Carmel out to triple its fun Saturday

Saturday will be a busy day (and night) for the Carmel baseball team.

The 10-5 Corsairs will take on perennial power Joliet Catholic in an East Suburban Catholic Conference doubleheader during the daylight hours. Then, at 7 p.m., they’ll face a tough St. Rita team in a special nonconference game under the lights at Standard Bank Stadium in south suburban Crestwood.

The game is part of an eight-game series that pits teams from the East Suburban Catholic Conference against teams from the Chicago Catholic leagues. The series starts on Friday and runs through Sunday, and is now in its third year.

For the Corsairs, this is their first night game at Standard Bank Stadium, which is home to the Windy City Thunderbolts of the Frontier League.

“We’re excited about (playing at night), and it’s also a great opportunity for a couple of strong conferences to square up against each other,” Carmel coach Joe May said. “We’re in for a big day Saturday because Joliet Catholic and St. Rita are always good.

“We’ll really know where we are after Saturday.”

Sizing up the staff:

With three games in one day, the Carmel pitching staff will be put to the test on Saturday.

The Corsairs will find out just how much depth on the mound they really have in a doubleheader against Joliet Catholic and a night game against St. Rita.

“I really think we’re in pretty good shape on the mound depth-wise,” Carmel coach Joe May said. “We’ve gotten good innings out of numerous kids so far this season.”

Leading the way is senior ace Alex Young, who is 2-1. He and junior Matt Ryan have gotten the nod in some of Carmel’s biggest games. But they’ve also gotten valuable support from junior Duncan Amrein and sophomores Quinten Sefcik and Dalton Wright.

“Right now, our focus is on Joliet Catholic since it’s a conference game. I think we’ll probably start Quinten in the first game and Alex in the second,” May said. “If we can sweep Joliet Catholic, it will be a good day for us no matter what and we’ll see where the chips fall for St. Rita.”

Young gun:

There’s a difference between throwing the ball, and pitching it.

Carmel ace Alex Young is a pitcher this year. And, according to his coach, that’s much better than the alternative from last year.

“He used to be a thrower,” Carmel coach Joe May said of Young. “Alex really wanted to throw as hard as he could last year. He was a fastball pitcher.

“Now, Alex has use of all three of his pitches and he’s a pitcher now. He actually still has very good velocity, but the fact that he can use three pitches and can maintain his accuracy and control has made him a lot tougher.”

Young (2-1) has given up just 1 hit and 1 run in 16 innings.

“I think Alex has realized that he doesn’t have to overthrow to throw strikes and maintain his velocity,” May said.

Not just pitchers:

Two of Carmel’s best pitchers also happen to be the two best hitters on the team.

Duncan Amrein, who is 1-0 with a 1.62 earned run average, is batting an eye-popping .562 and has struck out just three times in 44 plate appearances.

Matt Ryan, who got a huge nonconference win over Stevenson earlier this season, has 20 RBI in 15 games and has a .362 batting average.

“Any time you have as many RBI as games played, you’re doing well and Matt has more (RBI than games),” Carmel coach Joe May said. “It’s nice to have those guys hitting so well because as our top pitchers it gives us options with our lineup.”