquist. “When a no-hitter happens, so many things have to go well, which is why they are so hard to come by. It takes a lot of good pitching, a lot of good defense behind the pitcher and some luck and we got some of all that.

“Shawn really pitched well and not only did we make the routine defensive plays, we also made some really good ones for him.”

Sundquist’s top-notch effort was a welcome event for the Bulldogs, who lost their top three pitchers and the majority of their innings from last season. Heading into the season, Sliker was unsure about who would slide into their spots.

“It might be too early to tell if Shawn is going to be our ace, but he has certainly pitched well so far and we’ve also gotten some good innings out of (Brandon) Gibis.

“But I feel like we have a lot of other guys who will also get opportunities to pitch big games. I think nine guys could actually get (significant) innings. If someone is having an off day, we could bring another arm in there to fill right in. This year, we might be able to go with whoever is hot at the time.”

Classy kids: Grant’s junior class is picking up where it left off sophomore year.

Jake Ring, JordanVillarreal, Tyler Gorski and Brent Spohr started last year as sophomores and they all put up impressive numbers. Ring set Grant’s school record for steals with 40, Villarreal hit .370 and Gorski and Spohr were both above .320.

So far, the foursome is again producing eye-catching numbers.

In the first three games, Villarreal rolled up 5 hits, including 2 doubles, and 5 RBI. Spohr smacked 6 doubles, Gorski tallied 5 hits and Ring stole 6 bases.

“All of those guys are still just scratching the surface of what they can do as baseball players,” Grant coach Dave Behm said. “They’ll all be really special by (the time they graduate).”